Collections
The Institute's collections include those materials donated by
Polish organisations and selected individuals for deposit with
the Institute's partner the National Library of Australia who
identifies them as a collection. Under the agreement the Library
cannot dispose or disperse this collection and is legally
bound to provide proper housing, organization and public access.
At present there are two established collections: Manuscript
materials collection and Oral history
collection.
The Polish Historical Institute in Australia aims to locate,
collect, catalogue and preserve historical records such as the
personal papers of Polish immigrants and Australians of Polish
descent and records of Polish organisations in Australia.
These records are deposited at the National
Library of Australia in Canberra and information about them
is available in a form of a finding
aid. Access to this collection is through the Manuscripts
Reading Room located on the second floor and their contact
details are as follows:
telephone: +61 (02) 6262 1259, 6262 1569 or 6262 1774
fax: +61 (02) 6262 1516
email: mnscrpts@nla.gov.au
The Manuscript Reading Room is open Mondays-Fridays, 9.00am-5.00pm
(closed on weekends and public holidays). After hours access to
the Manuscript Collections is possible by prior arrangement.
The Institute has two detailed lists of selection criteria governing
the inclusion and exclusion of organisations and individuals
into the Institute's collection at the National Library of Australia.
These guidelines are part of the agreement between the Library
and the Institute.
The members of the public who may want to deposit their materials
with the Institute will need to know whether their materials are
eligible. The following description should help, however it is
only intended to provide a general indication. Please do not send
materials to the Institute nor the National Library based on this
reading. It is important to contact the Institute as the requirements
of each potential donor need to be assessed individually (this
is equally true for those who think their materials are ineligible).
Exceptions to the guidelines will be examined on a case by case
basis. The Institute reserves the right to include or exclude
materials into its collection at the National Library of Australia.
The scope covers the economic, political, social, cultural,
historical, intellectual contributions of Poles to Australian
society from World War II to the present. It also includes their
Australian activities relating to affairs in Poland since 1945
as well as some well documented controversies, for example, the
Katyn massacre or the two Warsaw uprisings. In some instances
although the content is not related directly to Australia,
the contributor is, and to exclude those materials would
be to deny future generations access to a record of an important
activity of immigrants of Polish descent. Such activities have
been an important motivator flowing into their Australian activities,
as well as an attempt to define themselves and to set the record
"straight" for their fellow Australians. Records of organisations
and individuals that have made a significant national or State/Territory
contribution are also included.
Organisations either emanating from the Polish community or from
the Australian community whose purpose or partial purpose is to
record the history of settlement of the Polish people in Australia
and which operate on a national, state/territory level regardless
of language. They must be able to prove their legal existence
through a constitution, election of office bearers, committee
and annual general meeting. A body which does not have incorporation
but otherwise fulfills these criteria may still be eligible. In
addition organisations need to fulfill one other condition
[of twelve given] which encompasses either national activity,
focus, representation or influence.
Individuals are identified as those who have made a nationally
significant contribution to the settlement of Polish people in
Australia. They may be Poles born in Poland, Australians of Polish
descent or Australians without any Polish background but who have
either contributed to the history of Polish settlement in Australia
or have had a long association with various Polish organisations
and/or individuals.
The level of contribution must clearly show or impact on the
majority of Polish communities outside the home base of the contributor,
that is, it must be on a state or national level. This impact
may be positive or negative, assenting or dissenting in influence
and no judgement on the significance of the influence will be
made as a basis of selection. Where individuals belong to organisations
which fulfill the above criteria, the contributions of the individuals
will presumably be at a state/territory or national level.
Please note that this is not a exhaustive list.
Materials included: unpublished manuscript materials,
eg, papers, diaries, correspondence, minutes of meetings, which
are originals and not photocopied. Transcripts of broadcasts.
Newspaper excerpts with their sources included. Pictorial materials
such as photographs, drawings as well as some ephemera such as
flyers, invitations, programmes of events.
Materials excluded: published materials such as issues
of newspapers, magazines, maps, music. If such materials are donated
they are given to the National Library of Australia to fill any
gaps in its collections. Duplicates not required by them will
be returned to the donor.
The National
Archives of Australia (NAA) is a rich source of records relating
to Poles in Australia which originated from various federal government
departments scattered around Australia. The Institute has compiled
a sample selective listing of these records. The list contains
records from the time of Australia's federation to 1975 covering
issues ranging from immigration, Australian activities of various
Polish groups to Australian-Polish government relations.
Although the NAA has many records of individuals the Institute,
having regard to sensitivity and privacy issues, has deliberately
not included any such records in this list.
The Polish Historical Institute in Australia acknowledges the
work and guidance of Kate Stenner and the contribution by Mary
Hutchinson in the compilation of this list.
Interested persons can visit the NAA website at http://www.naa.gov.au/
and follow the prompts to RecordSearch and PhotoSearch to
initiate a search and find out more about these records. Please
note the Institute will not be adding to this list.
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