PhDr. Jaroslav Mrňa Církevní a obecné dějiny 19. a 20. století Název disertační práce v anglickém jazyce: Parish chronicles as a source of religious and social history using the example of commemorative books of parishes in the deanery of Velke Mezirici. Abstrakt v anglickém jazyce: The parish chronicles in themself conceal next to unique link of the thoughts and activities of parish administrators, the administrative office of the authority given to them, also conceal valuable data from the life story of the parish itself. The dissertation thesis Parish chronicles as a source of religious and social history using the example of commemorative books of parishes in the deanery of Velke Mezirici deals with the problems of the existence of parish chronicles and their use of the modern historical work in the field of religious and social history. For the presentation of the testifying value of the source, of commemorative books of parishes in the deanery of Velke Mezirici were selected. After introductory criticism of sources and literature is followed a chapter dedicated to the view of the Christian perception of the history, the development of chronicles in the individual historical periods and the evaluation of the parish chronicle as a commemorative or office book, an artwork. It is followed by a section...

Between the Old and the New Homeland: Integration and Self-Identification of the Czech Community in the USA throughout the Second Half of the XIXth century Mgr. Krasimira Marholeva, Ph.D. Abstract The dissertation assessed the interdependence between the process of integration and shifting national identity of Czech immigrants in the USA throughout the second half of the XIXth century. In the first place, I explored the strategy they elaborated in order to integrate to the American society. Secondly, I assessed how the Czech immigrants identified themselves and how they endeavoured to preserve their national and cultural identity, to prevent their children from acculturation and assimilation. Last but not least, I explored the process of integration and self-identification of the children of the Czech freethinkers during the period in question through the prism of their letters that had been published in the Czech-American freethinking periodical press. In my work, I relied on archival sources, on Czech-American periodical press, on auto-biographies of Czech immigrants in the USA, on memoirs of Czech-American contemporaries and Czech travellers, and last but not least, on letters of the children of the Czech freethinkers in the USA.

A comprehensive monograph covering the life and life's work of architect Josef Mocker (22 November 1835 - 16 January 1899) has not yet been published, however, there are a number of partial works by individual historians, especially art historians, which explore Mocker's work in depth. In addition to numerous designs, building projects, and applied liturgical art, Mocker's life's work was primarily the completion of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert at Prague Castle in 1872-1899. And while there is a fairly widespread awareness of Mocker's extensive work, sadly, only little is known about his personal life. This thesis thus aims to make available a part of the surviving correspondence from the period 1871-1882 in the form of an edition of sources, allowing a glimpse into the life and thoughts of the architect Josef Mocker in his own words. Given the private nature of the letters, the paper departs from a purely artistic appreciation of the architect's work and views Josef Mocker more as a historical figure. The emphasis is placed on understanding the environment that surrounded him in a cultural and historical context in the period before starting a family. The thesis thus focuses more on understanding the environment from which Josef Mocker emerged and which...