The value of journals of school youth as scientific sources

Abstract

The author presents the results of her studies, who while researching Polish libraries and archives, came across an interesting, however so far poorly recognized set of school journals, i.e. periodicals edited and published by the school youth, quite common in the interwar period. The article aims at the preliminary characteristic of these journals as scientific resources, and presentation of their value in book studies. The author notices that this is a schematic and unilateral source to some extent, due to the place of a journal in a school hierarchy - an institution with the means of coercion and supervision, realising goals and tasks clearly defined by the state. The content and graphic design of school publication were influenced not only by a tutor's (teacher) and management supervision, but firstly - realised curricula, developing patriotic, social, and reading attitudes. Imitation of the patterns known from other journals was another reason for their schema. As the author underlines, the problem of controlling school journals is essential for proper usage of this source for studies on the history of the Polish press.