Microfilming of Collection Sets of Church Institutions by the National Library

Maciej Szablewski

Abstract

The introduction of the article refers to the general historical background of photography including the examples of application in the humanistic study, and the development of reprography globally, and in Poland. Furthermore, it also touches upon the genesis and initial operations of the Archives, Libraries and Church Museums Centre of the Catholic University of Lublin, the Pontifical Institute of Religious Studies and the National Library’s Microfilm Station. In the first part of the article, the cooperation of the National Library with a few of the church institutions inter alia the Archives of the Franciscan Monastery in Warsaw, the Archives and Diocesan Library in Plock, the Archives of Cracow Cathedral Chapter, the Archives of the Chapter in Wroclaw, the Library of Provost Collegiate Chapter of Łowicz, the Library of the Catholic University of Lublin and the Archdiocesan Library in Gniezno has been elaborated upon. Collection sets kept in custody by the aforementioned institutions were subject to the programme of protection of the most valuable pieces of literature, that had been implemented since 1950. Within the framework of the programme, fully financed by the National Library, manuscripts, old prints and music collections were lent and microfilmed. At the end of the fifties of 20th Century the talks with Primate Wyszyński on the continuation of microfilming of church collections were undertaken. It caused the security services to respond. Some of the staff members, inter alia Zofia Rozanow, were dismissed from the National Library, having been given the so called „wolf tickets”. Ealier the manager Andrzej Wyczański had been dismissed. On top of that at the beginning of the sixties of 20th Century the organisational structure of the Station was broken down and divided into two separate institutes – the Microfilm Collections Institute and the Reprographic Institute. Despite these problems, the process of microfilming manuscripts and old prints from church institutions was not abandoned. Furthermore, after 1962, the National Library launched the project of microfilming the Polish press, which proved that the small seminar libraries preserved newspapers and magazines to a greater extent than large libraries. After 1989 the National Library started to cooperate also with Polonia Centres including inter alia the Marianes Priests’ Museum in Fawley Court nearby London. Moreover, thanks to the acquisition of a portable microfilm camera in 1994, several field trips were organised, including the trips to church libraries. The second part of the article reveals the effects of the process of microfilming the collections found in the church institutions by the National Library. The text has been divided into manuscripts, old prints, music collections and press, according to the types of librarian sets. Bills of quantities have been provided and this part of the resources kept in custody of the Microfilm Collections Institute has been characterised and typified. The research has indicated that more than 1900 manuscripts from 32 church institutions, 565 old prints from 37 church institutions, 66 prints and 1537 musical manuscripts from 35 church institutions and almost 70 magazines titles from 10 church institutions were microfilmed.