Online Polish Directories at the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has digitized two historic Polish directories and made them available to the public at the internet addresses below. The rare and fragile items were felt to be of sufficiently broad interest to historians and genealogists to merit digitization in this pilot project. Eventually the items will be linked to their entries in the Library of Congress online catalog (http://catalog.loc.gov). The presentation is via "page-turner" display. They are now available for immediate use at the following URLs. (Note: these are "handles" or "permanent" URLS that have been established for these materials.)

1.   Handlowa ksiega adresowa Polski i Gdanska   A 1923 commercial directory for the entire country, including Gdansk (Danzig), totaling about 700 pages. A guide to navigating this online publication can be found on the Gesher Galicia website.

URL:  http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/scd0001.20020613002po.2

Contents:

• Front matter (including advertisements and a map of Polish railroads)
• PART I.
  • Timeline of Polish history
  • Administrative districts of the Republic of Poland
  • Constitution of the Republic of Poland
  • Officials of the Republic of Poland
  • Polish diplomatic missions abroad
  • Polish consulates abroad
  • Foreign diplomatic representatives in Poland
  • Foreign consulates in Poland
  • Statistical data on the Polish economic situation
  • Historical sketch of Gdansk (Danzig)
  • Treaty of Versaille provisisions concerning the Free City of Gdansk (Danzig)
  • Officials of the Free City of Gdansk (Danzig) and the Supreme Commissioner of the League of Nations in Gdansk (Danzig)
  • Port of Gdansk (Danzig)
  • Economic organizations in Poland and Gdansk (Danzig)
  • Polish Information Bureau for foreign commerce in Gdansk (Danzig)
  • Index of branches of industry and products listed in Part II.
  • Alphabetic index of branches of industry listed in Part III.

• PART II.
  • Enterprises [grouped by economic sector, enterprises are arranged alphabetically, and street addresses are included; this is the heart of the directory]
• PART III.
  • Advertisements
• PART IV.
  • Index of advertisers

2.  Spis abonentow warszawskiej sieci telefonow Polskiej Akcyjnej Spolki Telefonicznej i rzadowej warsz. sieci okregowej
URL:   http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/scd0001.20020611001wa.2

Contents:   This is a 540-page white pages directory of Warsaw and environs on the eve of World War II, along with a listing of businesses and advertisements arranged by product or service, e.g., office machines, sporting goods, physicians. This directory should be of special interest to researchers who lost relatives, friends, and/or property during the war.

Related material on the Library of Congress website:

Address/Telephone Directories from Poland at the Library of Congress   This compilation lists the Polish directories held and available at the Library of Congress as of November 2003. The first of its two sections covers the period 1939-45 and includes a full listing of cities, towns and villages. The second section begins after 1945 and is organized by the scope of coverage, beginning with directories for the entire country and followed by directories for specific regions.

'Emblem of Good Will'.   A Polish Declaration of Admiration and Friendship for the United States of America. An Online Exhibit.   An extraordinary gift of 111 volumes presented to the United States by Poland on the 150th anniversary of American independence. These volumes consist of a declaration of admiration signed by an estimated 5,500,000 Polish citizens, representing more than one- sixth of the total population of Poland in 1926. Read the Library of Congress Information Bulletin article about the opening of the original exhibit at the Library.

Independent Press in Poland 1976-1990   The European Division of the Library of Congress houses a collection of 865 titles, representing some 4,575 items.

Polish Collections at the Library of Congress   History of the collections and description of the highlights.

Portals to the World: Poland   A collection of selected internet resources; annotated, and organized by topic.

Records from the Central Military Archives in Warsaw   The online index to a microfilm collection of declassified records covering the early years of the Cold War, primarily 1945-50. They include letters, memoranda, policy papers of the Polish Cabinet of Ministers, the Minister of Defense, the General Staff, and other high military bodies. This and similar collections for Hungary and Romania are held in the Library's European Reading Room.