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Polish-Americans - Archives Dept.  Tags: uwm_archives uwm history polish_americans local_history photographs_as_primary_sources  

This guide suggests how to use the Archives Department to study the local history of Polish-Americans. It provides recommendations for search paths and search tools, and lists some pertinent collections.
Last update: Dec 17th, 2008 URL: http://guides.library.uwm.edu/archives-polishamericans  Print Guide  RSS Updates

Researching Polish-Americans in the Archives Department             Print Page
  
 

Search PantherCat

Search the library catalog to locate archival and manuscript collections which provide sources on the history of local Polish-American people and organizations.

There are 2 recommended methods for searching in PantherCat.

1) Use the search box below, already limited to the Archives Dept.'s holdings. Note that these results will include some books on the subject, but more of them will describe archival or manuscript collections.

Use either and, or or not between search terms. Use quotation marks around exact phrases ("Polish-Americans").

Here are four examples of keyword searches:

1) "Polish-Americans" and Wisconsin

2) polish and "world war"

3) polish and music

4) polish and press

Find: in keywords

2) In PantherCat main page, search by subject headings.  Search for "Polish-Americans;" set the Search by: option to "Subject Heading (Keyword);" and select the Quick Limit box as "Archives."

A general search hint: when reading any catalog record, follow the links found at "Subjects" to locate other material in the UWM Libraries on that same subject.

 
 

Recommended Collections on Polish-Americans

In the Archives Dept., we have a significant amount of primary sources for your study of 19th and 20th-century Polish-Americans in the Milwaukee metro area. Our strengths are cultural and social organizations, businesses including the local press, and religion.  Also, we have rich visual documentation of the lives of southside Polish Milwaukeeans in the Roman Kwasniewski photograph collection.

A list of pertinent collections follows. We have many other collections on the general topic, which you may explore by using the search strategies described elsewhere in this guide, or by asking an archivist.

  • Kuryer Publishing Company Records and the Kuryer Polski Records  
    Title: Kuryer Publishing Company Records
    Creator: Kuryer Publishing Company (Milwaukee, Wis.)
    Call Number: UWM Mss 46/see also Milw Micro 29
    Abstract: This company produced a Polish language newspaper in Milwaukee.
  • Roman Kwasniewski Photographs  
    Title: Roman B.J. Kwasniewski Photographs
    Creator: Kwasniewski, Roman B.J., 1886-1980
    Call Number: UWM Mss 19
    Abtract: Images taken in Milwaukee's Polish-American community (Polonia) during the early 20th century.
  • Polish Fine Arts Club Records  
    Title: Polish Fine Arts Club Records
    Creator: Polish Fine Arts Club (Milwaukee, Wis.)
    Call Number: Milw Mss 63
    Abstract: This group was founded in 1930 to disseminate Polish culture by performing and sponsoring plays, concerts, and operas.
  • Polanki, the Polish Women's Cultural Club of Milwaukee Records  
    Title: Polanki, the Polish Women's Cultural Club of Milwaukee Records
    Creator: Polanki, the Polish Women's Cultural Club of Milwaukee
    Call Number: Milw Mss 74
    Abstract: A club organized in 1953 to create interest in Polish culture & tradition.
  • Polish National Alliance of the United States of North America Records  
    Title: Polish National Alliance of the United States of North America Records
    Creator: Polish National Alliance of the United States of North America
    Call Number: Milw Mss 82
    Note: We also have the records to many of the PNA local branches.
 

Search Finding Aids

We write finding aids, or guides, for most of our collections. These guides explain the creator, contents and dates of the collection. This information is important to you when deciding if something is useful to your research. A finding aid also provides the information you will need to request and use a collection when you visit the Archives Dept.

All of our finding aids are included in Archival Resources in Wisconsin, a database of over 4,000 finding aids of collections held in seventeen repositories statewide.

Search our finding aids by using the search boxes below. Be sure to select an operator (and, or or not) as appropriate, and then click on "Search." Then explore the links in the grey band that appears with each result. Note: this search is limited to our holdings at the Archives Department, UWM Libraries, which is also known as the Milwaukee Area Research Center.
 
 
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