"Publicarea rezultatului ultimelor cercetari istorice ale profesorului Alexandru Filipascu reprezinta, de fapt, reconstituirea - folosind primele schite si insemnari ale sale (ramase trei sferturi de veac in manuscris), - studiului de mari proportii Enciclopedia familiilor nobile maramuresene de origine romana, manuscris incaput pe mainile Securitatii cu prilejul perchezitiilor efectuate dupa arestarea sa (15 august 1952) si in felul acesta disparut pentru totdeauna. Materialul care a stat la baza manuscrisului reprezinta rezultatul cercetarilor unui sfert de secol "a catorva vagoane de documente", dupa cum afirma insusi profesorul, in primul rand in arhiva orasului Sighet, care pastra la acea vreme o insemnata parte a documentelor Tarii Maramuresului, devenita apoi Comitatul Maramures si in zilele noastre Maramuresul Istoric, arhiva care i-a stat la dispozitie in timpul in care indeplinea functia de primar al orasului Sighet (1933- 1937). Aceasta arhiva a reprezentat izvorul principal la care insa nu s-a marginit. Documentarea s-a extins in multe biblioteci si arhive din tara si strainatate, pretutindeni unde a putut banui existenta unor marturii privitoare la istoria Maramuresului, inclusiv in Biblioteca Vaticanului"--Editors

The publishing of Professor Alexandru Filipascu's last historical research represents, in fact, a reconstitution of the extended study The Encylopedia of Noble Families of a Romanian Origin from Maramures County by using his first sketches and notes (which remained in manuscript for 75 years). This manuscript got in the Securitate's hands on the occasions of the house searches after his being arrested (on 15 August 1952), and thus, was lost forever. The material which was used as a basis for the manuscript represents the results of a research that took over a quarter of a century, and "a few freight cars of manuscripts", as the professor, himself, used to say. He found these manuscripts mainly in the archives of Sighet, which kept at that time a considerable part of the documents of Maramures Country, which became later the Maramures County, and today The Historical Maramures. These archives were at his disposal while he was mayor of Sighet (1933-1937), and represented the main source, but not the only source for his lost manuscript. His documentation extended in many libraries and archives in the country and abroad, wherever he guessed there could be some traces of evidence regarding the history of Maramures, including in the Vatican Library-- Editors