Encyclopedia of the Life and Works of TGM
A number of the topographical entries on the map “In the footsteps of TGM” are based on the entries in the upcoming Encyclopedia of the Life and Works of T.G. Masaryk, which represents the backbone of these long-term team projects at the Masaryk Institute and Archives. The Encyclopedia was started within the Department for Modern Political and Intellectual History and involved more than sixty internal and external contributors. The interdisciplinary and inter-institutional cooperation has been facilitated by the support of the Strategy AV21 research program “Europe and the State: Between Barbarism and Civilization”.
The goal of this encyclopedic format is to summarize the existing knowledge on the life and work of T.G. Masaryk in the form of clearly and uniformly structured entries. The Encyclopedia will include factual terms, mapping the various stages and events of Masaryk’s life, his family and ties, his academic, public and political activities, his works (all as single entries including books, published writings and even political leaflets), and the basic concepts of his philosophy and political thinking. We will also include the organizations and institutions connected with or named after him, and his ideological and political legacy (Masarykian traditions during various eras and during various regime changes), the different interpretations of his work, and the different forms of commemorations connected with Masaryk’s personality. We are planning a second part to the Encyclopedia for the future, which will include: biographical entries on members of Masaryk’s family; the scholarly, ideological, and political supporters of Masaryk and his opponents; his collaborators in the Realist movement; his supporters in the foreign resistance and during his presidency; as well as his personal friends, followers and the historians and others who have popularized his life and work. In addition to the biographical entries, the relationship between each individual and Masaryk will be explained and evaluated. The entries will be supplemented by references to various sources and literature to provide a representative selection. The entire encyclopedia will be accompanied by an appendix that gives a chronological overview of Masaryk’s life and works, and indexes of names and places.
