Map of Poland
Country Map (Poland), in Europa World online. London, Routledge. University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Retrieved 12 March 2021 from http://www.europaworld.com/entry/pl.MAP
Books Available in Our Collection
Passport Poland by
This is one of a series of practical 'how-to' business culture guides for major countries throughout the world. It offers information on business culture, people stereotypes, demographics, making contacts, and negotiating a deal.
Call Number: E-Book
A History of Poland by Call Number: DK4140.P73 2011
Seeing Through the Eyes of the Polish Revolution by
In 1980 Polish workers astonished the world by demanding and winning an independent union with the right to strike, called Solidarity--the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire. Jack M. Bloom's Seeing Through the Eyes of the Polish Revolution explains how it happened, from the imposition to Communism to its end, based on 150 interviews of Solidarity leaders, activists, supporters and opponents. Bloom presents the perspectives and experiences of these participants. He shows how an opposition was built, the battle between Solidarity and the ruling party, the conflicts that emerged within each side during this tense period, how Solidarity survived the imposition of martial law and how the opposition forced the government to negotiate itself out of power.
Call Number: E-Book
Nobel Prize Winners for Literature
Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916)
Henryk Sienkiewicz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905.
Britannica Academic, s.v. "Henryk Sienkiewicz," accessed March 12, 2021, https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/Henryk-Sienkiewicz/67674.
Władysław Stanisław Reymont (1867-1925)
Władysław Stanisław Reymont won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1924.
Reymont, Władysław Stanisław, image, from Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed March 12, 2021, https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/assembly/view/136076.
Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012)
Szymborksa won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996.
Wisława Szymborska , image, from Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed March 12, 2021, https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/assembly/view/234979.
Olga Tokarczuk (b.1962)
Olga Tokarczuk won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2018.
Tokarczuk, Olga , image, from Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed March 12, 2021, https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/assembly/view/242474.
Historical Article
- Poland Opens Her Doors by Delia and Ferdinand Kuhn with Photos by Erich Lessing
In this National Geographic article from September 1958, the authors catch a rare glimpse inside Poland, held fast by communist rule for a decade.
- Gale Presents : National Geographic Virtual Library (1888-present)A complete archive from 1888 to the present that includes every page and every photograph of National Geographic Magazine.
Snapshots of Poland
Poland, 1956.
Erich Lessing. 1956. POLAND. 1956.. https://library.artstor.org/asset/AMAGNUMIG_10311551291.
Poland, 1976
Bruno Barbey. 1976. POLAND. POLAND. 1976.. https://library.artstor.org/asset/AMAGNUMIG_10311539939.
Collecting Coal, Town of Chelmno, Poland, 1981
Bruno Barbey. 1981. POLAND. POLAND. Pomerania region. Town of Chelmno. 1981. Collecting coal.. https://library.artstor.org/asset/AMAGNUMIG_10311544866.
Zakapone, Poland. Tatras Mountains, 2007
Chris Steele-Perkins. 2007. POLAND. 2007. POLAND. Zakapone. Tatras Mountains. 2007.. https://library.artstor.org/asset/AMAGNUMIG_10311513602.
Zakapone, Poland. Tatras Mountains, 2007
Chris Steele-Perkins. 2007. POLAND. 2007. POLAND. Zakapone. Tatras Mountains. 2007.. https://library.artstor.org/asset/AMAGNUMIG_10311513612.
Explore more Online Databases
- ARTstor
With more than 2 million images* (and growing), Artstor is a cross-disciplinary collection of rights-cleared images from around the world.
*Note: The number of images available varies by country due to copyright restrictions.
- American Bibliography of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian StudiesIndexes journals, books, dissertations, online resources and selected U.S. and Canadian government publications about East-Central Europe, Russia, Soviet Union and the former Soviet republics. Coverage from 1989 to the present.
- Academic Video Online
A multidisciplinary streaming video collection containing documentaries, films, interviews, music, news programs, and performances.
Facts in Brief
Capital: Warsaw
Official language: Polish
Official name: Rzeczypospolita Polska (Republic of Poland)
Money: Basic unit-- Zloty
National anthem: "Jeszcze Polska nie Zginela ("Poland Has Not Yet Perished")
Text Citation: Bugajski, J. (2021). Poland. In World Book Advanced. https://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar436700
Image Citation: Country Flag (Poland), in Europa World online. London, Routledge. University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Retrieved 12 March 2021 from http://www.europaworld.com/entry/pl.FLAG
Music Books Available in Our Collection
Made in Poland by
Made in Poland: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive introduction to the history, sociology, and musicology of contemporary Polish popular music. Each essay, written by a leading scholar of Polish music, covers the major figures, styles, and social contexts of pop music in Poland and provides adequate context so readers understand why the figure or genre under discussion is of lasting significance. The book first presents a general description of the history and background of popular music in Poland, followed by essays organized into thematic sections: Popular Music in the People's Republic of Poland; Documenting Change and Continuity in Music Scenes and Institutions; and Music, Identity, and Critique.
Call Number: ML3496.M33 2020
Musical Solidarities by
Musical Solidarities: Political Action and Music in Late Twentieth-Century Poland is a music history of Solidarity, the social movement opposing state socialism in 1980s Poland. The story unfolds along crucial sites of political action under state socialism: underground radio networks, thesanctuaries of the Polish Roman Catholic Church, labor strikes and student demonstrations, and commemorative performances. Through innovative close listenings of archival recordings, author Andrea F. Bohlman uncovers creative sonic practices in bootleg cassettes, televised state propaganda, and theunofficial, uncensored print culture of the opposition. She argues that sound both unified and splintered the Polish opposition, keeping the contingent formations of political dissent in dynamic tension. By revealing the diverse repertories-singer-songwriter verses, religious hymns, large-scalesymphonies, experimental music, and popular song-that played a role across the decade, she challenges paradigmatic visions of a late twentieth-century global protest culture that place song and communitas at the helm of social and political change.Musical Solidarities brings together perspectives from historical musicology, ethnomusicology, and sound studies to demonstrate the value of sound for thinking politics. Unfurling the rich soundscapes of political action at demonstrations, church services, meetings, and in detention, it offers anuanced portrait of this pivotal decade of European and global history.
Call Number: ML3917.P58 B65 2020
Making New Music in Cold War Poland by
Making New Music in Cold War Poland presents a social analysis of new music dissemination at the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, one of the most important venues for East-West cultural contact during the Cold War. In this incisive study, Lisa Jakelski examines the festival's institutional organization, negotiations among its various actors, and its reception in Poland, while also considering the festival's worldwide ramifications, particularly the ways that it contributed to the cross-border movement of ideas, objects, and people (including composers, performers, official festival guests, and tourists). This book explores social interactions within institutional frameworks and how these interactions shaped the practices, values, and concepts associated with new music.
Call Number: ML36.W374 2017
Transnational Punk Communities in Poland by
A Transnational History of Punk Communities in Poland is a multi-regional study of the history and contemporary condition of two Polish punk communities: the one in Warsaw and surrounding areas, and the Upper Silesian region: both rich in varied and sometimes conflicting punk traditions. The author, a self-identified member of the punk subculture formerly living and active in Warsaw, explores the various political, economic and social dimensions of the development of these unique communities and the meaning of the punk ethos for people across different age groups, genders, and life experiences, in relation to other subcultures, especially skinheads, and the broader society. An additional dimension, previously unexplored in scholarship, are the ties between these Polish punk communities and their counterparts in the United States and Canada. The personal connections between early bands and the long lasting transnational aspects of punk practices are shown to be an important factor in the shaping of punk attitudes across time and space. The economics of everyday punk life are discussed referring to contemporary scholarship on the subject, punk lyrics, and ethnographies which throughout the book illustrate selected themes and problems. This study includes insight about obscure yet foundational Silesian bands and their defiant, sardonic humor; about punk and anarchy, punk versus communism and the political opposition in the 1980s, punks' attitudes toward the transformation of 1989, about being a punk girl on the streets of Warsaw or Wodzislaw Śląski. Discover punk as an old subculture that cherishes its own past and remains an important alternative to mainstream cultural practices in a rapidly "Westernizing" and corporatizing country.
Call Number: E-Book
Polish Folk Music by
This study of Polish folk music is especially enlightening as it reveals both the history and practice of a musical tradition and offers an illuminating view of a culture and its social activities. Within her study, Anna Czekanowska analyses the vocal and instrumental traditions of Polish folk music, tracing the background history, the influences of geography and politics, and the practice, often within contemporary society, of such social events as the harvest, the solstice and weddings. The function of folk culture within contemporary life, for both Polish and non-Polish inhabitants of the country, is also examined. Professor Czekanowska also discusses the birth of Polish ethno- musicology as a discipline and details some methodological aspects for research. This study contributes to a greater understanding and appreciation of Polish music and, in a wider aspect, of Slavonic culture. The book contains numerous illustrations of instruments and cultural events, music examples, maps, a discography and bibliography.
Call Number: ML3677.C9 1990
Important Musical Figures
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Materials Available in Our Collection
- Musical Score: Mazurkas, 5 selections for Piano
- Research Guide: Frédéric Chopin : a research and information guide, Smialek, W. & Trochimczyk, M.
- Primary source: Chopin's letters
- Streaming Video: Frédéric Chopin A Concise Biography
Image Citation: Frédéric Chopin , image, from Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed March 12, 2021, https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/assembly/view/167276.
Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941)
Materials Available in Our Collection
- Musical Score: Polish piano music : works by Paderewski, Scharwenka, Moszkowski, and Szymanowski
- Primary Source: The Paderewski Memoirs
- CD: Ignacy Paderewski
Image Citation: Paderewski, Ignacy , image, from Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed March 12, 2021, https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/assembly/view/139777.
Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020)
Material Available in Our Collection
- Musical Score: Sinfonietta no.2, per clarinetto ed archi (1994)
- Research Guide: Krzysztof Penderecki A Guide to His Works
- DVD: Seven Gates of Jerusalem, Symphony no. 7
Image Citation: Krzysztof Penderecki , image, from Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed March 12, 2021, https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/assembly/view/245401.
Classical Scores Library
- Music Online: Classical Scores Library
Collection of scores of the classical canon, as well as resources for the discovery of lesser-known contemporary works. Encompasses all major classical musical genres and time periods from the Middle Ages to the 21st century.