The years 1850–1918 were a period of intense development for the Jagiellonian and Lviv Universities. This process was especially visible when it comes to philological studies. On their example we can see the impact of reforms which stimulated the emergence of depatments and evolution of interests in scholarly research – from classical languages to modern philologies. The universities took up a conscious and independent process of building departments in the field of Romance and English languages, which added to their prestige. In the field of classical philology, after the first generation of German universities graduates, native scholars appeared. The Germanic departments were still entrusted to scholars from the German language areas, whereas for the Romance and English studies, they were given over to the alumni of Galician universities. Apart from the field of classical philology, the universities did not build up any major research programs. The scholars pursued their own broad interests, and because they had a great general humanistic foundation and knowledge of a few to dozen foreign languages, they developed numerous detailed studies, comparative studies and syntheses, and disseminated current research in textbooks and dictionaries.

The author discusses the creation of an ideal of a scholar and its implementation by the circles of English and German specialists at the Jagiellonian University in the interwar period. He con­siders how the academic activity was combined with “service for the state,” increasingly imposed by the reality of the time. The choice of university Germanists and Anglicists from Cracow results from the obvious interconnections between the two groups of scholars and from the fact that by using their example it is easy to see how their specific mission was understood, interpreted and how it translated into everyday business relations. It turns out that academic success did not always guarantee a high position or even remaining in the job. Often, they were determined by various completely different factors.

The influence of antiquity, especially of the heritage of Greece and Rome on Polish literature, as well as of the Latin literature on the development of the national language, resulted in valuable monographs and studies by classical philologists. Zygmunt Węclewski became a pioneer in the study of Polish-Latin poetry. His achievements were continued by Ludwik Ćwikliński and Bronisław Kruczkiewicz. In the interwar period, Jerzy Kowalski became famous for his brilliant translations and editions of Adam Mickiewicz’s Lausanne lectures. The greatest contributution from classical philologists to Polish literature came from Ryszard Ganszyniec. Also the Romanist Edward Porębowicz was an expert on Polish literature. His comparative studies included: the Baroque period, poetry of the Great Romantics, and poetry of the Young Poland. Another Romanist, Kazimierz Jarecki, contributed numerous articles devoted to Słowacki’s works. Lviv Germanicists, Richard Maria Werner and Emil Petzold, showed many unknown connections between Mickiewicz’s work and German literature. The only Lviv professor of the English studies, Władysław Tarnawski, published works on Cyprian Norwid and Jan Kasprowicz and popularized the works of Henryk Sienkiewicz. The overview of Polish literature specialists concludes with the figure of Jan Janów, a researcher of Polish Medieval and Renaissance literature and its reception on the Ukrainian soil.