DECENIUL DEBUTULUI ȘI AFIRMĂRII LUI DAVID PRODAN ÎN CADRUL ISTORIOGRAFIEI NAȚIONALE (1938-1948)
THE DECADE OF DAVID PRODAN’S DEBUT AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT WITHIN ROMANIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY (1938–1948)

Summary/Abstract: The present work analyses the professional activity, but also the personal course of the Transylvanian historian David Prodan in a chronological approach, during ten years characterized by profound political and social changes. We have used both the works published by Prodan and original materials from the collection of the Academician David Prodan Memorial Museum in Cluj-Napoca.The beginning of the period is marked by the publication of his doctoral thesis, Răscoala lui Horea în comitatele Cluj și Turda (The uprising of Horea in Cluj and Turda Counties), which surprised contemporary historical research, being considered the most valuable contribution to the knowledge of the subject after the appearance of Nicolae Densușianu’s work. A steady professional rise followed until 1944 and an extremely rapid one between 1944 and 1948.The initial historical investigations about Horea’s uprising, which were put to good use in such instances as the publication of several reviews in AIINC, were followed by numerous studies of agrarian history, such as those on iliș and tretină in Transylvania. Starting with 1944, the profile of a researcher passionate about Romanian historical realities in Transylvania took shape, addressing the social history of serfdom and the political history of Transylvanian Romanians in his works. He elaborated the work Teoria imigrației românilor din Principatele Române în Transilvania în veacul al XVIII-lea. Studiu critic, Toplița la 1785 (The theory of Romanian immigration from the Romanian Principalities to Transylvania in the 18th century: Critical study, Toplița in 1785), Iobăgia în domeniul Băii de Arieș la 1770 (Serfdom in the domain of Baia de Aries in 1770) and Supplex Libellus Valachorum, works in which he approaches the events in an innovative way, at the same time appealing to a materialist-dialectical vision of the evolution of society.In 1948, David Prodan was co-opted as a member within some of the most important national cultural forums: The Academy of the People’s Republic of Romania, The University of Cluj and the Institute for History and Philosophy of the Academy of the People’s Republic of Romania, from Cluj.

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