by croatiaweek
July 11, 2025
in
Monument for Josip Franjo Mikulec unveiled in his hometown last year (Photo credit: Krapina-Zagorje County)
One of Croatia’s most fascinating, yet lesser-known historical figures is Josip Mikulec – known to many as “Joža Putnik”, or “Joža the Traveller”.
Born in 1878 in the village of Krušljevo Selo near Oroslavje, Mikulec left for the United States at the age of 27.
But this wasn’t just a typical emigration story, it was the start of a remarkable global journey that spanned nearly three decades.
Mikulec’s journey began on foot from Zagreb on 5 February 1906.
He travelled through Italy, France and Spain, before sailing to South Africa and later Latin America, walking from Buenos Aires through Uruguay and Brazil, eventually reaching Philadelphia in the United States in September 1905.
Wherever he went, Mikulec carried with him a leather-bound book, which became his trademark.
Over the years, it grew to an enormous 2,500 pages and 26 kilograms in weight.
Inside were signatures, dedications and notes from the people he met – presidents, inventors, artists, religious leaders and more.
Among the names? Six American presidents including Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, inventor Thomas Edison, industrialist Andrew Carnegie, opera legend Enrico Caruso, and Croatian political leader Stjepan Radić.
The book, which he initially carried on his back and later on a wooden cart, became a living document of one man’s extraordinary journey.
Josip Mikulec (Photo: Croatian History Museum/ Public domain)
He married Romanian writer Anna Stiopu in New York in 1908, but the couple later divorced. After the First World War, Mikulec returned to Europe several times, before eventually passing away in Genoa, Italy on 8 May 1933 from tuberculosis.
He was buried as Joseph Frank Mikulec in Genoa’s monumental cemetery. At the time of his death, the only possession officially listed was his book of autographs.
In 2023, the Croatian History Museum acquired this priceless item, recognising its immense cultural and historical value.
A monument, unveiled last year, now stands in his hometown of Oroslavje, honouring Mikulec as one of Croatia’s most unique adventurers, a man who, long before social media, could truly be called the world’s first influencer.
As Krapina-Zagorje County Prefect Željko Kolar fittingly said:
“Only a Zagorje native could have done that.”
You can see his big, leather-bound book in the video below.