The Štampar–Adamič correspondence: evidence of the mutual friendship between two 20th-century eminent figures preserved in the archives of Princeton and Zagreb

Abstract

This paper presents a supplement to the previously published correspondence between Andrija Štampar and Louis Adamič, two prominent public intellectuals and social reformers of the 20th century. Their friendship began after a personal meeting in Zagreb in 1933 and continued through years of correspondence and further encounters during Štampar’s stays in the United States in 1938 and 1946. The correspondence known until now comprised twenty letters preserved in the manuscript collection of Louis Adamič at Princeton University and published in 1978. Research conducted in the personal archival fonds of Andrija Štampar in the Croatian State Archives (HR-HDA-831), accessible since 2015, has uncovered an additional nineteen letters, fourteen of which were previously unknown, thereby significantly expanding the existing corpus. These newly discovered letters enable a more precise reconstruction of the relationship between the two correspondents, particularly during Štampar’s work in China and within the Health Organization of the League of Nations in the 1930s. Together with the already published Štampar’s travel diary (1931–1938) and his letters to his wife Desanka, this correspondence opens new perspectives for a deeper understanding of their intellectual connections, personal affinities, and political views. The letters particularly shed light on their shared opposition to the regime of Alexander I Karađorđević, their international networks of contacts, and their later support for postwar Yugoslavia from differing social and political positions. The paper emphasises the importance of personal archival collections, correspondence, and memoir materials as sources for reinterpreting the biographies of historical actors and highlights the need for further research into lesser-known aspects of Štampar’s activities on the eve of World War II and in the postwar period.