Libraries, Collections and Censorship in the Kingdom of Poland in the Early ‘Paskiewicz Period’

Abstract

The author describes the development and general state of libraries and their cultural, educational and scholarly “backstage” at the time of the Kingdom of Poland, taking into account various changes, challenges and political upheavals such as the November Uprising. It is a history of Polish endeavours to enlarge book collections and restrictions imposed by the Russian tsarist autocracy. Different people and institutions (e.g. The Learned Society) were involved in the struggle. The greatest challenge to the libraries and educational institutions at the time was how to cope with the crisis occasioned by the fiasco of the November Uprising. During that time most of book collections from the Kingdom of Poland were appropriated by the Russians and taken to Russia, or came under the strict control of Russian officials, who revised the catalogues, censored some of the publications and removed the books that were considered dangerous. Despite Polish desperate endevours to control the development of book collections, the Russian authorities managed to intensify their activities in the field of censorship and, consequently, to take control over Polish cultural and educational institutions.