Manuscript materials of public life of the Załuski Library in Warsaw from the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the second half of the 16th-18th century)
Manuscript materials of public life of the Załuski Library in Warsaw from the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the second half of the 16th-18th century)

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses a part of manuscript collection of the Załuski Library in Warsaw related to developing, documenting and registering or aimed at influencing public life in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth. The manuscript collections of the Załuski Library, amounting to about 11-13 000 units, were among the largest and most valuable in Poland up until being dispatched to Saint Petersburg in 1796; following their repossession by Poland after 1922, the vast majority of them (about 80%) were destroyed in 1944. Asthe old handwritten inventories were lost together with the collection, the paper is based on two printed selective catalogues of manuscripts, later inventory and catalogue records drawn up in Saint Petersburg as well as few reference works and other scientific studies. The number of public life documents held in the Załuski Library can be estimated at approximately 300-400 inventory units. The most important ones include Crown Chancellery official books and collections of records concerning administrative, fiscal and military matters of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Anumerous group of materials was represented by sejm diaries, collections of public life documents created by private initiative and for private use as well as official correspondence of Polish kings and state dignitaries.

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