The Path to Polish Archival Collectionsin the U.S.A. and Canada

Stanis aw Flis

ABSTRACT. The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America(PIASA), Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the Head Officeof State Archives in Warsaw are working on a research project for thepurpose of creating an up-to-date electronic guide to significant Polisharchival collections in the U.S.A. and Canada. This electronic guideshould help scholars and interested persons in locating special collec-tions, libraries and archives through the Internet. [Article copies availablefor a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mailaddress: <getinfo@haworthpressinc.com> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com>E 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Poland, Polish, archival resources, archives, specialcollections, Polish Americans, PIASA, United States, Canada, NorthAmerica

BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

In Poland scholars have become more and more interested in re-searching the history of Polish emigration. Despite the rapid growth ofthe Internet and computer networks, Polish researchers have insuffi-cient access to scholarly information about archival holdings either in

Stanis aw Flis, MA, is Division Curator in the State Archive in Gda sk, Polandand Visiting Archivist in the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America,delegated by the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.

Address correspondence to: Stanis aw Flis, The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciencesof America, 208 East 30th Street, New York, NY 10016 (E-mail: archiwa@worldnet.att.net).

Slavic & East European Information Resources, Vol. 1(4) 2001E 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 83

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Poland or abroad. Poland has no archival information system on theInternet such as the RLIN AMC (Archival and Mixed Collections),and few Polish archives have added descriptions of their collections tothe RLIN AMC.1 Because of the lack of access to paid computernetworks, Polish scholars have been unaware of the precious holdingsof numerous archives and libraries abroad, for example, the very inter-esting archival collections to be found in the archives of Polish ethnicorganizations in America.There have been some attempts to solve this problem, such as

printing a guide to Polish ethnic archives in the U.S.A. at the CentralArchives of Polonia in Orchard Lake, Michigan.2 Projects focusing onpublishing printed guides or articles about Polish collections have alsobeen conducted by the Permanent Committee for Polish Archives,Museums and Libraries in the West (Sta a Konferencja Muzeów, Ar-chiwów i Bibliotek Polskich na Zachodzie), universities in Poland, theNational Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa), as well as theHead Office of State Archives in Poland.The Permanent Committee for Polish Archives, Museums and Li-

braries in the West, which integrates, among others, Polish archivesand libraries in the U.S.A. and Canada has been considering publish-ing a Web site that would contain descriptions of Polish archivalcollections. One of the members of the Committee, the Polish Instituteof Arts and Sciences of Canada-Polish Library in Montreal, has al-ready published a Web site presenting information about archivalholdings of the organizations participating in the Committee.3 Links toselected immigration resources are also to be found in some centers ofSlavic studies and immigration research centers in the U.S.A.4

CREATING AN INFORMATION SYSTEMABOUT POLISH ARCHIVES IN AMERICA

Although Polish organizations in the U.S.A. have been discussing aproject to compile a comprehensive Internet guide to Polish archivalholdings since the beginning of the 1990s, there is still no real Polishethnic Web site containing addresses and basic information about asmany organizations holding Polish archival collections as possible.For that reason the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America(PIASA), the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the HeadOffice of State Archives in Warsaw have begun working on a project

The Internet 85

whose purpose is to create an up-to-date electronic guide to significantPolish archival collections in the U.S.A. and Canada.The project results from an agreement signed by the Polish Institute

of Arts and Sciences of America and the Polish Academy of Sciencesin Warsaw in June 1998. Following the agreement the Polish Acade-my of Sciences delegated a State Archive specialist in archival infor-mation systems to reorganize the archive and library of PIASA, toprocess its archival collections and to design and establish withinPIASA a professional information center which would focus on Polishcollections in America.In order to create such a center, PIASA has begun to collect infor-

mation and links for the purpose of creating an electronic guide tosignificant Polish archival collections in America. This electronicguide should help scholars and interested persons in locating specialcollections, libraries and archives through the Internet. The project,already in progress, is taking place at PIASA headquarters in NewYork. The majority of the materials found so far come from archivalguides and Internet resources. Other materials have been obtainedthrough research done in archives and libraries in the United States.The project is financed mainly by the Polish Academy of Sciences inWarsaw. PIASA runs its own large archive containing valuable Polishcollections. Its library has lately been enriched by new guides andother publications concerning collections to be found in Polish ar-chives, received from the Head Office of State Archives in Poland.At the moment part of the researched materials has been published

on the Web site of PIASA at <http://home.att.net/~piasa/archive.html>. The system constitutes a path to Web sites of relevant institu-tions, with their addresses and basic descriptions of their Polish collec-tions. Wherever possible, the site connects the user directly to majoruniversity Web sites and online catalogs. The site is composed of fourbasic parts:

S Path To International Web SitesS Path to Polish Archival Collections in the U.S.A. and CanadaS Path to Archival Web Sites in PolandS Path to Web Sites Dealing with Preservation Issues

Each of them will be discussed in turn.

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Path to International Web Sites

Since PIASA believes Polish researchers should have open doors toarchival resources all over the world, it decided first to give accessfrom its Web site to major international Web sites and Internet cata-logs. One of the most important sites chosen by PIASA is the Reposi-tories of Primary Sources provided by the University of Idaho since1995, providing access to Web sites all over the world as well as tointeresting electronic resources such as the National Union Manu-script Catalogue. Other important links include the International Ar-chival Web site provided by the Dutch National Archive as well asWeb sites of the McIntyre Library University of Wisconsin and Na-tional Archives and Records Administration.

Path to Polish Archival Collections in the U.S.A. and Canada

In this part of the Web site, PIASA gives scholars addresses of U.S.and Canadian organizations possessing Polish archival collections, abasic description of their resources as well as links to them. Thedescription of holdings was omitted for institutions that publish theircatalogs online (e.g., the National Archives of Canada) or have com-prehensive Web sites (e.g., the Joseph Pilsudski Institute in NewYork). In order to give researchers better access to information, PIA-SA hopes to establish cooperation with American and Polish organiza-tions in America possessing Polish collections.PIASA began by publishing information about the following more

general organizations and links to them: National Archives of Canadain Ottawa; The Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University,Stanford (CA); Yale University Sterling Memorial Library Manu-scripts and Archives in New Haven (CT), Library of Congress inWashington (DC), National Archives and Records Administration inWashington (DC), University of Minnesota’s Immigration History Re-search Center in Minneapolis (MN), Balch Institute for Ethnic Studiesin Philadelphia (PA), New York State Archives in Albany (NY), Buf-falo & Erie County Historical Society in Buffalo (NY), Center forMigration Studies Library in Staten Island (NY), New York PublicLibrary’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library in New York (NY),YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York (NY), HistoricalSociety of Wisconsin in Milwaukee (WI) and Milwaukee Urban Ar-chives University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (WI).

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The other very important group was links to specifically Polishethnic archives and institutions: The Polish Institute of Arts &Sciences of Canada in Montreal; Connecticut Polish American Ar-chives, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain (CT); Pol-ish Museum of America in Chicago (IL), Central Archives of Ameri-can Polonia in Orchard Lake (MI), Jozef Pilsudski Institute in NewYork (NY); Kosciuszko Foundation in New York (NY); Polish ArmyVeterans Association of America in New York (NY) and Polish-Amer-ican Museum in Port Washington (NY). At the moment, PIASA haspublished only a small part of the researched materials. Its Web sitewill be updated regularly.

Path to Archival Web Sites in Poland

A number of archives in Poland can also be accessed via the Inter-net. This Web page provides basic information about archives in Po-land and their Web sites, such as the Head Office of State Archives inWarsaw, State Archives in Cracow (Branch Office in Bochnia),Gda sk, Katowice (Branch Office in Pszczyna), ód , Przemy l,Szczecin, Warsaw and the Central Archives of Historical Records inWarsaw. It also contains information about Web sites of the archivesof Polish universities, e.g., the Jagiellonian University in Cracow,Catholic University of Lublin, Special Collections Division of War-saw University Library and University of Wroc aw, as well as aboutthe Web site of the Catholic Church Archdiocesan Archive in Pozna .This part of PIASA’s Web site may be especially useful for Americanresearchers.

Path to Web Sites Dealing with Preservation Issues

The Archival Information Center of PIASA seeks to help historiansfind relevant information on archival collections as well as to advisearchivists from Polish archives in the U.S.A. how to preserve archivalmaterials. PIASA will further develop this part of their Web site,adding access to other Internet sites dealing with this subject.

CONCLUSION

PIASA’s Web site will be updated approximately every third week,

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so soon it will contain much more information. With the assistance ofvarious organizations that hold Polish collections, PIASA hopes topublish additional information regarding Polish archives in the UnitedStates. This site is one of the first projects to create a Polish ethnic pathto archival resources and it is hoped that it will be a significant aid forresearchers studying the history of Poles in North America.

NOTES

1. Links to information about the AMC database in the RLIN online union catalogcan be found at the PIASA Web site that is the subject of this paper. Click on‘‘Archives in the USA and in the World.’’ The information includes links whichallow access to the database via the Library of Congress. Most of the other sitesmentioned here can be found there as well.--Ed. Polish archives which have includeddescriptions of some of their collections in the RLIN AMC (Archival and MixedCollections): Archive of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Archive of the PolishAcademy of Arts & Sciences in Cracow, Divisions of Special Collections at Jagiello-nian University in Cracow and University of Wroc aw.

2. Roman Nir, Sources for the History of Polish-Americans (Orchard Lake, Michi-gan: Central Archives of American Polonia in Orchard Lake, 1982); Roman Nir,‘‘Polskie zbiory archiwalne w Stanach Zjednoczonych’’ (Polish Archival Collectionsin the United States), in lady Polsko ci: Polonia i emigracja w wietle bada irode historycznych (Warszawa, 1999), 148-190.3. Muzea, biblioteki, archiwa polskie na Zachodzie [Online]. Available: http://

www.poloniaweb.com/biblioteka/mabpz/. (7 May 2000).4. Important links to the some of these resources can be found on such Web sites

as those at the University of Minnesota’s Immigration History Research Center anduniversity Slavic studies centers and their libraries and guides at Stanford, Indiana,Yale, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and others.