Źródła do badań nad ochronkami jako instytucjami opiekuńczo-wychowawczymi w Królestwie Polskim w XIX i na początku XX wieku
Sources for Research on Orphanages as Educational Care Institutions in the Kingdom of Poland in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this article are orphanages and their place in the educational care system of the Kingdom of Poland at the time of the Partitions. Initially, they were established by charities, but later also by other social organisations, religious communities, congregations and individuals. A great increase in the number of orphanages in towns and villages of the Kingdom took place in early 20th century. This issue has not been thoroughly investigated by historians and educationists, and at the same time, numerous sources were preserved which convey information on the circumstances and principles of the establishing and functioning of orphanages. The aim of this article is to indicate the most important groups of historical sources, which could be useful in research into this topic. They include archival materials collected in the Central Archives of Historical Records and in state archives. An important source category are the monographs of Polish social activists and intellectuals which propagated the need to establish educational care facilities for children. Epistolographic sources and memoirs written by founders, employees and children raised in orphanages also present high value for research into this topic. A lot of information concerning the operation of orphanages is found in journals, diaries and memoirs, of which some were published and some still remain in archival records. A particularly valuable category of sources is the periodical press. Social and cultural, professional, religious periodicals, women’s press and daily newspapers included reports from specific institutions as well as articles on the importance of orphanages in the modernisation of the system of educational care and on the methods and forms of work applied there.

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