Tomasz Skrzyński

The Archive of Science
of the Polish Academy of Sciences
and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences

 

From the Past and the Present

The Archive has it's roots in the 19th cent. Their beginnings trace back to the archives1 attached to the Cracow Learned Society, in existence since 1815. Secretaries of the Society, who handed over the files basing on the delivery-acceptance certificates, subsequently provided a special care for the archives. With the passing of years, the archive collection was enriched mostly with the manuscripts by the Society members2, minutes of general meetings, minutes of the meetings of Branches and committees as well as the correspondence. Efforts were made to collect scientific materials left by the deceased members of the Cracow Learned Society. In 1830 a student of the Jagiellonian University, later an economist, Mieczysław Bochniak, was the first person to undertake the task of ordering the files. Within the first decades the records were kept in the private flat of the secretary. The situation changed in 1860 when the Society completed the construction of its building in Cracow, at 17 Sławkowska Street.

Nothing changed when in 1873, as a result of the transformation of the Cracow Learned Society, the Academy of Arts and Sciences - AU (later: the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences - PAU) - was founded. Since then general secretaries of the Academy supervised the archives subsequently3. They functioned as current archives. The files were kept in cabinets in the office. Materials of the Cracow Learned Society also belonged to the holdings. Until the outbreak of the World War II the archives were closely connected with the current records. The Academy's commissions were active in the field of archive studies too. The materials prepared by them were stored separately, most frequently in rooms belonging to the commissions or in private flats of their secretaries. The manuscripts received as gifts as well as personal archives (legacies) and family archives were gathered by the Academy in its Library. In 1930s, in connection with the works of a special commission which was appointed by the Academy Board and headed by secretary-general of the PAU, former assistant of the Town and Land Registry Archives in Cracow, Stanisław Kutrzeba, the records of the Society, AU and PAU were put in order under the supervision of assistant manager of the office Stanisław Nowogrodzki4.

The autumn of 1939 brought a dramatic change. After the German occupier had treacherously arrested Cracow scholars, the official activities of the Academy were interrupted. Nazis occupied its buildings and the files were removed from the office. While being transported, they were partially relocated. In 1940 and in 1943 they were moved from the Academy's buildings in Sławkowska Street and in Straszewskiego Street to Staatsarchiv des Distrikts Krakau (the State Archives of the Cracow District of General-Gouvernement) at 6 Św. Anny (St. Anna) Street. During the war the PAU materials were segregated. Władysław Semkowicz, a famous historian, worked out the repertorium (repertory, catalogue) of the records. In the spring of 1944, as the front line was getting closer and closer, a part of the materials selected by him was moved to the cloister of the Benedictine Fathers in Tyniec.

After the liberation of Cracow, as a result of the Academy's revival, the archives returned to the PAU5 in the spring. In comparison with other similar institutions in Poland, the holdings sustained relatively slight loss within the period of war. In 1952 it was estimated at 10%6.

In 1945, few weeks after the Cracow's liberation from the hands of the Nazi occupier, Władysław Semkowicz put forward a proposal to create a position of "archiwariusz" (archive manager). Unfortunately, after the hecatomb of the war, the institution faced more serious and urgent problems7.

Within the years 1945-1949 the materials were stored both in the office and in the library storerooms8. Special celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Academy foundation held in 1948 accelerated the employment of the archive workers. The papers and studies prepared for that occasion resulted in the increased need of preliminary archival research. Moreover, the Academy structures produced their records in larger numbers after the war. In the spring of 1949 two persons were employed (including Jadwiga Łępicka). In March 1951 Danuta Rederowa, a graduate from the Jagiellonian University and a student of Prof. Jan Dąbrowski, was appointed managing director. In those days the Archive stored the office records from the years 1873-1914 and the materials of the Cracow Learned Society. In 1951 some space for the archives was separated from the storerooms of the Library. The Library Council headed by secretary-general of the Academy directly supervised the Archive.

The Archive started its functioning as a separate unit within the years when communist authorities gradually forced the PAU to stop its activities. Hence, the most important task was to protect and store records of the Academy's structures and units taken over by the newly established Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). In June and December 1952 the PAU's secretary-general Jan Dąbrowki submitted relevant letters addressed to the authorities of appropriated units9.

On December 31 1952 the PAU's Archive formally went out of existence. The Archival Department was founded in the PAU Library taken over by the PAN. Danuta Rederowa was appointed its director. With the constant inflow of files from the PAU units forced to close down, the quantity of archival materials was increasing. Moreover, the department stored also the materials of the Academy of Medical Sciences (the predecessor of the Class of Medicine of the PAU), of the 14th Congress of Polish Physicians and Naturalists (1933) and fragments of materials belonging to Julian Dunajewski (1824-1907) and Marian Sokołowski (1839-1911).

In December 1953, however, it became quite clear that it was only a temporary solution. Together with the establishment of the PAN the PAN's Archives were organised in Warsaw. Soon strong measures were taken in order to found the Branch of the PAN Archives in Cracow (which lasted until the middle of 1955). The branch started its activities already on 1 December 1954 when its first worker was employed. It was Jan Poradzisz MA, a many-year head of the branch, a former student of Jan Dąbrowski.

The archival holdings were handed over from the PAN Library in Cracow on 6 June 1955. Since then, for many years (until 1972) only two persons, i.e. the director and one worker performed all the tasks10. Their responsibility was to collect and work out records of the Cracow Learned Society and of the PAU, to take over materials of the PAN units, to gather legacies of scholars, to created indexes, to prepare source materials for their publishing, to carry out preliminary surveys and to make archival materials available for research. The bonds with the Library still existed, and the Archive's space was a part of the Library's storerooms. The archival materials were stored in cabinets and folders that had belonged to the PAU and on the bookshelves belonging to the furniture of the library room. In June 1969 the holdings were moved from the former rooms of the PAN Library to a cramped room in the annexe of the building at 17 Sławkowska Street. The PAN Archives in Warsaw decided to take care of the increasing holdings of the PAN and started visiting their scientific posts.

In the face of a total lack of storing space reserve (the whole collection was kept in one room), the Archives were temporarily moved to a three times bigger several-room office at Senacka 1 Street. It was a result of several years of efforts made by the head of the department.

It was not earlier than in 1980's when the holdings were moved to the newly redecorated place at 26 Św. Jana (26 St. John) Street, where they have been stored till now. Initially the Archives occupied only a part of this historic tenement house that had been purchased within the period between the wars by the PAU's secretary-general Stanisław Kutrzeba using the fund that Felicja Nemetzowa bequeathed to the PAU.

Within this period more materials from the PAN units and scientific societies as well as legacies of scholars connected with Cracow scientific circles started to flow in. The largest group was the materials of humanists (philologists, historians, geologists and orientalists were predominating). The traditions of the PAU and of storing its records proved to be very helpful.

At the end of 2001 The Branch of the PAN Archives had 50 office sets and 140 private legacies. The reference library counted 2289 volumes of books and 1338 volumes of periodicals11.

In 1989, after the fall of the communist regime, the PAU was reactivated. The steps were taken in order to reconstruct its archives. They took over mainly materials connected with the attempts at the resumption of the Academy's activities within the years 1956-1958 as well as current scientific and publishing documents, legacies of scholars (e.g. of Henryk Barycz, vice-president of the PAU) and the materials connected with the opening of the PAU Station in New York in 199412. The tenement where the Branch of the PAN Archives was located returned soon to its owner. In 1994 the General Assembly of the PAU adopted the resolution for the necessity of the foundation of the Archives of the Polish Science. This initiated efforts made to take over the Branch of the PAN Archives in Cracow13.

As a result of many-year negotiations between the PAU and the PAN, as approved by Chief Executive of the State Archives, on 1 April 2002 the Archives of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences and of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (AN PAN i PAU) were founded. It was established according to the resolution of the presidium (executive committee) of the PAN of 9 October 2001 as an auxiliary scientific unit. It functions in accordance with an agreement concluded on 3 April 2002 between the two Academies, which was the basis for the formal merger of the two archives. The newly created independent institution is subordinate directly to the President of the Cracow Branch of the PAN. The Scientific Council is appointed by the PAN and the PAU (on a fifty-fifty basis)14. Both the Academies bear the costs of the functioning of the Archives15. Apart from archival holdings the institution manages also valuable book collections of the PAU Archives (the book collection of Prof. Henryk Barycz)16 and of the PAU (The Book Collection of the Lanckorońskis from Rozdół).

On the day of their opening, the Archives had c.a. 1157 running metres of files. Until the end of 2003 it increased to 1201 running metres. Beside the records of the Cracow Learned Society (1815-1872), of the Academy of Arts and Sciences (AU) and of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU), the Archives gather materials of other social institutions, such as the Polish Geological Society, Cracow Branch of the Polish Historical Society, Polish Pharmacological Society, Polish Linguistic Society, Society of the Polish Language Lovers and Society for Polish-Indian Friendship.

The materials of the PAN are larger that those mentioned above. One may list here, for instance, the records of the Institute for the Environment Protection, Institute of Taxonomy and Evolution of Animals, Department of the Polish Biographical Dictionary of the Institute of History, Department of the Biology of Waters, Department of Geomorphology and Hydrology of Mountains and Uplands of the Institute of Geography and Town and Country Management, Department of the Dictionary of Medieval Latin, Cracow Branch of the PAN and numerous commissions and teams attached to it. The materials of the Research team for the History of Education within the years of the Nazi occupation 1939-1945 are the files most frequently used by scholars.

The scholars' legacies (183 archival sets - as established in 2004) include extremely diversified materials. They cover a vast array of scientific fields, including geology, history, Arabic studies, Iranian studies, physics, Turkish studies, geography, zoology, medicine, biochemistry, soil science, archaeology, mathematics and psychology17. The main part of the holdings includes records originated in the 19th and 20th cent. The most important files are materials concerning Mongolia (starting from the 17th cent), yet there are many others worth mentioning, such as thousands of photographs, films and slides from the 19th and 20th cent. (especially those taken by Walery Goetel in Africa, India and in the Tatra Mountains), documents connected with Cyprian Kamil Norwid (the legacy of Antoni Waga), vast correspondence (e.g. in Hungarian, Turkish, Mongolian or Hebrew), numerous decorations and medals (e.g. French, Serbian and Mongolian) and extracts from the press (e.g. Swedish). One can find also some information concerning publishing activities of various specialist periodicals, e.g. "Onomastica", "Roczniki Gleboznawcze" ["Soil Science Annuals"] as well as articles or reviews that were to be included in the 4th fascicle of "Dawna Sztuka" ["Old Art"] which was not published because of the outbreak of the war, or recently published last issue of "Kwartalnik Filozoficzny" ["Philosophic Quarterly'] of 1950. The stored items include printed or remaining in manuscript versions of many-lingual studies on different subject matters, for instance: "Rokoko Lwowskie" ["Lvov's Rococo"] (Tadeusz Mańkowski), "Jan III Sobieski" (Kazimierz Piwarski), "Grecka poezja ludowa" ["Greek Folk Poetry"] (Seweryn Hammer), "Atlas siatek kartograficznych" ["Atlas of graticules"] (Franciszek Uhorczak), "Słownik Gwary Rumuńskiej" ["Dictionary of Romanian Local Dialects"] (Witold Truszkowski), "Szermierka bronią sieczną" ["Fencing with Side Arms"] (Marian Tokarski), "O elektrycznym pomiarze zmian wilgotności gleb uprawnych" ["On electric Measurement of the Changes in Humidity in Topsoil"] (Jan Sołtys), "Zarys dziejów techniki hutniczej" {An Outline of the History of Metallurgic Technology"] (Mieczysław Radwan), "Kultura materialna Egei" [" Material Culture of Aegea"] (Jerzy Pilecki). There are also materials connected with scientific and organisational activities of the PAN and of the PAU, as well as of the Jagiellonian University, Academy of Mining and Metallurgy, and other Polish and foreign colleges, universities or academies, and of various Scientific Societies (especially in Warsaw and in Lvov). Other archival items contain rich archival and iconographic materials from congresses organised in Poland and abroad, in which representatives of many disciplines participated. Additionally, there are materials documenting the activities of various organisations (e.g. Legions, Underground, "Solidarity" Trade Union as well as Provincial Jewish Committee in Cracow), societies (e.g. Polish-Austrian Society), or political groups or parties (PPR, PPS, SD). The workshop materials comprise e.g. lyrics and scores of songs of the Bushmen and of the Hottentots, data related to the economy and agriculture of Madagascar, information about St. Gregory of Nanzianzus, the card index of the members of the Polish Democratic Society, geologic maps of Romania and Morocco, and source excerpts from the manuscript or archival collections not always in existence nowadays (Biblioteka Krasińskich - the Krasińskis Library) both from Poland and from abroad. Rich biographic materials include family documents, diaries, albums, calendars, words of wisdom and genealogic notes. Sometimes they are materials of several generations (e.g. Stanisław Kutrzeba). There are also several museum pieces, for instance biological preparations (Henryk Hoyer Senior and Junior, Zygmunt Grodziński), physical instruments (Henryk Niewodniczański), flail miniatures (Kazimierz Nitsch). New acquisitions of the Archives of Sciences are presented in ":Rocznik Oddziału PAN" ["The PAN Branch Annual"] and in "Rocznik PAU" ["The PAU Annual"].

Being a specialised scientific unit, the Archives of Science gather mainly scientific sources for the history of science, that is archival materials of scientific institutions and societies and legacies of scholars. The ordering of these sets requires specific methodology.

Several monographs related to the history of science were written basing on the archival holdings18. The archives' book collection supervised by a librarian is adequate to respond to scientific needs. Especially valuable for such purposes is the book collection of Henryk Barycz, an eminent historian of science and culture. Another set, namely the Book Collection of the Lanckorońskis from Rozdół, includes many rare and valuable publications, e.g. Old Polish calendars (17th-18th cent.). Both these collections make a perfect example of the links between a legacy and the book collection of its builder. They number c.a. 6,000 and 3,000 volumes respectively and they belong to the PAU but they remain under the management of the PAN. The reference library holds 4,100 volumes. Apart from the gathered legacies there are also extensive collections of the publications by the owners of private archives (sometimes a full set), prints with dedications and lists of studies.

The function of the present institution (AN PAN i PAU) is to archive the records of scientific units of the PAN located within the range of the Cracow Branch of the PAN. Moreover, it influences the structure of archival holdings of both Academies by consulting archival matters and collaborates with the State Archives in Cracow on the supervision of the increasing holdings of scientific units of the PAN.

Together with the PAU the Archives organise (twice a year) exhibitions in a cycle: In the Service of Science. On June 18 the sixteenth exhibition devoted to Władysław Natanson, a great physicist, was opened and the next one devoted to Wincenty Lutosławski, a famous philosopher, is planned to open on November 19. The exhibitions are connected with scientific meetings. Their fruit in a form of successive volumes of the series is based mainly on the records of the Archives of the Science (AN PAN i PAU). Additionally, according to the tradition, occasional exhibitions are organised.

The Archives workers participate in the meetings of some Commissions of both Academies. Special importance is attached to the collaboration with the Commission for the History of Science of the PAU, which is headed by Prof. Adam Strzałkowski, who is at the same time the president of the Archives Scientific Council. The representative of the Archives are always present at the meetings of the commission. Some meetings of the Commission are organised in the reading room of the Archives.

The collaboration with other archives and libraries of similar character, both in Poland (e.g. the Archives of the PAN in Warsaw and their Branches, especially in Poznań, the Archives of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, the State Archives, the Archives of the Southern Province of the Jesuit Fathers, the Scientific Library of the PAU and the PAN in Cracow) and abroad (e.g. the Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, the Helveto-Polonicum Archives in Freiburg, the Polish Scientific Institute in America) is becoming more and more effective. The Archives staff participate in scientific session, often presenting their scientific papers or reports (e.g. the 4th General Congress of Polish Archivists in Szczecin, the 1st International Archival Session devoted to "Unknown Source Materials Related to the History of Bochnia").

What is particularly worth mentioning is the collaboration with the Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The research project entitled Kontakty naukowe i kulturalne między Czechami a Galicją w XIX i XIX w (Scientific and Cultural Contacts between Bohemia and Galicia in the 19th and 20th cent.) carried out within the confines of the contract between the PAN and the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague is expected to produce a number of publications. There are also other projects run currently, such as the correspondence between Tadeusz Kowalski and Jan Rybka (to be published in the nearest future) and the preparation of the inventory of the PAU and the list of its members19.

 

  • 1 -  The term "archives" when refers to the period of the 19th cent. and the beginning of the 20th cent. is understood differently than today. The present text is a corrected and updated version of an article published in "Archiwista Polski ", 2004, no. 1.
  • 2 -  The materials were handed over to the later established Library of the PAU
  • 3 -  D. Rederowa, Wstęp in: Inwentarz Archiwum Towarzystwa Naukowego Krakowskiego, Kraków 1959, pp. 27-30.
  • 4 -  R. Majkowska, Archiwum Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności - dzieje, zasób, stan opracowania, "Krakowski Rocznik Archiwalny", 1996, vol. II, pp. 72, 77, 79.
  • 5 -  Archives of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences and of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (AN PAN i PAU), PAU I - 11, records of the PAU Board of Jan. 26, March 12 and May 12, 1945, k. 1705, 1707, 1710, 1713, 1725; A. Kamiński, Diariusz podręczny 1939-1945, Warszawa 2001, pp. 10, 14, 20-23, 76, 255, 260, 281-287, 290, 293-294, 331, 333; J. Semkowiczowa, "Życie i działalność Prof. Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego Władysława Semkowicza", Kraków-Zakopane-Wola Justowska 1949-1953, a typescript from the legacy of W. Semkowicz, K III - 56, j. 199, k. 564-565, 568; M. Friedberg, Archiwa i biblioteki krakowskie in: Kraków pod rządami wroga 1939-1945, J. Dąbrowski ed., Kraków 1946, pp. 99, 107.
  • 6 -  Sprawozdanie z czynności i wydawnictw PAU do lipca 1951 do grudnia 1952, in: "Rocznik PAU", 1947-1952, Kraków 1953, p. 294.
  • 7 -  For more information about the revival of the PAU after the war see: P. Hübner, Sila przeciw rozumowi. Losy Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności w latach 1939-1989, kraków 1994, pp. 12-30.
  • 8 -  R. Majkowska, Dzieje, zawartość i stan opracowania zasoby archiwalnego Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności, in: "Rocznik PAU" 1990, pp. 168-169, 175.
  • 9 -  R. Majkowska, Archiwum....., pp. 73, 79.
  • 10 -  R. Majkowska, Kalendarium Oddziału APAN w Krakowie, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the PAN Archives foundation, "Biuletyn Archiwum PAN", no. 44 (in press); see also: Sprawozdanie z działalności Biblioteki PAN w Krakowie za 1 I 1953-31 XII 1954, in: "Rocznik Biblioteki PAN w Krakowie", 1955, R. I, pp. 303, 311-312; Sprawozdanie z działalności Biblioteki PAN w Krakowie za 1955, in: "Rocznik Biblioteki PAN w Krakowie", 1956, R. II, pp. 459, 467.
  • 11 -  Archives of the Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences and of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (AN PAN i PAU), a copy of the record of activities performed by the Cracow members of the Commission for the separation of the Branch of the PAN Archives in Cracow.
  • 12 -  R. Majkowska, Archiwum..., pp. 76-79; R. Majkowska, Czterdziestolecie Oddziału Archiwum PAN w Krakowie - spojrzenie w przeszłość i przyszłość, "Krakowski Rocznik Archiwalny", 1995, vol. I, pp. 171-172; R. Majkowska, Kalendarium...
  • 13 -  For more information see: Informacja Sekretarza Generalnego PAU o stanie spraw Akademii, marzec 1994, "Rocznik PAU", 1993/1994, pp. 93, 97; Protokół Walnego Zgromadzenia PAU z 25 czerwca 1994, ibid., pp. 103-104; Informacja Sekretarza Generalnego PAU o sprawach bieżących Akademii z 19 listopada 1994, "Rocznik PAU", 1994/1995, p. 65; see: R. Majkowska, Archiwum Nauki - idea i rzeczywistość, in: Archiwa Polskie wobec wyzwań XXI wieku, D. Nałęcz ed., vol. II, Warszawa 1998.
  • 14 -  The Archives' director and the representative of the workers belong ex officio to the Scientific Council too.
  • 15 -  See: Sprawozdanie sekretarza generalnego PAU za okres czerwiec 2001 - czerwiec 2002, "Rocznik PAU", 2001/2002, p. 144.
  • 16 -  For more information see: B. Mikulaścik, "Księgozbiór Henryka Barycza w zbiorach Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności", vol. 1-2, Kuaków 1997, typescript of the MA thesis (in AN PAN i PAU).
  • 17 -  See, e.g.: AN PAN i PAU, Sprawozdanie z działalności Archiwum Nauki PAN i PAU za rok 2002.
  • 18 -  Recently, e.g.: D. Rederowa, Z dziejów Towarzystwa Naukowego Krakowskiego 1815-1872. Karta z historii organizacji nauki polskiej pod zaborami, Kraków 1998; J. Piskurewicz, Prima inter pares, Polska Akademia Umiejętności w latach II Rzeczypospolitej, Kraków 1998; P. Hübenr, Siła przeciw rozumowi... Losy Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności w latach 1939-1989, Kraków 1994; in series: :"Studia i Materiały do dziejów Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności" e.g.: P. Hübner, Od Towarzystwa Naukowego Krakowskiego do Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności, Kraków 2002; P. Köhler, Botanika w Towarzystwie Naukowym Krakowskim, Akademii Umiejętności i Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności (1815-1952), Kraków 2002; and also in series: "Monografie Komisji Historii Nauki PAU" and "Prace Komisji Historii Nauki PAU".
  • 19 -  See also: R. Majkowska, Archiwa naukowe jako przedpole dla historii i nauki w nowoczesnym społeczeństwie, in: Archiwa i archiwiści w dobie społeczeństwa informacyjnego, D. Nałęcz ed., vol. I, Toruń 2002, pp.220-227; R. Majkowska, Archiwum Nauki..., pp. 181-182; E. Dziurzyńska, Powstanie Archiwum Nauki Polskiej Akademii Nauk i Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie, "Krakowski Rocznik Archiwalny", 2003.