Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, (1937-) 1942 - 2000

Arrangement in Series: Annual Meetings; General Assembly; Board of Directors Records; Executive Director Records; PIASA Archives; PIASA Library; The Polish Review; Ladies Committee; Branches of PIASA; Circles of PIASA; Sections.

The collection contains documents of the literary, historical, and scientific sections of the Institute and correspondence relating to the establishment of these sections (1942-1945). Correspondents include Polish intellectual and political leaders: Karol Estreicher, Manfred Kridl, Jan Kucharzewski, Oscar Lange, Jan Lechon, Waclaw Lednicki, Bronislaw Malinowski, Tadeusz Sendzimir, Wojciech Swietoslawski, Rafal Taubenschlag, Kazimierz Wierzynski, Jozef Wittlin, Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz, General Wladyslaw Anders, General Bor-Komorowski, General Marian Kukiel, Tytus Komarnicki, Stanislaw Kot, General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, Zaleski and Florian Znaniecki. Materials on the post-war reconstruction of Polish universities, libraries, and scientific life; records on the persecution of Polish scholars in Poland and their fate during and after World War II. Materials concerning opposition to Yalta Conference decisions (1945), and Polish-Soviet relations (1943). Official correspondence with the Catholic Commission on Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (1947), Council of National Unity (1949), National Culture Fund (1945-1946), Polish Roman Catholic Union of America (1942-1945), United Nations Commission on Human Rights and others. Correspondence with the wartime Polish Government-in-Exile in London (1944-1946) and with Polish Embassies in Washington, D.C. and Mexico City, Polish Consulates in Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, and Toronto, and Polish Government Information Centre in New York (1942-1945). Correspondence of the Institute's presidents, directors, and secretaries-general: Bronislaw Malinowski, Jan Kucharzewski, Oskar Halecki, Zygmunt Nagorski, Jan Wszelaki, Damian Wandycz, and Feliks Gross. Documents on conferences, symposia, programs, and lectures held at the Institute (1942-1975). Correspondence with former branch of the Institute in Montreal, regional circles of the Institute in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Houston; Polish Arts Club in Chicago and Buffalo; Polish Academy of Sciences; Bibliotheque Polonaise, Paris. Correspondence with the Central and Eastern European Planning Board; Instytut Literacki, Kosciuszko Foundation, Mid-European Studies Center; Pilsudski Institute; Polish American Congress, Polish Roman Catholic Union of America and the Polish Government Information Centre. Materials on John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy's lecture at the Institute (1964).

Acquisition Note: Records of the Institute. 
Language: English, Polish, French, German, Spanish.  
Dimensions: 1782 folders, 135 ft. = c.a.40 m
Local system # 017
Finding Aids:Collection temporary inventory, folder level control.  

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