The Ethnographic Society of Slovakia (hereafter ESS) is a professional association of ethnologists and scholars from related fields, professionals as well as students. It was established in 1958 as the Slovak Ethnographic Society of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and later was renamed to the Ethnographic Society of Slovakia. The ESS resides in Bratislava and has four branches: in western Slovakia; in eastern Slovakia; in central Slovakia, with a centre in Banská Bystrica; and in central Slovakia, with a centre in Martin. The branches’ activities focus on information service for the members of the ESS, on organizing lectures and on the cooperation with educational institutions. In Bratislava such events take place only occasionally. The ESS unites more than 200 members falling into three categories: individual members, collective members and honorary members. Any person can join the ESS if they meet qualification requirements and have a recommendation from a member of the ESS Board. Collective members are institutions, in particular museums and other cultural and educational organizations. Honorary members are proposed by the ESS Board and approved by the ESS Assembly. They can be chosen from the regular members of the ESS, but also from non-members of the ESS who contributed to the development of ethnology.
