Completed research projects

National Science Centre (since 2015)

„Urban Space of Late Medieval Florence: Representations and Perception”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2014/15/N/HS3/01768, funded: 80.400 PLN, Principal Investigator: mgr Anna Pomierny-Wąsińska, 2015–2017

There were two main goals of the project. Firstly the research should reconstruct and interpret the characteristic ways in which citizens of the late medieval city have perceived its space and imagined organisation of this space. To achieve that goal analyses the extant historical sources from the late medieval Florence (c.1322–c.1434) and then characterize the language of defining and describing the urban space was done. Secondly the results of the project should enable a verification of the current scientific/research questionnaire and widen the state of knowledge on problems that have not been taken into account yet or have been recognised as marginal in the researches of urban space.

„Kalisz consistory court records, 1504–1534”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2014/13/N/HS3/04425, funded: 102.700 PLN; Principal Investigator: mgr Arkadiusz Borek, 2015–2018

The main aim of the project was to prepare a digital edition of five books of the district Official in Kalisz from 1504–1534. It consist of complete, joined indexes of persons, geographical sites, and cases (including their registers), and a selective index of terms (important utility objects, benefices, sacral objects), together with released facsimiles of the manuscript, a full-text edition of the most typical entries (given the form and handwriting), and an introduction commenting on written sources.

“Digital Edition of the Kalisz District Court Registers form the turn of the 15th and 16th century”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2014/13/N/HS3/04428, funded: 149.500 PLN, Principal Investigator: mgr Tomasz Związek, 2015–2018

The aim of the research was to prepare the digital edition of court books from land of Kalisz. It encompassed records from the turn of the 15th and 16th century (around 1480–1540). The planned, innovative method of publication combined the present output of Polish editorship of historical sources with modern IT tools (databases and GIS, among others).

„Digital edition of the Kalisz district court books from 1587 to 1593”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2014/13/N/HS3/04421, funded: 149.890 PLN, Principal Investigator: mgr Michał Gochna, 2015–2018

The purpose of the research was to prepare a digital edition of Kalisz district court books. The edition encompassed the registers from the beginning of the rule of king Sigismund III (1587–1593). The scholars used an innovative method, which combines the present output of Polish editorship of historical sources with modern IT tools (databases and GIS, among others). The method allows to combine data from various sources.

„The 1905 Revolution in the Grodno Governorate. Ideological Face and Practical Dimension”, FUGA, no. 2015/16/S/HS3/00532, funded: 291.000 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Aliaksandr Laneuski, 2015–2017

The main research objective of the project was to analyze the 1905 revolution in the Grodno Governorate, with particular emphasis on the city of Grodno. On the one hand, the analysis covered the activities of the parties and political groups that fueled the revolution, and on the other, the authorities’ reaction to these events. In turn, the attempt to reconstruct these events and the analysis of their course allowed us to answer a very interesting research question about what research on the 1905 revolution says about political, social and national relations (in the Grodno Governorate, the interests of Belarusians, Lithuanians, Poles, Russians and Jews intersected) in this region.

“Institutions and Facilities of Social-Aid for Jews in the Ghettos of Generalgouvernement 1939–1944”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2014/13/N/HS3/04441, funded: 64.540 PLN, Principal Investigator: mgr Aleksandra Bańkowska, 2015–2018

The aim of the project was to gather and process information to form a database of institutions and facilities of social aid for Jews in the Generalgouvernement (GG). The historiography of the Holocaust lack a comprehensive study which deals with social aid for Jews in Polish lands. This topic appeared only in monographs of individual ghettos, and only a few institutions have been subjected to separate study (American Joint Distribution Committee – AJDC and Society for the Protection of Health of Jews in Poland – TOZ). However, well preserved documentation allows for research to be carried out on almost all centers of social aid for Jews in the GG.

„Old maps’ digital editions: perspectives and constraints on the example of “Geographic-Military and Statistical Map of Greater Poland” (1807–1812)”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2015/17/N/HS3/01267, funded: 112.320 PLN, Principal Investigator: mgr Tomasz Panecki, 2016–2019

The aim of the project was to develop a method of old maps’ digital edition based on “Geographic-military and statistical map of Grater Poland” (1807–1812) also called the Gaul’s map (cartographer) or Raczynski’s Map (patron). Today, we tend to observe an increasing interest in digital and spatial humanities, as well as more frequent maps dissemination and analysis in a digital form. Consistent method of cartographic sources editing method has not yet been developed. In the project, previous attempts in this respect (both Polish and foreign) was be taken under consideration and evaluated. The aim of the project was not only to develop such a method, but also to indicate its perspectives and constraints in the context of its future application to the maps developed in the nineteenth century. The digital edition of the map based on proposed method was be performed with the application of IT tools primarily containing Geographic Information System (GIS).

„Zelman Wolfowicz and his rule in the Drohobycz demesne in the mid-18th c.”, OPUS, no. 2015/17/B/HS3/02850, funded: 274.440 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr hab. prof. IH PAN Tomasz Wiślicz-Iwańczyk, 2016–2020

The objective of the project was to construct a new model of functioning of local communities in the pre-partition Poland-Lithuania, transcending social divisions and religions, a model that combines a multidimensional analysis of microsocial and biographic data with a reflection on social and cultural phenomena on a macro scale and in a diachronic context.

The point of departure for the research was Zelman Wolfowicz, son of a Jewish furrier from Drohobycz, who informally ruled the demesne of Drohobycz for over a dozen years in the middle of the 18th century. The accumulation of connections and emotions on his subject sets him apart from the remaining Jewish administrators – confidants of the Polish nobility in the 17th–18th centuries – which makes his story particularly important for an understanding of the social history of the Noble Republic.

„Letters to the authorities as a source for social history of the Polish People’s Republic”, OPUS, no. 2015/17/B/HS3/00170, funded: 272.700 PLN, Principal Investigator: prof. dr hab. Dariusz Jarosz, 2016–2019

The first aim of this project was to attempt the elaboration and establishment of methodological rules for exploiting letters to the central authorities in the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) period as sources for researchers into social history. The second aim was the inter-disciplinary and a multi-aspected analyses of letters flowing in to four selected state institutions (the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party, the Cabinet Office, the Council of State Office, Radio and Television). Methodological reflection over epistolographic sources, the working out of work methods with this type of historical source, highlighting its weak and strong points, and detailed descriptions of scope of problems raised therein, together with producing a guide – that is helpful to historians and other humanists – to the vast collections of letters written after the war to central institutions; this constituted an important practical tool facilitating further work with these epistolographic sources. The work of the research team designed thus contributed not only to the development of a methodology of research into Polish history after 1945, but also it constitutes an important contribution to practical aspects of postwar social and cultural history studies of our country.

“Celebration of power. Public ceremonies in major cities of Royal (Polish) Prussia in 16th–18th century. Study of forming modern ceremonial culture”, OPUS, no. 2015/17/B/HS3/00169, funded: 245.300 PLN, Principal Investigator: prof. dr hab. Edmund Kizik, 2016–2019

The goal of the project was reconstruction and analysis of public ceremonies organized by the authorities of Gdańsks, Elbląg and Toruń (in Royal Prussia – Polish part of Prussia) between 16th century till 1793. The recipients of the ceremonial ceremonies were: the Polish kings and it was a ceremony only for alternative reasons (elections, coronations, tributes, triumphs, invasions of cities, marriage, birth of children) and sad ones (mourning after the death of kings and members of the royal family); local municipal authorities (mayoral elections) were properly celebrated on a scale. Apart from the reconstruction of the ceremonies themselves and the logically arranged devices of the organizers, the aim of the project was also to find diplomatic-ceremonial and iconological-literary patterns that were made available when creating the scenarios.

“The correspondence between John of Capestrano and the Poles in 1451–1456: studies and source edition”, HARMONIA, no. 2015/18/M/HS3/00091, funded: 169.140 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr hab. prof. IH PAN Paweł Kras, 2016–2018

The project constituted an integral part of a major international enterprise established to research and produce a Latin-English edition of the whole epistolary of St John of Capestrano (Giovanni da Capestrano) from the years 1451–1456. Polish scholars contributed a Latin-English edition of thirty five letters related to Capestrano’s activities in Silesia and the Polish Kingdom in the years 1453–1454. Recipients of Capestrano’s letters include: King Casimir II the Jagiellon, various Silesian dukes, Duchess Anne of Mazovia, Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Cracow, Bishop Piotr Nowak of Wrocław, the town councils of Cracow and Wrocław, as well as religious communities and individuals. The afore-mentioned letters remain the primary source for a study on the life and activities of John of Capestrano during his busy preaching tour in Central Europe in 1451–1456. The letters shed light on major problems of international politics and religious developments in fifteenth century Christendom, such as the Turkish invasion of the Balkans, the siege and fall of Constantinople, the confrontation between the Roman Church and Bohemian Hussites, the Franciscan Observant reform and the cult of St. Bernardino of Siena, and the Roman Church’s relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Jews. The critical Latin-English edition of the Polish section of Capestrano’s epistolary provides a modern research tool for a further examination of socio-religious transformations in the “long” fifteenth century. This edition makes it possible to better assess the crucial role of Capestrano in the spread of Franciscan Observants in Poland and other countries of Central Europe, as well as in the growth of new forms of urban piety inspired by his preaching. All the letters related to Capestrano’s visits in Silesia and the Polish Kingdom were analyzed and edited in cooperation with foreign partners working on the edition of the whole epistolary of John of Capestrano.

“History of social and political concepts in Poland in 18th–20th centuries”, OPUS, no. 2015/19/B/HS3/03737, funded: 450.248 PLN, Principal Investigator: prof. dr hab. Maciej Janowski, 2016–2019

The project aimed at creating a dictionary, unique in the Polish academic literature, presenting changes and transformations in the Polish social and political language from the 18th till the 20th century. The goal of the research was to understand general patterns of these changes and their evolution, as illustrated by selected concepts. The research owed its origin and inspiration to similar investigations made in the West, especially in Germany. The proposed work dealt with a topic that is central for the national culture. Concepts are, in fact, categories through which a given culture perceives itself and the external world. Therefore the study of their transitory meanings, of their appearing, transforming and disappearing is indispensable for understanding any given culture – in this case the Polish one.

„Summarization of Crown Metrica 140”, OPUS, no. 2015/19/B/HS3/01756, funded: 17.280 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr hab. prof. IH PAN Krzysztof Chłapowski, 2016–2017

Project’s purpose is sumarization of the Crown Metrica nr 140, to make 314 documents available. Abstract was set right in chronological order in Polish language an indexes were prepared. In the books of Crown Metrica, which was the product of royal chancellery, the chancellery of highest power of Commonwealth – were incripted royal decisions every character or their confirming, nominations in offices an dignities, ennoblements and many others. Because of it theCrown Metrica was, is and will be a fundamental searching materials for historians every speciality.

„Social functioning of architecture of selected parts of public space in the cities in the Polish territories (ca. 1850–1914)”, SONATA, no. 2015/19/D/HS3/03253, funded: 233.100 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Aleksander Łupienko, 2016–2019

The aim of the research was to give answer to the question, how the changing space, which gained new meanings, was decoded and evaluated by its users in both most important cities in the Polish territories in the 19th century. Written and iconographic sources related to selected fragments of the public space was investigated. This material is broad. A survey over selected memoirs, press articles, city guides, fiction, comments on architectural competitions, monographies on artistic, architectural, hygienic, monument preservation or engineering issues, along with photographic albums, drawings, postcards, and even advertisements, will be carried out in order to find the content regarding researched issues. By means of an analysis of all this, what the population (mainly Polish-speaking), as well as the intellectual elites, thought of the selected edifices and monuments, broader conclusions about human mentality, the ability of decoding meanings, and self-consciousness will be drawn. The project was in accord with the so called Cultural History trend (something different to the history of culture), which seeks for deeper context of social phenomena, far from the issues addressed by the political history, but of crucial importance for understanding people from that times.

„Historical Atlas of Polish Towns: Kalisz”, OPUS, no. 2015/19/B/HS3/00549, funded: 177.800 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr hab. Urszula Sowa, 2016–2019

The main objective of the project was to prepare and publish a historical atlas of Kalisz, according the rules of International Commission for the History of Towns. The obligatory program includes: the earliest pre-industrial age map (the principal map); a modern map; the reproduction of a map showing the town and its surroundings and a specially designed map with reconstruction of the town’s spatial development. The atlas was published in Polish and English.

„The edition of records of Kaunas assemblies for the years 1733–1795”, SONATA, no. 2015/19/D/HS3/00716, funded: 166.800 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Monika Jusupović, 2016–2019

The aim of this project was editing of Kaunas assemblies’ records for the reign of two last kings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, August III and Stanisław August. It allows to illustrate changing in organization and functioning of assemblies and the nobility’s political culture since the anarchy of the Wettins’ reign trough first symptoms of the Enlightenment to reforms of the reign of Stanisław August which were crowned by the Third of May Constitution. It is shown on the example of Kaunas assemblies, since it played significant role in this period. During the reign of August III this council enjoyed particular concern of the leaders of magnates parties, because it avoid “liberum veto”. Whereas during the reign of Stanisław August this assembly was the main arena of struggle between courts party and partisans of Zabiełłos’ family. In the result assemblies were several times split.

„Władysław Bieńkowski – biography”, FUGA,   no. 2016/20/S/HS3/00311, funded: 273.950 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Bartłomiej Kapica, 2016–2018

The aim of the project was to develop a biography of Władysław Bieńkowski (1906–1991), a Polish politician and communist activist whose life path ran from Marxist orthodoxy to supporting the opposition in the 1970s. Bieńkowski’s character is limited by his unique nature and is an example of an individual whose limitations are imposed by a set idea that does not allow him to finally free himself from the worldview that has been defined for almost his entire life. His biography is also an additional source of factual material for a new interpretation of leftist ideas in Poland, social attitude towards the communist system or the scope of its reform. The reconstruction of Bieńkowski’s life is based on archival and press materials and historical accounts, reconstructing the mechanisms and applications of analysis tools in the field of microhistory allow its more complete understanding.

„Gender order in Polish science 1890–1952. Transformations, continuations, discontinuations”, FUGA, no. 2016/20/S/HS3/00337, funded: 468.000 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Iwona Dadej, 2016–2019

Observing the development of the history of science and its inextricable intertwine with the gender perspective in Western Europe and drawing inspiration from the achievements of German and American historians, the Principal Investigator decided to examine the breakthrough moment in the history of science, including Polish science, when the first women were gradually admitted to academic structures. She wanted to reach the beginnings of the ‘new’ situation, when women also began to study in university structures. With her historical research, she wanted to reach the beginnings of the (still today) asymmetrical distribution of accents of power and prestige in the academy and show the scientific biographies of Maria Skłodowska-Curie’s peers, colleagues or students, about whom modern science and society know little.

„Annual Fairs in Greater Poland from the Late Middle Ages to the Deluge (1385–1655)”, POLONEZ, no. 2016/21/P/HS3/04034, funded: 768.736 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Anna Orłowska, 2017–2019

The central goal of this project was investigating periodic fairs in Greater Poland in the late middle ages and early modernity (from 1385 to 1655). Periodic fairs in Europe were fundamental in the exchange of goods within the continent as they formed the backbone of European land trade. The focus of investigation in the fellowship was placed on Greater Poland functioning as a gateway between East and West in the transalpine Europe. The selected period begins with the year of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, which marks the beginning of a new political and economic entity, and ends with the period of wars against Sweden, which caused heavy damage to the country and radically changed economic conditions.

„An Uneven Friendship and Its Perception: The Holy Roman Empire and Poland in the Eyes of the Other’s Chroniclers/Authors during the Middle Ages (10.–15. c.)”, POLONEZ, no. 2016/21/P/HS3/0401, funded: 633.460 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Grischa Vercamer, 2017–2019

The project aimed to collect and analyse the image of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) and its people among Polish writers and (vice versa) of Poland and its people among German writers in the Middle Ages (10th–15th century). What did they think of their neighbour and in which contexts did they write about their neighbour?

„Women and men in marriage in Poland in years 1939–1980”, SONATA, no. 2016/21/D/HS3/02739, funded: 117.605 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Natalia Jarska, 2017–2020

The aim of the project was to examine the relationship between men and women in marriage in the context of World War II and the occupation and communist times (until 1980) in Poland. The analysis was based on a rich collection of memoirs written for contests announced in the press in years 1960s and 1970. Several hundred original documents of the memoirs are devoted to marriage and family. These sources haven’t been used in historiography so far. The authors of the memoirs described their experiences, interpreting them according to their ideas about marriage and the roles of men and women. That’s why this material give an insight into the understanding of gender by social actors, and show power relations in marriage. The project’s objective was to research three specific topics: war marriages, the impact of wage work on the roles of women and men in marriage, and the definition and perception of misalliance in postwar Poland.

“Modernity, quality and aesthetics” of home appliances. Turning ideologies into material culture artefacts in late state socialist Poland (1970–1989)”, SONATA, no. 2016/23/D/HS3/03199, funded: 392.976 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Patryk Wasiak, 2017–2020

This project aimed to investigate how a range of manufacturers, governmental institutions and societal organizations attempted to turn their own ideologies into material culture artifacts by inscribing home appliances with cultural meanings in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s. The main research objective of the project was to answer the question, how actors which took part in the “politics of consumption” were capable of exercising their power by influencing other actors.

„Alberic of Trois-Fontaines and thirteenth century Cistercian vision of the historical-cultural community of Europe/Christianitas”, SONATA, no. 2016/23/D/HS3/03197, funded: 123.500 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Antoni Grabowski, 2017–2020

The proposed project aimed to prepare the full study of the 13th century world chronicle written by Alberic of Trois-Fontaines. The main theme was the description of the community included in this text – how Europe, or even larger, Latin Christianity was described on the pages of it. Alberic’s chronicle is here a very important source, because of the extent of the information put in it. Alberic unlike his contemporaries from Western Europe, who would note information on the mostly happenings in France or Germany, presented an unprecedented amount of information on the East Central Europe.

„Studies on ethnicity and race in Poland and the international circulation of knowledge 1918–1952”, MINIATURA, no. 2017/01/X/HS3/01110, funded: 34.947 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Olga Linkiewicz, 2017–2018

The aim of the research was to analyze the international circulation of expert knowledge on ethnicity and race in the years 1918–1952 between Central and Eastern Europe and the United States, its promotion in society and its use in state policy. The subject of the analysis was in particular the exchange of ideas, concepts, tools and research methods in the field of anthropology (racial anthropology, ethnology and ethno-sociology) and the related cooperation and competition between scientists from Poland, Germany and the USA. The planned activity included a query in selected archives in the USA, in the legacies of scientists who came from Poland, their American collaborators and relevant institutions.

„The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Handwritten Circulation of Information in England in the First Half of the 17th Century. Information about Poland in John Pory’s Newsletter”, MINIATURA, no. 2017/01/X/HS3/01617, funded: 37.339 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Anna Kalinowska, 2018–2019

The scientific activity planned for implementation included two stages: 1. Conducting a library search in the subject literature concerning the circulation of manuscripts in England in the first half of the 17th century and source editions (journals, source publications unavailable in the country or online, materials from databases such as SPOn-line, MEMSO, etc.). 2. Conducting a source search aimed at collecting materials allowing for the analysis of information from the Republic of Poland or relating to it, and appearing in newsletters (manuscript information bulletins) prepared by John Pory, one of the most famous professional authors of this type of manuscripts, preserved in the collections of the British Library (Harley MS) and The National Archives in London (C115), and their contextualization, thanks to the analysis of materials left by, for example, their recipients, e.g. John Scudamore and Joseph Mead.

„The Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the historical collection”, MINIATURA, no. 2017/01/X/HS3/01618, funded: 40.590 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Adrian Jusupović, 2017–2018

The project was carried out in three stages. 1) Research in St. Petersburg (one 2-week long and a supplementary 10-day long), where there are collections of chronicles from the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 16th to 18th centuries; 2) Supplementary research (2 weeks) in Lviv for chronicles from the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 16th to 18th centuries; 3) Preparation of the monograph “The Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the Historical Collection”.

„The Coming to Terms with Political Corruption and Office Abuse Cases in Poland and the German Democratic Republic during the 1980. A Historical-Sociological Study”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2017/25/N/HS3/00284, funded: 151.736 PLN, Principal Investigator: mgr Jakub Szumski, 2018–2022

The aim of the project was to determine what role public accountability for political corruption and abuse of office played in the breakthrough periods of socialist times. The project analyzed the process of accounting for corruption and abuse of office in Poland and the German Democratic Republic. The chronological scope extended from the 1970s to the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990. The project focused in particular on the breakthrough periods in the 1980s: the Solidarity revolution in Poland (August 31, 1981 – December 13, 1989) and the peaceful revolution in the GDR (October 9, 1989 – October 3, 1990).

„The history of Polish-Lithuanian Union in the years 1492–1569. From the dynastic to the real union”, SONATA, no. 2017/26/D/HS3/00415, funded: 382.340 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Dominik Szulc, 2018–2024

The main objective of the conducted research was to reconstruct the course of evolution of the union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the stage of dynastic union in 1492 to the stage of real union in 1569. The aim was therefore to determine how the union of these two states developed from the moment when they were connected with each other only symbolically by the bond of dynasty, until the moment when they merged into a real union, with formally common institutions and foreign policy.

„Ethnopolitics: Studies of Ethnicity and Race in Poland, Politics, and the International Circulation of Knowledge, 1918–1958”, OPUS, no. 2017/27/B/HS3/02572, funded: 270.817 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Olga Linkiewicz, 2018–2023

By the mid-20th century, the study of ethnicity and race was a source of epistemological and political competition between disciplines and schools of thought in Europe and the United States. At the same time, it fueled the rapid development of modern specialized knowledge. As a result, pervasive concepts developed in the postwar period, such as ethnicity and race, civilization, national character, cultural areas, and cultural patterns, acquired new meanings and became part of the international circulation of scientific social knowledge. The aim of the project was to understand how these concepts were integrated, domesticated, and reshaped to fit into debates about the complex relationship between science, modern society, and the state, especially how they interacted with local ideas of assimilation, citizenship, and patriotism.

„Neglected Sources. A Socio-Political History of Poland (until ca. 1320) Based on Liturgical Manuscripts”, SONATINA, no. 2018/28/C/HS3/00464, funded: 596.822 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Paweł Figurski, 2018–2022

The aim of the conducted research was to describe several key phenomena from the political and social history of Poland until the beginning of the 14th century based on a previously marginalized source genre – liturgical manuscripts, which offer a new approach to the partially recognized processes defined in historiography as: 1) the beginnings of the Polish state 2) the ideology of the Piast government 3) the idea of ​​unification. So far, research on sources used during the service of God has been conducted primarily by theologians or scholars interested in strictly religious issues. Meanwhile, the preserved set of liturgical sources until the beginning of the 14th century offered extremely interesting research perspectives for socio-political history.

„The Portuguese overseas identity in the context of the social network analysis”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2017/27/N/HS3/01104, funded: 154.110 PLN, Principal Investigator: mgr Agata Błoch, 2018–2021

The aim of the project was to analyze how the colonial overseas identity of the Portuguese Empire was born and maintained until the mid-18th century. This identity was be analyzed in an unconventional manner, combining traditional historiography studies with Social Networking Analysis, which is a modern mathematical and informational tool. Portuguese colonial society was understood as a network society where its structure is what explains certain behaviors and tendencies, rather than personal characteristics. Despite the fact that the colonial world was a network of connections between individuals, the focus of the research was shifted from the human to the relationships that connect him or her with other actors. Social networks were understood in this context as a conscious policy of building lasting, intercultural and transcontinental relationships. The expected results brought an innovative insight into the understanding of the colonial system, in which its outskirts have often played the role of the center. On the one hand, there was the centralized royal administration with its plans and strategists; on the other hand, against all odds, there were conscious individuals living on the margins of colonial societies in America and Africa, trying to build their space within complex transoceanic social networks.

„Between St. Petersburg and Berlin. The Polish-Lituanian Commonwealth in the shadow of the Prusso-Russian relations in the years of the Confederacy of Bar and the First Partition”, OPUS, no. 2018/29/B/HS3/01149, funded: 155.680 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Dorota Dukwicz, 2019–2021

By analyzing sources, mainly of a diplomatic nature, it was possible to finally verify the thesis that all decisions on the fate of the Commonwealth, including the partition, were sovereign decisions of St. Petersburg. The motives for Catherine II and her advisors’ decision on the partition were also examined, a decision that meant for Russia a temporary loss of exclusive control over the Commonwealth by allowing Prussia, and later also Austria, to decide on Polish matters. It was therefore worth considering whether this was a rational decision or perhaps a consequence of the illusion that the Commonwealth was slipping away from Russian domination, which in turn could lead to a threat to Russia’s previous position as a power in the international arena. A new look at the first partition was not only necessary, but also possible. This project was an attempt at such a new look at a problem that had seemingly been studied for a long time.

„The Polish Courtier at the Jagiellonian court and the elected king’s court. The social position, value system, role model”, OPUS, no. 2018/29/B/HS3/00907, funded: 407.540 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr hab. Bożena Czwojdrak, 2019–2024

The project was designed to explain the unexplored phenomena of the social position, value system and role models of the Polish courtier in the Jagiellonian Monarchy and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by elected kings until the fall of the latter, i.e. from 1386 until the abdication of Stanisław August Poniatowski in 1795.

„Polish-British Relations, 1937–1939”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2018/29/N/HS3/00930, funded: 139.300 PLN, Principal Investigator: mgr Marek Rodzik, 2019–2024

The main objective of the project was to examine Polish-British relations from the visit of Lord Halifax to Nazi Germany in November 1937 – which initiated the so-called active phase of the appeasement policy – ​​to the internationalization of the Polish-German conflict on September 3, 1939, when Great Britain and France entered the war. Although this topic has been the subject of previous historical research, mainly with reference to the factual description of mutual relations, it has not yet been fully explained what were the detailed mechanisms of defining the policy by both decision-making centers towards their partners. One of these partners was the Western Empire with global obligations; the other was a state with limited potential but aspiring to the role of a leader in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of this project was also to broaden the perspective of mutual perceptions and expectations of Great Britain and Poland in the above-mentioned period.

„A Socio-Cultural History of Cancer in Poland after 1945. Institutions. Places, People”, OPUS, no. 2018/29/B/HS3/01243, funded: 201.990 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Ewelina Szpak, 2019–2023

The key research problem in this project was an attempt to outline the dynamics of change in the perception of selected malignant tumors in Polish society in the 20th century. The main research goals included: 1. reconstruction of developments in the field of oncology, taking into account the state of knowledge and education in Poland, together with an indication of the efforts and achievements of the medical community in cancer research since the 1920s; 2. marking the dynamics of transformation in institutional and public assistance (health policy) in combating neoplastic diseases in Poland in the 20th century.

„Ways of perceiving exotic animals in ephemera, 1500–1650”, ETIUDA, no. 2018/28/T/HS3/00523, przyznane środki: 81.676 PLN, stypendysta: mgr Konrad Bielecki, 2018–2019

The aim of the project was to determine the significance of early modern printed leaflets in the process of learning about, describing and visualising new natural phenomena, such as the appearance of exotic animal species in Europe in the period 1500–1650. The analysis of sources aimed to learn about the conditions for processing information into an iconographic system and written narrative, as well as to determine and categorise the functions performed by the discourses thus created.

„Settlement network in Warmia (Ermland) – preliminary research”, MINIATURA, no. 2018/02/X/HS3/03344, funded: 11.064 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Wiesława Duży, 2019–2020.

Projectaimed to conduct research on settlement network in Warmia (Ermland), characterizing unusual structure of land ownership, as Warmia was a prince-bishopric territory. The very first step of these research was to investigate sources from the Archive of the Warmian Archbishopric in Olsztyn, Poland, and from archives in Berlin. Project outcomes were going to be two papers written and submitted to publication in English. The subject of the first article is a characteristic of sources available for research on Warmian history, concerning above mentioned character of local authority. A topic of a second paper was to discuss protocols from episcopal visits’ organised by bishops of Warmia in the second half of 16th century in comparison with the same documents from other parts of Polish territory.

„Polish-Russian relations from the emigre perspective. Areas of cooperation and rivalry on the basis of the main centres of emigration in the years 1939–1956”, PRELUDIUM, no. 2018/31/N/HS3/02180, funded: 201.026 PLN, Principal Investigator: mgr Łukasz Dryblak, 2019–2022.

The main objective of the research project was to investigate the issues and intensity of Polish-Russian dialogue in exile in the years 1945–1956. The work was comparative in nature, comparing views on mutual relations and other issues vividly commented on by representatives of important Polish and Russian emigration circles from Western Europe and the USA.

„Greek Catholic Prelates of Galicia in the Face of Revolution, Restoration and Nationalism: Mykhailo Harasevych, Baron de Neustern, and his intellectual milieu”, SONATINA, no. 2019/32/C/HS3/00466, funded: 666.770 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Tomasz Hen-Konarski, 2019–2022.

The aim of this project was to study the milieu of Greek Catholic prelates active in Austrian Galicia from the 1790s through the 1830s: their careers, cultural capital, political ideas, and personal contacts. The archpriest Mykhailo Harasevych was used as the point of departure, he was the first native Galician to try writing a history of Galician Ukrainians (Ruthenians). His case was used as individual example of wider historical trends and his biography will form part of a broader picture of his social and intellectual environment.

„Wandering Ideas: The Transfers of Concepts within the British, French and Polish Early Socialism (1825–1848)”, SONATINA, no. 2020/36/C/HS3/00037, funded: 570.823 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Piotr Kuligowski, 2020–2023.

The main aim was to tackle the wanderings of early socialist concepts across Europe, with particular attention to British, French, and Polish national contexts. The Principal Investigator intended to focus on the transfers of early socialist concepts across Europe. Indeed, in his opinion, early socialism in Europe appears to be an ideology that to high extent developed in a result of transfers. Main representatives of this school of thought shared a common conviction that the continent in the first half of the 19thcentury, in particular after the Napoleonic wars and the Congress of Vienna, found itself in turmoil. However, the turmoil was defined by them in different manners: whereas in France and in Great Britainthey rangthe alarm bell analyzing the social position of workers, then in East Central Europe, where the modern industry barely existed, they focused much more on discussing new international order. Anyway, what was at stake for all of them, was demanding a new order, or all-encompassing Harmony, in which all fallacies typical for existing world were to fade away.

“Women’s military training (Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet) as an emancipation and idenity formation”, MINIATURA, no. 2021/05/X/HS3/00497, funded: 15.549 PLN, kierownik działania naukowego: dr Anna Nowakowska-Wierzchoś, 2021–2022

As part of the project, basic research was carried out, the aim of which was to present the movement/organization of Women’s Military Training from the perspective of gender and to show this movement as the next stage in the process of women’s emancipation. The subject of particular interest were the models of femininity represented and proposed by PWK instructors and the existing tension between this model and the commonly accepted model of femininity and social acceptance for women’s public and professional involvement.

“The Uniate Church in the Podlasie and Brest-Litovsk district in the first years after partitions (1795–1807) – parish structures and clergy”, MINIATURA, no. 2021/05/X/HS3/00845, funded: 10.644 PLN, kierownik projektu: dr Andrzej Buczyło, 2021–2022

The aim of the project was to understand the dynamics of changes that occurred after the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Uniate Church in Podlasie and Brzesko-Litovsk County (within the pre-partition borders). Most of the area that was the subject of the research was subject to the Uniate diocese of Vladimir before 1795 and constituted its so-called the Brest part, only the northern part of Podlasie belonged to the metropolitan diocese. The mentioned Brzesko part of the diocese was the only one whose areas were included in all three partitions at the same time. This situation did not occur in any of the other Uniate dioceses. This subordination to three invaders with different administrative systems naturally had to result in far-reaching changes in the local structure and functioning of the Uniate Church in a short time. The Project Manager analyzed these changes in the case of each of the three partitions and then showed them against a comparative background. The planned research was part of a broader trend of research on historical geography, prosopography and research on social groups.

“Polish diplomats at the Holy See in the second half of XV century – library and archive searches”, MINIATURA, no. 2021/05/X/HS3/01142, funded: 22.861 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Adam Zapała, 2021–2022

The planned scientific activity included conducting a query in the Vatican Archives and the Vatican Library. The result of the project is the acquisition and cataloging of scans of papal provenance sources regarding Polish diplomats staying at the Holy See in the second half of the 15th century, and the creation of a database containing a list of Polish envoys to the Pope from that period. The planned query was an introduction to further research, the aim of which will be to examine the activities of Polish diplomats at the Holy See in the second half of the 15th century. The main research problems will be: how to build the position of Polish envoys at the papal court, their role in communication between Poles and the Roman Curia and the influence on the reception of Renaissance culture in Poland.

“The Fertility Decline in the Interwar Poland”, SONATA, no. 2019/35/D/HS3/00721, funded: 165.754 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Bartosz Ogórek, 2022–2024.

This project aimed at consideration of historical fertility transition in the population of the Interwar Poland (1918–1939). The Total Fertility Rate (i.e. the average number of children born per women through the reproductive years) on Polish lands was more than six at the beginning of the 20th c. and fell to around three in the 1930s. Hence, the general research question are: how did that change happen? What were the main causes of this process on state, regional, environmental and individual level? Was this a culture or economy that dictated the course and tempo of change or maybe a blend of those? Which social groups were first to modify the fertility and which were the most reluctant to do so? By which means was the reduction of fertility achieved (sexual restraint, withdrawal, abortion) and how was the knowledge about these means spread? What does the fertility decline in the Interwar Poland tells us about the modernization of the Polish society and about the processes of social change in Central Eastern Europe?

„Henry Biterfeld of Brzeg and the Observant Reform of the Dominican Order. Critical edition of the treatise “De formatione et reformatione Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum””, OPUS, no. 2018/31/B/HS3/01196, funded: 207.364 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr hab. Anna Ewa Zajchowska-Bołtromiuk, 2023–2024

The aim of the project was to identify the theoretical assumptions and the historical circumstances of the observant reform of the Dominican Order at the end of 14th century as well as some aspects of its development in the 15th century. It also show a role of the Polish Province of the Order in the Dominican observant movement. The bases of the research was a treatise of Henry Bitterfeld of Brzeg „De formatione et formatione Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum”. Its critical edition provided an illustrative material for a series of analytical studies.

„Jesuits of the East? Artistic network of the Basilian order in Eighteenth-Century Poland-Lithuania”, SONATINA, no. 2021/40/C/HS3/00045, funded: 613.880 PLN, Principal Investigator: dr Melchior Jakubowski, 2021–2024

The main goal of the project was to reassemble the artistic network of the Basilian order using GIS (Geographic Information System) and SNA (Social Network Analysis) methods in order to uncover the social mechanisms functioning within and around the order. Artistic network in this case meant the links between humans, ideas, things and places. The project studied to what extent did Basilian artistic network resemble the Jesuit organization. How did the monastic network function in the Uniate order, joining the traditions of Eastern and Western Churches? Did “Basilian” art and artists exist? Were Basilian superiors and artists realizing universalized artistic vision? Or – on the contrary – did regional differences prevail? How significant was the impact of patrons? What did it mean “Basilian” with regard to art?