The Wosinsky Mór County Museum's library in Szekszárd

The history of the library begins at the establishment of the museum, also Wosinsky laid down its grounds. Its material was put together entirely from presents of several well-known citizens of Tolna County, like the establisher himself, count Sándor Apponyi, barons László and György Jeszenszky and many others. The financial support assured by the National Supervision of Libraries and Museums made the acquisition of the most necessary archaeological and numismatic works, basic magazines and academic issues possible. At the time of the museums opening, the library was placed into the big room on the first floor, together with the gallery and statue collection, on ten large shelves. The documents of the county records office were put into a separate room, the side room on the basement. In the holdings register of the museum from 1901, the "memories and library section" consisted together of 2342 pieces. The librarian duties were fulfilled by Béla Haug, the guard of the library section. He framed up the library regulations, in which he said, that the library is free to use to anybody searching for civilization: they can read, or - with appropriate guaranties - lend. The searching of the documents was supported by a professional and storage catalogue, in alphabetical order. The 1904 registry, compiled by him, documented 2189 volumes.

We know from the 1905 report, that the museum was closed between June 1905 and May 1906, because the fir beams of the rooms on the first floor were rotted, and had to be replaced. At the same time, the rooms were also rearranged, so the library was placed away from the big room. The supervision appointed one of the ethnography rooms for this reason, because they said, leaving the library in the big hall is unfeasible, because it could not been developed due to the lack of space there. The National Supervision of Museums and Libraries put 100 chairs and two long tables into the big hall, and ordered open metal frames for the books. The new library room was divided by a long rail into two parts, the reading part and the book lending part. Electricity was installed in the whole building.

After Wosinsky's death (1907), the director's tasks were given to Pál Dőry for a short time, followed by Aladár Kovách at the end of the year. The Gymnasium teacher, Arthur Tolnai was assigned to the library guard post. The directorate of the museum had contacted the Minister of Religion and Public Education, in order to achieve, that Wosinsky's legacy - mainly the articles from the East and the library - can be bought on costs of the state. The Minister offered 1500 korunas for those articles, which are suitable to the purposes of the library.

In 1911, the museum organised a gymnasium course on the support of the Association, and made out a separate library section for the students of the course, with the 226 volumes presented by the National Council Of Museums and Libraries. They gave out books twice a week.

The material of the record office was destroyed between 1907 and 1945, as the museum functioned as a military hospital. The building, its equipment and the collected articles - also the books - suffered heavy damages. The exhibition room was used for long time as a granary. The library's material grew remarkably after 1945, due to the sequestrations from the landlords of Tolna County. The restoration and partly renovation of the building began only in 1957. Central heating was installed in 1978. In 1961, the library was placed into a small space on the basement, on the eastern side. Most of the books were stored on shelves in the offices. Between 1961 and 1976, the position of the librarian was fulfilled as secondary job by more people, this caused several difficulties for the experts later. From January 1. 1976, a full-time librarian was hired.

In 1981, the basement exhibition room was built over and furnished to a 72 m2 library room. We continuously renew the installation and furniture since 1990 by replacing chairs, desks and curtains, and modernizing the book-shelves and the lighting. Our first internet-connected PC with printer was also installed in this room. The library provided not only peaceful and comfortable book-reading opportunity, but also museum programmes and work-discussions got place here. The closed book-storage is situated in front of the library.

Some collections (János Garay, Mihály Babits, István Baka) were placed into the Babits Memorial House, opened in 1967. A part of Miklós Mészöly's collection is exhibited in the House of Literature, Miklós Mészöly Memorial House, which was opened in 2005. We placed the book collection of Tamás Esze in a separate room at the County Hall, and the majority of our old book-material got into the exhibition "World of the old county hall" and into the library room.

Fields of collecting: archaeology, history, local history (Tolna County), ethnology, museology in general, museum issues, restoration, arts, handicrafts, works of writers connected to the county. The richest material in the Tamás Esze library is the literature concerning the Rákóczi war of independence and the religion history.

The holdings of the central library take 16.633 units (December 31, 2006). Tamás Esze library: 3750 units. Separate collections: 5448 units. Old book material (1500-1800): 562 units. Number of ordered magazines: 25.

Our oldest book in Hungarian language is a Holy Bible issued in Vienna, in 1626. The most valuable piece is a French made, hand written and painted, 14th century book of hours (prayer book).