The Polish Library in Romania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33077/uw.25448730.zbkh.1995.375Keywords:
private book collections, emigration book collections, emigration, history of libraries, Michaleny, Romania.Abstract
The Polish Library established by Julian Ksawery Łukaszewski, a social activist and emigrant after the January Uprising, had been working in the years 1866-1892 in the Romanian Michaleny, at the border of Moldova and Bukovina. Its collection at the beginning amounted to approximately 200 volumes. After the year 1892 the collection was transferred to Silesia; it amounted to more than 4000 volumes that time. Besides books and brochures, it consisted also of almost 100 journal titles. Łukaszewski was the organiser of the community of the Union of Polish Emigration and founder of its library, as well as the author of “The Act on the Polish Library in Romania and its reading rooms”, which assumed establishment of branch libraries in other Polish communities. Such reading rooms were active in Romania, besides Michaleny, in 10 locations. The article presents origins and history of the library, its statute, collections, acquisition, locations, lending, and last but not least – controversial for the Romanian emigration, personal decision of Łukaszewski, to transfer the books to the Upper Silesian Society of Literature, seated in Bytom, and further history of this collection in Silesia.
