This article attempts to familiarise readers with the little-known figure of Adam Toryani, a representative of the Krakow judicial family of Italian-Swiss origin. Adam Toryani was undoubtedly in the shadow of his father, Franciszek I Toryani, an architect and Krakow councillor, as well as his brothers: Karol, a Krakow councillor and Franciszek II, a Krakow judge, and even his nephew Józef, a Krakow councillor and pharmacist as well as a doctor of canon and civil law. Through the marriage of Adam Toryani with a representative of the noble Skorupka-Padlewski family, settled in the area of the former Duchies of Oświęcim and Zator, there is also an attempt to show the fluidity of the inter-state borders in the former Republic. It is worth mentioning that the Toryani (Torriani) family coat of arms, the Della Torre, belonged to the old nobility of Lombardy-Switzerland, however, it did not obtain a Polish indygenat, or at least no information has been found on the subject. The article is accompanied by the edition of two related texts – the testament of Adam Toryani, written on 23 April 1756, and his posthumous inventory, prepared on 10 June 1757 by his wife, Marianna, née Skorupka-Padlewski.

23 June 1828 saw the funeral in Krakow of Tadeusz Kościuszko, who had died a year earlier. The corpse of the Commander was ceremoniously placed in Wawel Cathedral, and the Senate of the Free City of Krakow decided to commemorate him with a suitable monument. Numerous suggestions concerning its form appeared from the leaders of Krakow as well as its residents. It was decided to create a mound for the hero on Bronisława Hill, based on the already existing Krakus and Wanda mounds. A suitable resolution was passed Jak powstawał Kopiec Kościuszki w Krakowie... 63 by the Senate on 19 July 1820. A collection of necessary funds was initiated and the course of work was planned. The ceremonial inauguration took place on 16 October 1820. The Tadeusz Kościuszko Monument Construction Committee was established, with the aim of supervising the work and financial aspects of the undertaking. Local society actively participated in the activities, which were not without difficulties or unpleasant surprises of a technical or construction nature. The establishment of a settlement around the Mound was planned, with the residents taking care of the Mound, but was not carried out. On 25 October 1823, work on the construction of Kościuszko Mound ended. The surrounding area was developed and a road built. Maintenance work on the Mound continued and turned out to be a constant necessity. The Austrian powers accepted the existence of the Mound after the end of the Republic of Krakow, and in 1860 placed a granite stone with an inscription on its peak.

Organisation and range of competencies of the Salt Guards in the Free City of Krakow The article concerns the organisation and activities of the Salt Guards in the Free City of Krakow against a backdrop of the salt monopoly entered into by the authorities of the Republic of Krakow in the years 1815–1847. Salt was transported from the mine in Wieliczka. In the years 1816–1822 a salt monopoly was held by the private Salt Trading Company from Warsaw. Its partners, in exchange for the payment of fees, were awarded exclusive rights to transport and sell salt in the territory of the Republic of Krakow. It was also responsible for maintaining the Salt Guards, in cooperation with the police of the Free City of Krakow, preventing the smuggling of salt (“salt fraud”). In the years 1822–1842 the monopoly was granted to the government of the Kingdom of Poland. The contract conditions did not undergo major modification. The Salt Guards were subordinate, in terms of service, to the government of the Kingdom of Poland, and in terms of jurisdiction to the Senate of the Free City of Krakow. They wore uniforms with the emblems of the Free City of Krakow. It should be added that the principles behind the monopoly were connected with the conditions of the trading treaties between both countries (from 1823 and 1834). Due to the fact that they were not extended, from 1 June 1843, the sale of salt moved into the direct jurisdiction of the Free City of Krakow, which signed agreements with private entrepreneurs regarding the transport of salt to the city. They were Alfus Majer, Franciszek Ripper and Franciszek Dąbrowski. The Salt Administration of the Free City of Krakow was also established and consisted of: a head (M. Mączeński), scribe of the Salt Warehouse (O. Orłowski), controller (A. Oraczewski), warehouse guard, Salt Guards supervisor (W. Wilczyński) and over a dozen guards. The range of their duties was defined in instructions from 25, 27 and 31 May 1843. The head supervised the subordinate clerks, controlled the Salt Warehouse, and submitted reports to the Department of Public Income etc. The clerks of the Salt Administration were responsible for supplying the Salt Warehouse with salt. The guards had to prevent illegal attempts to transport salt to the Free City of Krakow and controlled the salt merchants etc. The Salt Administration functioned until 1847. It was liquidated due to the incorporation of the Republic of Krakow into the Austrian Empire and the resulting change in the owner of the salt monopoly. It should be added that income to the budget from the salt monopoly was quite significant during the whole period of the Free City of Krakow (from 120–195 thousand zloty per annum, in other words, 9–18% of the country’s total income). The work was based to a large extent on rich source materials stored in the National Archives in Krakow.

The genesis of studies into a patriciate of Krakow This article, prepared in connection with the 140th anniversary in 2016 of the birth of Jan Ptaśnik (1876–1930), recalls the man himself and an important fragment of the creativity of this highly-regarded historian. Born into a peasant family, Jan Ptaśnik – a pupil of Stanisław Krzyżanowski and Wincenty Zakrzewski – was connected with universities in Krakow, where he became a doctor at the age of thirty one, and Lviv, where in 1920 he became the head of a faculty, which he directed until his premature death in 1930. He was a pioneer of modern research into the history of culture and the history of towns and townspeople, as well as a valuable publisher. In the first part of the text, the Author presents the biography of the researcher, complementing former works as well as discussing his scientific achievements. The second part focuses, however, on J. Ptaśnik’s studies into the townspeople of Krakow in the XIII–XVI centuries, analysing this work, among others, in terms of the durability of the settings he established. It refers extensively to the achievements of later historiographies of Krakow, developing aspects initiated at the beginning of the XX century by J. Ptaśnik, simultaneously providing a picture of the knowledge about the level of high society in the city of Krakow during the Middle Ages.

The authorities of the Zionist Organisation of Western Malopolska (from 1920 the Zionist Organisation of Western Malopolska and Silesia) fulfilled the role from 1919 of Zionist headquarters in Krakow. Initially, its activities covered the area of Western Galicia to the River San in the east. In 1920, the area of activity was enlarged to include the part of Cieszyn Silesia added to Poland, and in 1922 part of Upper Silesia. In the beginning, it focused on all Jewish national movements, with the exception of the Poalej Zion-Right workers’ party. Rabbi Abraham Ozjasz Thon played a central role in the activities of the headquarters until 1936, although after 1926 his position was weakened. In 1925, an independent regional leadership structure was established for the Mizrachi Orthodox-Zionist party, and in 1927 for the left-wing Hitachduth party, which led to the beginning of separate headquarters. In 1926, a group of Zionist-revisionists appeared within the Zionist Organisation of Western Malopolska and Silesia, which in 1931 transformed into an independent party with its own headquarters. Due to the weakness of both left-wing parties, Hitachduth and Poalej Zion-Right in the years 1934–1936, their merger took place.

This article concerns a letter presumed to be from a senator in the pre-Partition Commonwealth of Poland, the Bishop of Krakow, Kajetan Ignacy Sołtyk (1715–1788), addressed to his fellow senators and members of the Polish government. The real author of the letter is unknown, but its contents indicate that he felt strongly about the struggles of the Bar confederates in the years 1768–1772 against Russian aggression in Poland and Lithuania. Therefore, he was most likely one of them. Their resistance was certainly fuelled by the unyielding endurance under Russian captivity of Bishop Sołtyk and his companions, as outlined in the letter presented. It also entered the depths of history to find important figures from Poland and Lithuania, such as: Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów, the Primate of Poland Jakub Uchański, Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, the Radziwiłłs, Prince Jeremi Michał Wiśniowiecki and John III Sobieski, and even ancient Roman heroes. Handwritten copies of the “Letter from the Bishop of Kraków” were kept at manor houses, serving to educate and inspire future generations in Poland and Lithuania to join military units to fight Russia. 

Aleksandra Czechówna (1839–1923) was the daughter of Tomasz Czech and Aleksandra, née Zielińska. Her “Journal from the whole life...”, written for almost 70 years (1856– 1923), is stored in the National Archives in Krakow, ref. no. 29/1582/1–29/1582/44 (former ref. no. IT 428/1–428/44). It represents a great source that depicts the cultural, social and daily life of Krakow in the second half of the 19th century, and the first two decades of the 20th century. The text placed here comes from two volumes of the “Journal”: volume 41, ref. no. 29/1582/41 (former ref. no. IT 428/41) and volume 42, ref. no. 29/1582/42 (former ref. no. IT 428/42). It represents a continuation of the entries concerning the first three years of World War I and describes the fourth year of the ongoing fight (see “Krakowski Rocznik Archiwalny” 2014, vol. 20, pp. 111–132; 2015, vol. 21, pp. 133–163; 2016, vol. 22, pp. 139–170). The presented text was written by a perceptive observer of events of great importance for Poles. The author mainly used press reports and clerical announcements, but also made use of personal accounts. The description of the situation is, therefore, incomplete, especially with regard to politics. It does, however, provide a wide range of information about the events taking place on the eastern front as well as in Krakow. It paints a picture of the increasingly difficult daily life, full of worries, sacrifices and shortages, of the residents of the city in the next year of the ongoing war. It also provides a description of the feeling of Poles, their constant uncertainty, fears and great expectations connected with recreating a Polish state. A. Czechówna was worried in particular by events in Russia and the fears concerning their potential influence on the war.

The text discusses changes that took place in the headquarters of the Archives concerning the organisation of archival material acquisition. While discussing the process which had the greatest influence on the size of the stored archival resources, the author reveals specific aspects connected with the functioning of a large archive with a dispersed local base and a lack of storage space during the construction of new headquarters. The text depicts the scale of acquisitions from workplace archives, donations and purchases. It also presents work on successive versions of the procedures concerning the acquisition of archival materials.

The National Archives in Krakow, in addition to its statutory tasks of developing the national archival resources, acquiring, storing, mapping, providing access to and safeguarding archival materials, also provides help to future pensioners by supplying them with information concerning the storage locations of personnel documentation from workplaces that have closed down. This article discusses the general principles according to which the Social Insurance Organisation (ZUS) awards pensions. Confirmation of employment periods and the submittal of all documentation necessary for calculation of the initial capital is of great importance here. Former employers issue the RP-7 form, which represents a certificate of employment with remuneration levels. If, for some reason, this is impossible, the future pensioner looks for documentation confirming that the employment took place and the level of contributions. The most interesting issue for applicants concerns searching for the storage location of personnel records. The relevant institution depends on the type of workplace. A few tips are presented, with reference to the most important factors while searching for personnel documentation. There is also a brief discussion regarding the archival units found in the National Archives in Krakow that contain this type of documentation, disproving the popular belief that personnel records from all of Poland (or their copies) are in its possession.