Organ building and pipe organs in Poznań and Greater Poland is a subject that is still waiting for thorough investigation. This article investigates the musical history of Poznań and presents one of the city’s greatest organ builders: Józef Gryszkiewicz. Gryszkiewicz made nearly a hundred instruments—around half of which have survived until the present day. Additionally, he renovated several dozen organs, prepared expert opinions, assessed the work of other organ builders, translocated instruments, and educated generations of apprentices. So far, little has been known about his life and work, including even the most important facts of his life. The article focuses on three fundamental aspects: it presents his biography, describes the nature and the unique character of his trade, and provides a list of his works.

Women were the largest group among beneficiaries of the Charitable Association of the Polish Ladies, an organization that operated in Poznań in the years 1845–1853. Per Seebohm Rowntree, we can distinguish three ages when women were most prone to poverty: childhood (under 15), early maternity, and old age. Case study analysis helps investigate the requirements that women had to meet to obtain the Associations’ help. These concerned their age, willingness to work, marital status, family situation, housing conditions, and in the case of the youngest women—whether they were receiving education. Women could obtain financial or material aid, as well as assistance in providing schooling for their children or securing a job. Celestyna Działyńska, the founder of the Association, had the final say in the decision to provide or refuse help.

The article investigates the circumstances of the first, nearly completely forgotten, visit of Józef Piłsudski to Poznań in 1901. Taking the conclusions of Grażyna Wyder as a starting point, the article aims at organizing and harmonizing the current knowledge on this event. The place where comrade “Wiktor” stayed in the city is identified, and a broader context is provided on his hosts, Jadwiga and Józef Guliński, Polish Socialist Party activists. This article, devoted to a small part of Piłsudski’s life, contributes to the discussion on his complicated relationship with the capital of Greater Poland.

The article recounts the history of Grand Theater in Poznań, built in 1910. In each of the subsequent historical periods (1910–1919, 1919–1939, 1939–1945, and also recent history) architectural changes were made, equipment was replaced, and facilities were added to improve the functionality of the theater. The article analyzes not only major changes, but also smaller renovations both inside and outside of the building.

Docent Irena Radtke (1923–2014) was an exceptional archivist and archival science teacher. This article, written to celebrate her 100th birthday, aims at highlighting her achievements as an academic and as a teacher. For her whole professional life, Irena Radtke was associated with the State Archive in Poznań and with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. She juggled her duties as an archivist with her work as a teacher and scientist. She majored in history and classical philology, and in 1963, she obtained her Ph.D. in humanities. All her professional life, she was dedicated to conducting archival research. Her research interests mainly included the evolution of registry forms, registry systems (she was an expert in Prussian registry), archival methods, register and information equipment, biography studies, source science, and regional studies. She was a co-author of archival science textbooks for students and archivists. Her achievements in academia and science have greatly contributed to the development of archival studies in Poland. Her high scientific and professional qualifications helped her gain employment in 1976 at the Division of Archival Studies of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, where she was also a lecturer and a tutor. She worked there until 1988. For many years, she was the backbone of archival studies in Poznań.

Researching and cataloging stamps and seals of rural communes from the 18th–20th centuries in Silesia is a time-consuming process requiring an in-depth archival inquiry. One way to present up-to-date research results and to enable researchers of the region’s history to co-create the catalog was the creation of the www.pieczeciegminne.pl website by the State Archive in Opole. The purpose of this website goes beyond collecting and sharing the database for scientific studies—it also helps promote the archival fond.

The article describes the process of studying gentry archives by Professor Adam Skałkowski (the 1919 founder of Poznań historiography) and his students. These vast source materials perished along with the gentry class itself in 1945, and the works of the Poznań historian and his followers are the last trace of them. The main source material is the correspondence between members of the gentry and Skałkowski’s students, stored mainly in the Manuscript Department in the Library of Adam Mickiewicz University, but also in the Archive of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the Ossolineum in Wrocław. This is complemented by Skałkowski’s memoirs from the author’s collection. The inquiries and trips of Skałkowski and his students to palaces and manors helped create dozens of source articles and monographs. The article aims at reconstructing these researchers’ work in archives. The series titled “The lives of esteemed Poles in the 18th and 19th centuries” (written by Skałkowski) alone included 34 book publications — the fruit of these investigations, including multiple papers by MA and PhD students.

Tadeusz Esman wrote his memoir in the years 1976–1985, in order to tell his children more about his early years. The first part of his work discusses his childhood and youth in the Poznań neighborhood of Śródka, where he was born in 1903 and lived until his move to Bydgoszcz in 1927. His stories revolve around three topics: his home, his backyard, and his parents. All these three aspects reflect the daily lives of people living in Śródka at the time—where and how they lived and worked, their surroundings, animals, and neighbors. Tadeusz was raised in a family of tradespeople. His father was a master butcher, and his mother ran a butchery near their house. The author’s language is very vivid, he shares impressions from his childhood, recounts numerous anecdotes from his family and social life in the Śródka market area, and describes his relationship with his parents.

Countless Polish soldiers died in Soviet camps. Main causes of death included mass executions, terrible living conditions, and the brutality of the Soviet security service officers. Many soldiers owed their survival to the sudden political shift resulting from the attack of the Third Reich on the Soviet Union. Before that happened, though, they had to struggle with difficult circumstances and endure forced labor in camps in the Far North. The account of second lieutenant Tadeusz Michalak sheds light on the harsh reality of prisoners’ lives. He described his own military career — participation in the September campaign, detention camps in Lithuania, the horror of Soviet imprisonment, and joining the so-called Anders’s Army.

The Polish Museum and Library in Rapperswil has existed in various legal and organizational forms since 1870. From the moment it was established until Poland regained independence in 1918, the museum was funded by fees paid by Poles and foreigners who supported Poland’s struggle for independence. One significant group of donors (both regular and occasional) were residents of Greater Poland of all backgrounds. The most notable ones were: August Cieszkowski, Wawrzyniec Engeström, Witold Leitgeber, Karol Libelt, Maksymilian Jackowski, Stanisław Motty, Jadwiga Zamoyska, Władysław Zamoyski, Jan Konstanty Żupański, Juliusz Au, and Erazm Józef Jerzmanowski, whose short profiles are featured in the article. The compiled table lists the names of 54 occasional donors from Greater Poland, as well as the amount of their donation in the currency of the time, and an arbitrary estimate of its value according to the gold parity at the time.

The article investigates the registry and archival processes employed in the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association. The article analyses registry and archival rules of conduct of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, as well as the functions and character of its Historical Commissions, with particular emphasis on the activity of the Historical Commission operating at the Jan Kasprowicz Poznań-Wilda District of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association. Presenting the contents of the fond and the promotional activities undertaken by the Historical Commission warrants the thesis that the Commission is a specific type of social archive in the registry and archival structure of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, whose main task is curating grade A historical memorabilia.