| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Jirsa, Ferdinand |
| Title: | Ferdinand Jirsa Papers |
| Dates: | 1923-1970 |
| Extent: | 0.50 linear feet (1 container and 1 oversize folder) |
| Abstract: | Ferdinand Jirsa (1893-1971) was a Czech immigrant to Cleveland, Ohio, who became a lawyer and a leader in the Sokol movement. He was president of the Northeast District of the American Sokol Organization. The collection consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, certificates and legal records relating to the Sokol movement in the United states. |
| MS Number | MS 3623 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English and Czech |
Ferdinand Jirsa was born in Pelec, in what is now the Czech Republic, on May 18, 1893. Prior to his immigration to the United States in September 1913, he studied in business schools in Czechoslovakia and worked with a coffee broker in Prague.
Upon his arrival in Cleveland, Ohio, Jirsa began to attend night school to improve his English, which he had studied in Czechoslovakia. After his marriage in 1915, he attended the John Marshall law school, graduating in 1921. He practiced law in Cleveland's Czech community, and became a member of the Cleveland Law Department in 1946, serving there until his retirement in 1968.
Since his youth in Czechoslovakia, Jirsa had been active in the Sokol movement. In Cleveland, Jirsa joined the city's oldest Sokol unit, Sokol Cech-Havlicek, eventually becoming an officer in this unit and president of the Northeast District of the American Sokol Organization, the coordinating body for Sokol units in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Jirsa continued in Sokol Cech-Havlicek, the Northeast District, and the American Organizations of Sokols and in Czech affairs generally until his death in 1971.
The Ferdinand Jirsa Papers, 1923-1970, consist of correspondence, newspaper clippings, certificates and legal records relating to the Sokol movement in the United states.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying the Czech immigrant community and the Sokol movement in Cleveland, Ohio. The collection provides some insight as to the management of American sokol affairs with particular detail relating to conventions and sokol meets (slets). Sokol affairs in Cleveland are reflected in those files relating to the following sokol units: Sokol Cleveland, Sokol Cech-Havlicek, and Sokol Nova Vlast.
None.
Related MaterialThe researcher should also consult PG 132 Ferdinand Jirsa Photographs.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3623 Ferdinand Jirsa Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gift of Celia Jirsa in 1972.
Processed by John J. Grabowski in 1975.
Ferdinand Jirsa Papers 1923-1970 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Letters and certificates relating to the Czechoslovak Organization of Sokols (Ceskoslovenska Obec Sokolska) 1923-1938 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Newsletters of the American Sokol Organization (Americka Obec Sokolska) 1950-1959 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2-4 | Materials relating to the American Sokol Organization conventions 1923 1960 1965 1970 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | American Sokol Organization Northeast District (Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania) files, consisting of liquor license applications, notes, and publications (including Vestnik) 1929-1964 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Correspondence, anniversary publications, newspaper clippings, bills, lists, and resolutions relating to Sokol Cleveland and Sokol Cleveland Cech-Havlick of Cleveland, Ohio 1933-1969 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Publications and newspaper clippings relating to the Seventieth Anniversary of Sokol Nova Vlast of Cleveland, Ohio 1962 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Newspaper clipping (1940) and undated seating plan relating to the general Sokol movement in Cleveland, Ohio 1940 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Programs relating to Sokol Morovan of Toledo, Ohio 1932-1959 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Promotional pamphlets relating to the Slovak Sokol, Sokol U.S.A. 1967 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and correspondence relating to the following Sokol Slets (meets): Praha, 1926; Cleveland, 1935; Praha, 1938; Chicago, 1941 and 1951; Cleveland, 1958 and 1963; and Chicago, 1965 1926-1965 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Programs and newspaper clippings relating to the celebration of the United States Sokol Centennial in Washington, D.C. 1965 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Programs and clippings relating to the movement for the issuance of a Sokol commemorative postage stamp 1965 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Speeches, notes, and newspaper clippings relating to the history and values of the Sokol undated | |||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||
| 1 | Oversize Folder 1: Certificate from the Czechoslovak government awarding Ferdinand Jirsa the Order of the White Lion (medal removed to the WRHS History Museum medal collection); and three Czech newspapers relating to the death of Thomas Masaryk and to the Tenth Sokol Slet held in Praha in 1938 1937-1938 | ||||||||||