Collection

The collections of the Social Life Documents Workshop comprise various documents, differing in form and content, of informational, normative, advertising, and propaganda nature. The Workshop specializes primarily in gathering materials related to the history and contemporary life of Greater Poland: all kinds of ephemeral prints reflecting the activities of its inhabitants in economic, political, and cultural fields. Various forms of documents are collected: ephemeral prints such as invitations, posters and placards, informational leaflets, tickets, admission cards, vouchers, shares and bonds; printed matter (brochures, folders, one-day publications, periodicals), iconographic documents (photographs, postcards, stamps, stickers), as well as artifacts (medals, pins, and gadgets). The collections constitute a valuable source for research on the Greater Poland region in the broadly understood fields of social and historical sciences.

The structure of the collections includes a regional resource of retrospective prints (dating from 1752 to 1948, including materials published outside the region) and contemporary prints (from 1949 to the present), as well as a library of regional periodicals and books. The most numerous thematic collections include patriotic telegrams dating from 1895 to 1954, materials concerning the period of the Polish People’s Republic, émigré books and periodicals and underground publications, legal acts (regulations and statutes of various organizations, unions, and associations dating from 1801 to 1989), funeral prints (funeral speeches, obituaries, and commemorative cards), 19th- and 20th-century theatre, film, and advertising posters and placards, as well as prints concerning the Targowica Confederation and the Second Partition of Poland and the Kościuszko Uprising dating from 1792 to 1794, from the collections of Władysław Reymont.