Rozmieszczenie i struktura zasobu archiwalnego w archiwach państwowych okresu międzywojennego
The Distribution and Structure of Archival Funds in Interwar State Archives

Author(s): Irena Mamczak-Gadkowska
Subject(s): 19th Century, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: state archive; state archival network; archival funds; state archival funds; distribution of archival funds; structure of archival funds
Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the issue of the distribution and structure of archival funds in Polish state archives in the period between the restoration of Poland’s independence and the outbreak of World War II. The author lists the basic factors which determined the final shape of the archival network and structure of archival funds in the period under discussion, including factors independent from the management of the State Archives Department, such as financial struggles, lack of sufficient space, and staffing issues. Established under the decree of 7 February 1919, the state archive network overseen by the State Archives Department did not comprised a varying number of facilities over the course of the interwar period – from 11 facilities right after the war to 21 archives in 1924 to the final number of 16 archives (five of which were located in Warsaw) in the 1930s. Designed according to historical criteria, the archival network of the Second Polish Republic was not distributed evenly and did not correspond to the administrative divisions in the country. Some provinces, mostly those located in the east of Poland, did not have their branches of state archives. The author also points to significant changes introduced to the structure of archival funds in Polish state archives in the interwar period, motivated by such factors as the dissolution of certain archival facilities, recovery of archival materials, and collection of contemporary records produced by the offices and institutions of the Second Polish Republic. The article also provides data on the size and structure of the resources held in individual archives and the overall state archival funds in the interwar period.

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