Draft:Mileva Simic

Mileva Simić (Novi Sad, Austria-Hungary, 15 February 1859 - Novi Sad, Serbia, Yugoslavia, 1946) was a Serbian teacher, writer, and translator. For her work in pedagogy and literature she was awarded the Order of King Alexander I, first degree. She also had a role in the emancipation of women in Serbian society in the late 19th- and early 20th-century.

Early life

She was born in 1859 in Novi Sad, in a very wealthy and respectable family. Mileva's father was the Serbian academic painter Pavle Simić, and her mother Jelisaveta, the daughter of Novi Sad mayor and lawyer Grigorije Jovšić (1806-1862). The Simić family often moved because of the work of Pavle Simić, who painted iconostases throughout Serbia. Her father was commissioned by Serbian philanthropist Marija Trandafil to paint the iconostases of Church of St. Nicholas (Nikolajevska Crkva), the oldest Orthodox church in Novi Sad (1739). The dome, typical of Russian Orthodox churches, and crosses are plated with 23-carat gold.

From 1871 to 1872, the Simić family lived in Sombor, where the Pavle Simić was appointed to paint icons for the iconostases of the Church of Saint George..

After arriving in Sombor, at the age of 12, Mileva found out about the town's Teacher's College, which she became extremely interested in, due to her great desire to learn, having craved since early childhood. With the special permission of professor and catechist Nikola Đ. Vukićević and with permission from the School Council, Mileva was allowed to study at the Serbian Teacher's School, even though she was too young to enter at the tender age of 12. She finished teacher training school on time, with excellent results. At the age of 15 she began her teaching career at the Women's High School in Novi Sad, where she spent the next 32 years and for a while held the post of principal of the school.

She always credited Milica Stojadinović-Srpkinja and her mother's sister Dafina Natašović, who was married to Djordje Natošević and whose house was the frequented by Serbian intellectuals of the time, for having a lasting influence on her.

Mileva Simić never married during her life.

Simić spent the last years of her life in her native Novi Sad in her home at "Grčkoškolska street number 10". She passed away in 1946 and was buried at the cemetery known as the Almaško groblje. A street in Novi Sad is named after her.

Scholastic and Literary Works

• U slikarskoj radionici
• Srpske narodne ženske pesme
• Sirotica (1922)
• Iz mojih božićnih uspomena
• Drugarice - pozorišna igra za decu u jednom činu, wrote to her students Mileva Simić in 1886
• Glavnija pravila o praktičnom vaspitanju dece (1886)
• Polaženik, a one-act theatrical play for children, written for her students by Mileva Simic (1891)
• Kućarstvo (1892)
• Dobrotvorni prilozi (1893)
• Pedagogija (1894)
• Retka sreća: šaljiva igra u jednom činu (1900)
• U laži je pritko dno (1920–1925)
• Gordana: dečja gluma u jednom činu (1922)

Articles and other similar texts:

• Purger Mata
• O vaspitanju (1874)
• Doživeo (1880)
• Nada (1884)
• Nega bolesnika (1893)
• O domaćem obrazovanju ženskinja u nas (1896)
• Adiđari (1899)
• Prvi i poslednji put sa Milicom-Srpkinjom (1913)
• Eseji za udavače (1922)
• Tri dana (1936)

Translations:

• Tajni useljenici (1882)
• Grofica Repaijeva (1886)

References

• Adapted from Serbian Wikipedia.