Przyczynki do dziejów zespołu Archiwum Książąt Sułkowskich w Bielsku w zasobach Archiwum Państwowego
A contribution to the study of the history of the body of documents of the Archive of the Sułkowski Princes in Bielsko in the collections of the State Archive

Author(s): Grażyna Sokół-Szołtysek
Subject(s): History
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: The article entitled “A contribution to the study of the history of the body of documents of the Archive of the Sułkowski Princes in Bielsko in the collections of the State Archive” discusses in a slightly broader context the factors which influenced the emergence of such documentation heritage of this post-manorial archive and the causes that influenced its state of preservation. An important role which influenced the kind and the nature of archive materials which were created was played by the frequent changes of owners of theBielsko estate, starting from the Cieszyn prince Wacław III Adam, who in 1563 contributedto the establishment of this dominion, through numerous subsequent owners until theappearance of the Sułkowski princes, who ruled these demesnes by means of heredityfrom 1752 until 1944. Of course, a significant role was played by political, system-relatedand social changes which occurred over the course of these centuries.The article also describes the collections of documents which have been preserved inthe princely archives until the present. Many factors in various periods of time influencedthe preservation and the physical state of such a great number of archive materials. Thesefactors included the following: the transmission of documents beyond the princely archive,numerous fires, damage caused by war-related activities, negligence toward the archiveon the part of its owners. These were the causes why the archives were not arranged andrecorded. The documents were also moved within the Bielsko castle. Another thing whichinfluenced the history of the princely archive was the fact that the control over the latterwas assumed by state authorities after the Second World War. The newly established Polishstate entrusted the princely archives to the budding state archive authorities, whichresulted in the fact that the documents wandered from city to city.What is significant, particularly as far as the physical state of preservation of archivematerials is concerned, is the fact that the archives were moved repeatedly along with theentire stock of the State Archive in Bielsko-Biała (eventually the princely archive returned to Bielsko in 1959). The Bielsko state archive was moved repeatedly due to inappropriatehousing conditions. Currently, the archives are about to be moved once again, thistime – let us hope – for the last time, to a modern, recently erected structure which wasdesigned specifically to house the archive.

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