Participation of medical doctors in the development of libraries in the capitalist Łódź
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33077/uw.25448730.zbkh.1991.419Keywords:
intellectual life in Łódź in the first half of the 20th century, medical doctors bibliophiles, public libraries, hospital libraries, libraries in Łódź in the first half of the 20th century, Municipal Public Library in Łódź.Abstract
On the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in Łódź the interest in the book significantly increased. Printing houses and bookshops were established. However, there were not enough libraries which would satisfy the need of belles lettres, popular and scientific book. Thus the Łódź intelligentsia and among them a group of physicians engaged in civic work, started to collect books and journals, at first in hospitals. There were hospital libraries, consisting not only books on medicine but also books intended for the ill, in the hospital for nervously and mentally ill “Kochanówka“ (1902), the Anna Maria’;s Hospital for Children (1905), the Ignacy Mościcki’s Hospital for Social Medical Care (1930). A rich medical library belonged to Łódź Medical Society established in 1885. The physicians worked in societies for education and culture established after 1885 and comprising library sections, such as the society for Dissemination of Education (1905), The Society of Polish Culture (1909). The first one initiated the establishment of the Society for Public Libraries (1916) which succeeded in establishing the city’s Public Library. The physicians-socialists working in the Department of Education and Culture in the City Council added to the development of the network of public libraries for children and adults. The physicians who were of merit for the development of Łódź librarianship are: Antoni Tomaszewski, Józef Brudziński, Mieczysław Kaufman, Jan Mazurkiewicz, Przecław Smolik and Seweryn Sterling.
