III Międzynarodowa konferencja
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and later the Second Commonwealth of Poland, was inhabited by numerous ethnic and religious minorities. The Catholic majority lived side by side with followers of Orthodoxy, Islam, Karaism, Judaism, people belonging to the Armenian Church, Protestants, Uniates, as well as members of (para)religious and social movements aiming at the spiritual improvement of the individual and the brotherhood of people of different religions. Their book heritage constitutes a valuable source for learning about and understanding Polish and European history and culture. Due to the course of the (post-)war turmoil and changes, Poland also came into possession of books of ethnic and religious minorities from Silesia and Pomerania and witnessed the movement of such books looted by Nazis in all Europe.
The planned conference aims to collect and disseminate information on historical book collections of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as social movements aiming at the spiritual improvement of the individual and the brotherhood of people of different religions:
- from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Silesia and Pomerania, currently held in libraries, archives and museums in Poland and abroad
- from other European countries, transported to these areas during World War II, and held nowadays in Poland or moved further to the East.
Researchers are invited to present papers on the functioning, content and fates of above mentioned historical book collections. Proposals for papers, together with an abstract of the planned talk, should be sent to: ksiazka-dawna@ossolineum.pl or by post to:
Ossoliński National Institute
37 Szewska Street
50-139 Wrocław
APPLICATION FORM (PDF)