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Its first curator was the well-known
Russian publicist Al. Bashmakov. The main body of its book-stock included the Venelin Library Collection, possession of
the Bulgarian Students Association in Odessa. The collection was transferred to Bulgaria in 1876 and bestowed, with
the active cooperation of Naiden Gerov and Count N. B. Ignatiev, to the Plovdiv school of "St. Cyril and Methodius".
In 1881 the Regional Assembly of Eastern Roumelia passed the Freedom of the Press Act. Under Art. 3 of this Act, two
copies of each printed work published in Plovdiv and other Eastern Roumelian towns were to be submitted to the Library.
Thus, the Library became the national archive of South Bulgaria and functioned as such until 1885. After the Union of
Eastern Roumelia with the Bulgarian Principality (1885), the Library continued to develop and be regulated as the
second national library in our country. The Legal Deposit Act for printed editions, carried in 1897, once again
entitled the Library to acquiring and preserving each printed item published in Bulgaria - an obligation regulated
by the latest governmental documents as well. Petko Karavelov, Konstantin Velichkov, Ivan Vazov, Zahari Stoyanov,
P. R. Slaveikov, H. G. Danov, etc. contributed greatly to the organization and development of the Library in its
first years. It was managed by patriotic and erudite directors such as Al. Bashmakov, Stefan Botev, Stoyan Argirov,
Boris Dyakovich, Ivan Radoslavov, etc. In 1974 the Library was moved into a new building, which helped to establish
its present-day structure and update its activities. |
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