Preface
When Djordje Djelic, Executive Vice President of Serbian Organizations of Greater Cleveland, was asked to coordinate the writing of the Serbian manuscript, no one would have expected to receive, ten months later, a manuscript that included so much scholarly material. Either we had to substantially shorten the manuscript into one volume and eliminate much valuable data, or publish the work in two volumes. We opted for the latter. The first volume emphasizes the Serbian history, cultural traits, literature, immigration and the Serbian communities of Cleveland. The second deals with Serbian art and is the only survey ever written on this subject in English.
We are, therefore, greatly indebted to Mr. Djelic for bringing to such fruition a pioneering study on Serbian Americans. We are sure it will help American students to better understand immigrants of Serbian heritage and their descendants who enriched this country with many outstanding contributions.
The author of the section on Serbian history, culture and immigration is Dragoslav Georgevich, Chairman of the Serbo-Croatian Department of the Defense Language Institute of Monterey, California. Professor Georgevich is an author and noted historian of Slavic and Balkan nations. He holds degrees from Yugoslavia and San Jose State University.
Nicholas Moravcevich authored the essay on Serbian literature. Professor Moravcevich is one of the leading Slavists in the United States, internationally known author and literary critic, and is presently heading the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle.
Mr. Nikolaj Maric is the young author of the section on the Serbian community of Cleveland. Maric is presently teaching at the West Technical High School of Cleveland. He holds degrees from the University of Belgrade with advanced work at Case Western Reserve University and The Cleveland State University.
To the three authors, our sincere “thank you”. I am sure that their greatest reward is the awareness of being able to make the American public better aware of the Serbian heritage and their contributions to the development of this nation.
Special thanks also to Mr. Alex Machaskee, Executive Assistant to the Publisher of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, for his valuable suggestions and support, to Mrs. Ellen Gambrill for copyediting, to Mrs. Karen Fredenburg and Mrs. Ginny Sumodi for typing and helping to bring this work to its conclusion.