archive

Visiting Archivist from Poland

From left; Bogumila Padowski (President of PWAA Council 27), Zbigniew Król (Archivist, Archvwum Akt Nowych), Antionette Trela (Chairman of the WLA/PWAA Preservation Project), Nancy Freeman (Women & Leadership Archives Director). Photo taken at the WLA.

‌In December, an archivist from the Archivwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw visited the Women and Leadership Archives to review the Polish Women's Alliance of America (PWA) records; an important step forward in the ongoing preservation and access project for these records. Archivist, Zbigniew Król, arrived on December 10, 2017, and spent a week in the WLA going through and evaluating the materials in the collection, which include issues of Głos Polek, meeting minutes, and founding documents for the organization. The purpose of Mr. Król’s visit was to determine the feasibility and value of arranging a longer visit from either himself or another archivist in the future, who would then work with the materials and the WLA to translate, scan, and organize them, ultimately making the PWA’s oldest records more easily accessible to researchers and the public. During his trip, Mr. Król also visited with staff from Loyola University Archives and Special Collections, as well as toured the Newberry Library and their collection of PWA materials.

Mr. Król recommended in his final report that the project continue ahead. Details of this next phase are still being determined, but the future of these records is looking bright. Mr. Król’s successful visit was courtesy of the efforts of Bozena Nowicka McLees, the Director of the Polish Studies Program at Loyola University Chicago, Michał Michalski, from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and Nancy Freeman, the Director of the Women and Leadership Archives.