Virtual walk with Marija Malbasa along the Divald street towards slavonian ancient fields and forests

The best way to learn more about one region and its historical, economic, political and cultural development is through books and other printed materials. In Croatia, there are many regional and local bibliographies. When it comes to Slavonia, the "Osjecka bibliografija Sv. I (1742-1944)" by Marija Malbasa provides the list as well as descriptions of all books and materials printed in Osijek, regardless the language they were written in. Although the Turks had left Slavonia after more than a century and a half long occupation, the Austrians expanded its system of military zones to some parts of Slavonia. The land was colonized by strangers, predominantly by the Germans. In the beginning, they lived and worked as farmers and craftsmen and eventually left important and valuable written traces about culture, economy, medicine, industry, military, medicine, religion, agriculture, forestry etc. The "Osjecka bibliografija Sv. I (1742-1944)", the local bibliography, contains a large number of publications written in German, many of which were dedicated to the agricultural themes and problems that evolved from everyday life. 3,295 books and other materials printed in Osijek. are recorded in the first volume (1742 1944) of Osjecka bibliografija (Osijek Bibliography) by Marija Malbasa. The main focus of our interest were books and other printed material regarding agriculture. The purpose of this paper is to connect the past, present and future, since 2,404 bibilographic units (Essekiana local history collection) are kept in the Museum of Slavonia's library in Osijek. This unique local collection of books has been made accessible to the wider public through a web catalogue in order to present its local history books to the community and raise awareness of the value of the books kept in the biggest museum library in Croatia. Thanks to Marija Malbasa's effort, we witness today that the importance of agriculture in Slavonia not only has a long tradition, but also that its development and problems have always been a significant and interesting topic to write about.