The article demonstrates how arrest warrants can be seen as a new, interesting and valuable source, helpful for genealogy investigations. Arrest warrants published in Poznań press (both newspapers and official bulletins) between the late 18th and mid-19th centuries are used to demonstrate how much valuable information can be found therein. In those warrants, family or local community researchers can find information regarding the personality of the wanted person, their family relations, profession, how they escaped prison or custody, what clothes thy wore, and — what might be particularly valuable — their appearance.

The article presents unknown details concerning the contacts of professor Józef Kostrzewski, a prominent Polish prehistorian and museologist, with the Warsaw circles, based on archival materials. These contacts went beyond purely professional collaboration, also involving social and patriotic activities.

Much has been written about father Stanisław Kozierowski, one of the most distinguished scientists of Greater Poland. Scholars were mainly interested in his biography as one of the founding fathers of the Poznań University, inspired by his extraordinary achievements in the fields of onomastics and genealogy, and attracted by the personality of a man who dedicated his whole life to creative work. Little attention was paid to the large book collection, which Kozierowski was famous for almost as much as for his scientific achievements. Right before his death, he donated his book collection to the National Archive in Poznań, which suffered great losses during the war. Among nearly 7000 volumes, there were several dozen old prints. Following the decision of the Archive’s former authorities to relocate the collection, the Poznań branch lost these items, including the most valuable ones, forever. This article presents the story behind this donation and attempts to establish where these old prints are at the moment. A bibliographical list of historic books from the Kozierowski collection is an essential part of the article, and might aid researchers in finding 26 items from the list.

The article presents the story of the Home Army colonel in the district of Tarnopol, Franciszek Studziński, and his courier and personal assistant Eugenia (Zhenya) Starościn, an activist of the Home Army and in subsequent years of the Freedom and Independence organization. The article presents their conspiracy activity during the Second World War and their post-war experiences: interrogations, imprisonment, numerous relocations, and problems with finding employment.

The article comprises the first description of the events surrounding secular celebrations of 1000 years of Polish statehood in Gniezno (April 9–April 16, 1966). Poland’s communist authorities intended for these events to be the inauguration of national celebrations and the culmination of long preparations at the local, regional, and national levels. Due to political factors, the celebrations clashed with the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Poland’s christening, prepared and hosted by the Church authorities. The authors of the article used files from the fonds of the National Archive in Poznań and its branch in Gniezno. Taking into consideration the reports of local authorities, the authors reconstructed (for the first time) the social actions undertaken in villages and towns in the Gniezno region as part of celebrations. It was pointed out that local people were rarely motivated to undertake these actions by ideological considerations. The authors reconstructed the course of events, and therefore were able to demonstrate what the originators’ goals and motivations were when developing the schedules and scenarios of particular events. Digital source data presented in the article also allowed them to demonstrate how elaborate the celebrations were.

University students’ circles in Opole, which existed from 1954, played an important, yet ambiguous role in the local social life. For communist authorities, the university was one of the most important sources for procuring staff, but it was also a base for anti-government activities. The religious activity of many students was also a constant source of problems for the communist authorities. In October 1956, students in Opole vigorously demonstrated their support for the democratization of political life in Poland. In subsequent years, the communist authorities made efforts to attract as many students as possible to the Polish United Workers’ Party and politically approved youth organizations. Success in this respect did not discourage students in Opole from participating in the national protests of March 1968. As a consequence, students were subjected to repressions. However, the suppression of student protests remained a bitter victory for communists.

The article presents the idea to create an extraterritorial route from Kaliningrad to Belarus through the territory of Poland, called the “Suwałki corridor”. The article focuses on the years 2001 and 2002, when the idea returned due to the conclusion of negotiations related to Poland’s accession to the European Union. Press articles from the most popular daily newspapers in this period were analyzed. In its conclusion, the article attempts to answer the question whether the project of creating an extraterritorial corridor in Poland had any chance of implementation.

A vast majority of entities, not only economic ones, operate in the private sector. In Poland, there are several million of them. They also produce documents, and in the future, some of these documents may become a valuable contribution to the national archival fonds. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the situation of these registries and to the way these documents are kept. Relevant consultations should be offered as part of these actions

The article organizes and complements the existing literature information concerning the archive of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. It is based not only on the existing publications, but mainly on source materials. The starting point was the resolution of the Nicolaus Copernicus University Senate of September 16, 1948, establishing the archive and trusting pro164 fessor Bronisław Włodarski with the implementation of this task. The next section is dedicated to archival fonds, their locations during subsequent heads’ terms of office, as well as transformations in the organization of the archive’s work. The conclusion includes a table listing all employees of the archive since its establishment.

The article discusses the archive of the Dialectology Workshop at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The author describes the history, activities and needs of this unit, which currently operates informally. The article also provides information concerning the phonographical collection of the workshop, its paper documents, and the technical equipment available in the workshop, as well as its library and ethnographic collection.

The article discusses the Department of Multimedia Processing at the Raczyński Library in Poznań, highlighting several elements of its activity: management of the Library’s collection in digital formats (audio books, films, music, other electronic documents), use of the library system (Horizon), meta data format (MARC 21), the keyword language used at the National Library (JHB BN) compared with the KABA language and descriptors of the National Library

The memoir of Stefan Stablewski (written in 1969), a Polish Cavalry Captain, include recollections on twenty-five rural estates in Greater Poland. The part discussed in the article concerns Uzarzewo, a village located several kilometers from Swarzędz, which was part of the Żychliński family estate in Stablewski’s times. Stablewski’s relationship with Uzarzewo started in 1904, and the last recollections included in the memoir are from 1945. Piotr Chłapowski prepared a short note on the architecture of the eclectic palace in Uzarzewo. Stablewski included this in his memoir, and complemented it with his own reflections, e.g. on the location of the building and on its residents, such as Zenobia Żychlińska. Stablewski recalled various anecdotes from the local life and described his own experiences from the period of the First and Second World Wars.

Słownik starożytności słowiańskich (The Dictionary of Slavic Antiquities) is without any doubt one of the most notable achievements of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The editorial works began in the late 1940s and were concluded in 1996 with the publication of the last volume. It still remains a unique and comprehensive compendium on the origins of Slavdom. Polish slavists were well aware of the need for such dictionary — in 1927 they established the editorial board of the Dictionary of Slavic Antiquities. The chairperson of the board was professor Franciszek Bujak from the Lviv University, and doctor Henryk Batowski was in charge of editorial works. From the very beginning, he had to overcome serious obstacles regarding cooperation with foreign colleagues and financing the whole project. In 1934, the first trial volume of the dictionary was published. Later, the editorial works were discontinued when doctor Batowski resigned from his post as editorial board assistant. Owing to the initiative of professor Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński and professor Zygmunt Wojciechowski, the editorial works were resumed, though with a completely different approach: the new editorial board was established to include Slavic scholars from Poznań working with the Institute for Western Affairs (Instytut Zachodni). The foundation of the Department of Slavic Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences (now: the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences) resulted in the incorporation of the editorial board into the departmental structure, which granted the board both financial and scientific support in their day-to-day editorial works on the dictionary.

The defeat of the Polish United Workers’ Party in the parliamentary elections of June 1989 marked the beginning of its demise. In the autumn of 1989, a discussion was initiated concerning the future of the communist party in Poland, which was meant to prevent this process and prepare party members for the 11th PUWP congress. The article presents documents of the 262 Łukasz Komorowski Provincial Congress Committee found in the National Archive in Poznań. They are an interesting source of information on the history of PUWP and the mindset of its members in the Poznań province in the final period of the party’s existence.