Rodinná kronika Jana Škorpíka

The "Family Chronicle" of Jan Škorpík (1862-1953), farmer from the Borač village in West Moravia, contains 22 manuscript pages of data the chronicler considered important to record. He started writing the text at Christmas 1937 and divided the chronicle into five chapters. The biographical data from the life of the chronicler, his ancestors and descendants can be safely considered the largest topic in the chronicle. The social position of the chronicler is reflected in the prevalence of agricultural farming in the chronicle, in particular its modernisation he witnessed during his life. The manual forms of farmworks predating his own experience are reconstructed from the memories of his father (born 1826). The chronicle reflects everyday life with information about food, clothes and lodgings. Occasionally, these follow a lighter note, as when the chronicler describes the problems with introducing meal novelties, for example the coffee beans. Although the chronicle of J. Škorpík follows the so-called small history, the village was influenced by the great history as well, in particular the international war conflicts (Austro-Prussian War of 1866). Even though the "Family Chronicle" of Jan Škorpík is not very extensive, it brings valuable information, confirming on the local level the general farming advancement trends and modernisation of traditional forms of living between the mid- 19th century and 1930s.