The Institute's History

The institute was founded at the end of 1947 at the initiative of the literary historian and then-president of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts France Kidrič, and was named the Institute for Literatures. France Kidrič (1948–1950), Josip Vidmar (1950–1964), Anton Ocvirk (1965–1980), Janko Kos (1980–1983), and Darko Dolinar (1983–) have served as its directors. The purpose of the institute was to conduct research in literary studies, especially that requiring long-term teamwork, and to publish scholarly works. In the first years of its operation the capacities of the institute were extremely limited because of a lack of funding and suitable premises. After 1952 only the editorial board of the Slovenski biografski leksikon (Slovenian Biographical Lexicon) regularly worked at the institute. The institute gradually acquired new full employees and expanded its activities especially under the leadership of Anton Ocvirk.

The institute received its current name when it was reorganized in 1972. From that time until 1999 it had three sections: the section for Slovenian literary history, the section for literary theory, and the section for biography, bibliography, and documentation.

Due to its increasing interdisciplinary content and methods of work, in 2000 the third section – which prepared and published the Slovenski biografski leksikon – became independent and was transformed into the Institute for Biography and Bibliography. This in turn was renamed the Institute for Cultural History in 2005.

To mark its fiftieth anniversary, the Institute of Slovenian Literature and Literary Studies issued a promotional volume.