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ARCHIVES
PHOTOGRAPHS
AUDIOVISUAL
MEDALS AND BADGES
STAMPS
PRESS
LIBRARY
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 The medal collection in the Institute began with the donation of 32 items by Romana Wittemberg, from the collection of her husband, Jozef. Later gifts of individual or smaller collections came from Czeslawa
Czajkowska-Twardus, Professor Janusz Zawodny, Alfred Szebel, Bogdan Charlam and Professor Jerzy Krzyzanowski. Other donations came from artists and artisans of their own medals such as St. Wisniewski, Krystyna Filipska-Freyer, Dr. H. Klimkiewicz and Romuald Lech Sieradzki.
At present the Institute’s
collection includes over 180 medals on various subjects such as the 1808 Battle of Somosierra, the November 1830 Uprising, the 1905 Revolution, World War I, the rebirth of Independence, World War II, the Polish Peoples’ Republic and the Polish Third Republic, as well as various anniversaries and events. It
includes 24 medals of Jozef Pilsudski. The collection is cataloged and annotated.
The collection also includes smaller units of medallions and plaques. Among the medallions are the works of Wojciech Swiecicki (1823-1873) from the series of Polish Kings, produced in Warsaw by the Minter factory, and a beautiful medallion of the Polish Senate which incorporated the Sigismond Eagle in
the crown with the letter “S”, a gift of the Senate Marshal, Ms. Jolanta Danielak. Among the plaques we find items by Jozef Aumiller, produced during the interwar years (1919-1939), and a large plaque entitled Jozef Pilsudski.
Among the exhibits in the Institute we must mention the larger-than-life bronze statue of Marshal Pilsudski by Stanislaw Ostrowski (1879-1947) exhibited at the 1939 World Exhibition in NewYork. Also noteworthy are a copper bust of Pilsudski by Elwira Zachert-Mazurczykowa, measuring 85 x 92 centimeters.
The Institute also has a gypsum cast of Pilsudski’s death mask, 1935.
Decorations and badges
The exhibits in five cabinets of the permanent collection, and other showcases exhibited occasionally, show Polish medals from the interwar period, including the Grand Cross with Ribbon and the Star Order of the Polonia Restituta, medals of merit, medals granted in the
West and regimental badges. Among foreign decorations the showcase contains the medals of Poland’s ambassador to Italy, General Wieniawa Dlugoszowski. It includes the Italian Grand Cross with Star of St. Maurice and Lazarus, the French Legion of Honor, and the Romanian Order of the Star. Among regimental badges
we must mention the badges of the Legions: the Officer’s Badge of the Riflemen’s Association, called an “umbrella,” the badge of the First Brigade of the Legion “For Faithful Service,” the Legionary Cross with a miniature, badges of the Polish Military Organization (P.O.W.), and
others. Also worth mentioning are a large number of stamps issued by the “Solidarity” movement in the 1980s, membership badges of various Polish American associations, assorted commemorative badges and stamps marking the itinerary of the First Cadre Company, the Stony Trail March, and a collection of
broaches with various patriotic themes.
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