Special Collections: Polish

Bienkowska (Danuta) Papers.

Bienkowska taught Russian and Polish studies at the University of Toronto’s Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures until her death in 1974.  She worked closely with the Polish community in Canada.  The collection contains such items as diaries written in Poland during World War II.  Also included are academic papers, class notes and personal correspondence.

Call number:
Ms Coll. 176
Physical description:
4 boxes and items
Location:
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
Extent:
[1939-1945]-1974
Language region:

Polish

Brock (Peter De Beauvoir) Records.

Peter Brock (1920-2006) was a professor of History at the University of Toronto from 1966, and a pre-eminent specialist in Polish and East European history.  He obtained doctoral degrees in history from the Jagiellonian University of Kracow, Poland, and Oxford University. Besides the University of Toronto, he taught in history departments at the University of Alberta, Smith College, and Columbia University.

His papers include correspondence, certificates and diplomas, lecture notes, memoranda, notes for and drafts of manuscripts, and other material related to his personal and professional activities.

Physical description:
12 boxes; 1 framed diploma
Location:
University Archives
Accession number:
B2008-0030
Extent:
1948-2005
Language region:

Polish

Declassified Documents Reference System--US Government Documents Archive. Primary Source Media.

The Declassified Documents Reference System provides online access to over 500,000 pages of previously classified United States government documents. Covering major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond, this single source enables users to locate key information underpinning studies in international relations, American studies, United States foreign and domestic policy studies, journalism and more. A wide range of documents is devoted to the Soviet Union, selected Soviet republics, and its satellite states in Eastern Europe. Highlights include U.S. intelligence reports on Ukrainian nationalists at the end of the Second World War as possible allies in case of a war with the Soviet Union; the Budapest Uprising of 1956; the Czechoslovak crisis of 1968; the Polish strikes and the Solidarnosc movement, etc.

Location:
Online
Language region:

Czech & Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Russian & Soviet, Ukrainian

Dissent in Poland: Publications and Manuscripts, from KARTA Center Foundation Archives in Warsaw, Poland. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Microfilm, 2005.

The KARTA Center was founded in Warsaw in 1982 and serves as the archive of record for documenting the history of opposition and dissent in post-World War II Poland. The three archives included in this collection include the Solidarity movement archive, the Eastern archive, and the Opposition archive. The material covers the formation and activity of the Independent Autonomous Trade Union (Solidarnosc) as well as materials on other independent community, social and political groups. There are also memoirs, diaries and reminiscences of those who witnessed firsthand the life in the Eastern borderlands during the Second Polish Republic, the fate of Polish citizens in the Soviet Union and under the Soviet occupation and their displacement after World War II, as well as personal documents relating to everyday life in the People's Republic of Poland between 1944 and 1990.

Call number:
mfm JC599 .P6 D55 2005
Physical description:
115 reels
Location:
Media Commons
Language region:

Polish

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports.

Created by U.S. Presidential directive during World War II and at first placed under the Federal Communications Commission in 1941, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) was later transferred to the War Department, and then to the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947.

The original mission of FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. These translations, or transcriptions in the case of English language materials, make up the Daily Reports.

The FBIS Daily Reports collection is divided into two chronological segments: 1941-1974 and 1974-1996. FBIS Daily Reports, 1941-1974, consists of a single Daily Report publication. FBIS Daily Reports, 1974-1996, is comprised of eight separate regional Daily Reports, of which Part 6 pertains to Eastern Europe (EEU), and Part 7 to the Soviet Union and Central Eurasia (SOV). Regional coverage for eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is also included for the years 1968 to 1974.

The reports includes news, interviews, speeches, editorial commentary, and other materials.

Location:
Online
Extent:
1941-1996
Language region:

Armenian, Baltic, Belarusian, Czech & Slovak, Estonian, Finnish, General Slavic, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Russian & Soviet, South Slavic, Ukrainian

Godlewski (Karol) Collection.

A collection of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and images related to Poland, with a focus on the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, assembled by Count Emeryk Hutten Czapski. The earliest item in the collection from 1505 is Erazm Ciolek's Oratio in praestia obedientia Soleni Sanctissimo nostro Julio II, Pape, in nominee serenissimi principis Alexandri Regi Polonia. The subject matter of the material includes texts written by Terence and Plutarch, biographies of Polish kings, details of famous battles, poetry books, and other topics.

Call number:
Search library catalogue for call no. "hutt"
Location:
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
Language region:

Polish

Krieger (Cecilia) Records.

Cecilia Krieger (1894-1974) was the first woman, and the third person overall, to earn a doctorate in mathematics from a Canadian University (1930).  While still a graduate student at the University of Toronto, she was appointed as an instructor in mathematics in 1928, and became a lecturer in mathematics and physics in 1931 after spending some time at Göttingen upon completion of her degree.  After 12 years she was promoted to assistant professor at the University of Toronto and taught at that rank until her retirement in 1962.  Her best known contributions to mathematics were the translations of two books on topology by Waclaw Sierpinski.

Much of the correspondence is in Polish and is from Waclaw Sierpinski, the Polish mathematician whose work she translated for her doctorate.

Physical description:
1 file
Location:
University Archives
Accession number:
B2003-0019
Extent:
1930-1964
Language region:

Polish

Letter from Igor Belza (a musician) to Dr. John B.C. Watkins (Canadian ambassador to Russia, 1954-1956). Moscow, 1956.

Letter from Igor Belza (a musician) to Dr. John B.C. Watkins (Canadian ambassador to Russia, 1954-1956) concerning the death of Reinhold Glière; Belza’s new book, History of Polish Musical Culture and other publications.

Call number:
General manuscripts, Box 1, Folder 23
Location:
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (General manuscripts)
Language region:

Polish

Madill (Henry Harrison) Records.

Henry Harrison Madill (1889-1988) graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in architecture in 1912 and joined the faculty.  His architectural designs include the North Toronto Collegiate Institute, as well as the Thomas Foster Memorial in Uxbridge, among other works.  As an officer in the cadet corps, he helped train Polish troops at Niagara-on-the-Lake during the First World War.

The papers include a series of photos dealing with the 'Polish Army in Canada' during World War I.

Physical description:
1 box textual; 4 boxes graphic
Location:
University Archives
Accession number:
B1977-0029
Extent:
1903-1970
Language region:

Polish

Nazism in Poland: the diary of Governor-General Hans Frank.. Frank, Hans.. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, 2013..

This collection reproduces the Tagebuch or journal of Dr. Hans Frank (1900-1946), the Governor-General of German-occupied Poland from October 1939 until early 1945. The journal is in typed format, in chronological order, covering all aspect of Generalgouvernment (GG) administration from its seat in the royal Wawel castle in Krakau (Kraków). The entries reflect administrative matters, rather than the spontaneous thoughts or feelings usually found in a diary.

Location:
Online
Extent:
1939-1945
Language region:

Judaica, Polish

NSZZ “Solidarnosc” and Independent Publications from Poland.

This collection contains material by members of Solidarity and other Polish and international workers' movements. It includes newspaper clippings, typescript articles, graphic material, audio cassettes, medals, stamps, artifacts, and other ephemera. The collection was established in 1982 and continues to grow as a result of donations from private donors.  It consists of twenty-six boxes arranged into five series:
pre-Solidarity, Solidarity legal, martial law, post-martial law, and microfilm and visual art.

Printed material--books, pamphlets, and periodicals--have been catalogued separately and can be searched under the call number "solid".

Call number:
Search library catalogue for call no. "solid"
Location:
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
Language region:

Polish

Poland: records of the U.S. Department of State, 1945-1963. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, 2016..

A collection of reports on politics and military affairs, statistics, interviews, meeting minutes, court proceedings and diplomatic cables.

Location:
Online
Language region:

Polish

Polish Biographical Archive = Polskie Archiwum Biograficzne. compiled by D. Hebig, H. Petrak and U. Richter. Munich: K.G. Saur, 1992-.

The collection (with the supplement edited by Gabriele Baumgartner) includes biographical information drawn from 180 reference works published from the 17th through the 20th centuries. The biographies were taken from Polish sources, from international biographical collections and also from German, Russian, French, English and Latin documents from the period of the 17th century until approximately 1945. It contains information on clans, families and individuals, providing a complete picture of the historical, political, social and cultural development of Poland.

Call number:
mfe CT1230 .P55 1992
Location:
Robarts Reference Department
Extent:
356 fiche
Language region:

Polish

Polish Independent Publications 1976-: Solidarnosc. Zug, Switzerland: IDC, 1985-.

This collection is based on the extensive holdings of Radio Free Europe in Munich and the Polish Library Posk in London. It includes unique primary source materials representing a wide range of opposition and dissent periodicals up to 1988, covering: uncensored periodicals 1976-December 12th, 1981; Solidarnosc periodicals 1976-December 12th, 1981; martial law and underground periodicals, Dec. 1981+; and memographs, December 1981.

Call number:
mfe DK .P645 1985
Physical description:
628 fiche
Location:
Media Commons
Language region:

Polish

Polish Legions, the: Documentary Materials. State Archive of the Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Minneapolis, MN: East View Information Services, 2005.

The Polish Legions were formed in June 1917 by Poles serving in the tsarist army.  They aspired for reviving the Polish state and incorporating western Ukraine.  The collection includes orders by the High Command, personnel listings, local Polish military newspapers, minutes of conferences held by Polish officers, and materials on the Legion's disbandment.

Call number:
mfm DK265.9 .F52 P656 2005
Physical description:
30 reels
Location:
Media Commons
Extent:
1917-1918
Language region:

Polish

Polish Uprising of 1830-1831: Documents of the Kiev Governorship Investigative Commission. Minneapolis, MN: East View Information Services.

The Kiev Province Committee was established by Tsar Nicholas I to investigate the extent of guilt of the individuals involved in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831.  This collection comprises a total of 432 investigative files that cover the organization and operation of the Committee; the bringing of people to military court; conscriptions into the army; police surveillance; and investigation records.

Call number:
Ordered-received
Physical description:
36 reels
Location:
Media Commons
Language region:

Polish

Potichnyj (Peter J.) Book Collection on Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Ukraine, 1941-1954.

The Potichnyi collection includes German, Polish, Ukrainian, KGB and other documents related to the Ukrainian underground movement. Also included are extensive correspondence, clippings and other documents pertaining to the Ukrainian underground.

Call number:
Ms. Coll. 332
Physical description:
244 boxes
Location:
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
Extent:
1941-1954
Language region:

Polish, Russian & Soviet, Ukrainian

Potichnyj (Peter J.) Collection on Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Ukraine. Warsaw: Biblioteka Narodowa, 1990?.

The Peter J. Potichnyi Collection contains two large groups of documents: those representing the insurgency and counter-insurgency in Ukraine and covering the period 1941-1954. Part one consists of insurgency documents that relate directly to the Ukrainian Liberation Movement. This collection contains documents from the Polish Ministry of Public Security (Ministerstwo Bezpieczenstwa Publicznego) for the period 1945-1948. The second part of this collection includes material from the Polish Security Archives, and contains Ukrainian underground documents captured by the Polish forces in 1947-1948.

Finding aid available in the PJRC.

Call number:
mfm DK508.79 .P482 1990
Physical description:
16 reels
Location:
Media Commons
Language region:

Polish, Ukrainian

Rosenfarb (Chava) Papers.

Chava Rosenfarb (1923-2011) is one of the most important Yiddish novelists and writers of the second half of the twentieth century.

Her papers include drafts and proofs of The Tree of Life [Der Boym Fun Lebn]; Bociany [a novel about life in a Polish shtetl] and Of Lodz and Love; Survivors [translated from the Yiddish by Goldie Morgentaler]; address and daybooks; most of the printed manuscript of Briv tsu Abrashn; Bird of the Ghetto; correspondence with family, friends, authors, editors and publishers, including Isaac Bashevis Singer, printer and publisher Israel London, Elaine Kalman Naves, and other material related to the life and work of author Chava Rosenfarb.

Call number:
Ms. Coll. 00009
Physical description:
12 boxes (2.5 metres)
Location:
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
Extent:
[194-]-[200-]
Language region:

Judaica, Polish

Shtendera, Ievhen : osobovyi arkhiv : misiia UPA za kordonom, from the Central State Archive of the Highest Organs of Government and Administration of Ukraine, Kiev. Edited by Myroslav Onyshkevych. Rochester, NY: Applied Image Inc., 1993.

Ievhen Shtendera was a member of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) from 1943 to 1948. He emigrated to West Germany where he studied at the Ukrainian Free University, and co-edited a number of nationalist periodicals. Shtendera immigrated to Canada in 1956. He has served as managing editor of the mult-volume Litopys UPA (Chronicle of the UPA) since 1976. His papers (1932-2004) consist of biographical material, correspondence, newspaper clippings, publications, and other documents relating to the UPA, and memoirs of UPA soldiers.

Call number:
mfm DK508.834 .T74
Physical description:
68 reels
Location:
Media Commons
Extent:
1932-2004
Language region:

Polish, Ukrainian