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Vojta Náprstek (1826-1894) is known as the founder of the Czech Industrial Museum, a supporter of Czech compatriots abroad, a promoter of women’s education and a progressive municipal politician.
In his youth, however, he was above all a sincere patriot who, during his studies in Vienna, participated in the organisation of the cultural life of the Czechs in Vienna and in 1848 actively participated in the revolutionary events.
At the end of 1848 he left for America, where he spent almost ten years (1848-1858).
The present edition attempts to make available to the public the correspondence he maintained with his loved ones during this time.
These are nearly ninety letters that remarkably document his peripatetic life and work in America.
They represent an interesting contribution to the knowledge of the life of Vojta Náprstek and his family, but also, on a general level, a unique source for the history of Czech emigration to America at the beginning of the Second World War.
Czechoslovakia in the 19th century.
In the first half of the 20th century.

A collection of unique portraits from the collections of the Náprstek Museum.
/ A collection of unique portraits from the collections of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures.

Vojta Náprstek made his journey to the Dakotas in 1856, at a time when their culture was at a crossroads under the weight of great economic and political changes.
The Dakota were facing pressure from a majority society that was gradually reducing their territory and seeking their cultural assimilation.
The book focuses not only on the objects from the Vojta Náprstek collection, the circumstances of their acquisition and the personality of the collector, but also on the cultural context to which they bear witness.

The monograph traces in detail the life of a woman who entered the ministry at the age of eighteen and remained in it, figuratively speaking, throughout her life.
Through effort, perseverance and the development of social contacts, she became a woman whose contribution to the formation of the institution we now know as the Náprstek Museum was crucial.
The biography of Josefa Náprstková, drawing on contemporary sources, is supplemented by an overview of her activities in various associations as well as in the field of museum acquisitions.
Excerpts from the letters document Josefa’s activities and life, but also serve as a source of knowledge about the culture of correspondence in the 19th century.
century.
The book is supplemented by numerous pictures, a color appendix, and an index.
Josefa Náprstková is one of the exceptional women of the 19th century.
She helped to build a major Czech museum, worked for women’s emancipation, developed contacts between her compatriots and their original homeland and, alongside her husband, put the ideas of the national revival into practice.

For the first time ever, the authentic writings of Josefa Křížková-Náprstková (1838-1907), the wife of the founder of the Náprstek Museum, are presented to the public.
Originally a maid from the U Halánků wine cellar, she married Vojta Náprstek, a wealthy patriot and patron, who found in her a devoted and capable collaborator.
In her notes she recalls her childhood spent on Betlémské náměstí in Prague, the revolutionary year of 1848 and her employer Anna Fingerhutová.
A significant part of the memoirs is devoted to her husband’s activities, especially the founding of the museum and its supporters.
Although she lived most of her life in the shadow of her famous husband, she maintained friendships with many representatives of the Prague patriotic society of the second half of the 19th century.
She was a member of the first half of the 19th century.
She corresponded with many travelers and compatriots from around the world, providing an unusual perspective on them and their activities.
The book is a unique testimony to the remarkable life and work of a simple yet extraordinary woman.

The present publication attempts to capture in seven chapters the colourful life of a man who, in the second half of the 19th century, was the most important man in the world.
His activities influenced many spheres of life of Prague citizens and not only them.
After returning from forced emigration in America, he decided to use his acquired experience and knowledge for the benefit of his nation and with all his activities he tried to convey modern ideas from abroad.
He saw in education a remedy for mental and spiritual backwardness, and so he was the first to open his library to the general public.
The second step was regular access to scientific and technical inventions, which were to be mediated by the industrial museum he founded.
Thimble was one of the first to realize that the national revival would not be complete without the involvement of educated women, and for them he opened the first women’s educational society in his home, the American Ladies Club.
However, he applied his progressive ideas most in municipal politics as a Prague alderman.
He was responsible for the construction of the Petřín tower, the electric street lighting, the moving sidewalk to Letná, the introduction of telephone and gas into homes, etc.
Throughout his life, he tried to bring the world to Bohemia (whether by technical inventions or collections for his museum), but also Bohemia to the world (by supporting Czech emigrants or professionals working abroad).
The text of the publication is supplemented with quotations from contemporary periodicals, literature and private diaries, as well as numerous pictures.
We believe that the man who is known to have taught women to sew on a sewing machine deserves a monograph that will draw attention to his other equally interesting activities.

The first comprehensive monograph including a detailed biography and an assessment of the multifaceted activities of the prominent Czech patriot, ethnographer and a passionate fighter for progress. A colourful picture of Czech society in the pre-March period, a new look at 1848, American society in the 1850s, the first Czech emigrants to New York, Wisconsin, Iowa and St. Louis, and a piece of Czech history in the second half of the 19th century.

The monograph presents the fate of three women, representatives of three generations of a prominent Czech family that was at the centre of cultural and social life throughout the second half of the 19th century.
The book is a part of the second half of the 20th century.
Social life, theatre, patriotic salons and festivals, museums, exhibitions, women’s education and emancipation, charity, contacts with compatriots – none of this was without Vojta Náprstek.
Much less is known about his mother Anna and his wife Josefa, the peculiar characters without whose understanding, help and dedication he could not have become what he was.
Similarly, the interesting personality of his brother Ferdinand and his daughter Boženka, the only heir to the family name, has been unjustly neglected.
The old townhouse U Halánků, the seat of the Náprstek Museum, is not only a backdrop but a living centre where the private and the public intertwined in a special and unique mixture.

Good character can be taught.
The virtues that make it up should be deliberately developed not only in the family but also in the school, both in subjects specifically designed for it and through the whole school culture, across all subjects.
This is the contention of the authors of Character Education and the Teaching of Virtue in Schools.
It equips the reader not only with a theoretical basis (relevant data on character education, psychology and philosophy of education, …) but also with practical guidelines and sample lessons on character education in schools.
The book is suitable not only for teachers and principals, but for all those who believe that character really matters.