Wincenty Witos, a politician, the prime minister of the Republic of Poland, and the leader of the people’s movement was born on January 21, 1874 in Wierzchosławice outside of Tarnów. The year 2024 marks the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of this outstanding Pole and statesman’s birth, on which occasion the Sejm of the Republic of Poland on July 28, 2023 passed a resolution declaring 2024 as the year of Wincenty Witos.

The Manuscript Collection of the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow contains a large body of materials and memorabilia related to this long-standing leader of the people’s movement. The anniversary is an occasion to choose and discuss those most interesting and valuable of them. They consist of fragments of correspondence conducted by Witos, as well as letters addressed to him, both autographs and handwritten and typewritten copies. Another valuable source are personal documents of Wincenty Witos, tied mostly to his political activism, though among them are also fragments of the autograph of his memoir. Wincenty Witos, during his long-term public activity in the political life of Galicia, and later the Second Polish Republic, held state and parliamentary positions, as well as ones connected with his activism in the people’s movement, in the Manuscript Collection of the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow there is no shortage of official letters and papers documenting this activity. The last collection worth discussing is that of few but interesting photographs of this outstanding politician.