Iwona Drag-Korga talks with prof. Anna Jaroszynska-Kirchmann. The talk is based on her latest book titled: “Polish American Voices: A Documentary History, 1608-2020 (Routledge, 2024)”, edited with co-author James Pula. We will discuss how did Poles from various waves of immigration and generations make decisions about leaving or returning? How did they react to the American reality? How did they perceive their own identity? How did they build their immigrant community structures? Answers to these are in a variety of historical sources—such as the press, organizational documents, letters, memoirs, poetry, interviews, and visual materials like photographs, drawings, caricatures, and posters.
Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann is a retired Distinguished Professor of History and CSU Professor in the Department of History at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Connecticut, USA. Professor Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann was born in Lublin, where she earned her master's degree in history from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. She has lived and worked in the USA since 1988 and received her doctorate in history from the University of Minnesota. Professor Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann has published many historical books including: “The Exile Mission: Polish Political Diaspora and Polish Americans, 1939–1956”. Ohio University Press, 2004 [with James S. Pula], “Polish American Voices: A Documentary History, 1608–2020” (Routledge, 2024; published in Polish translation as “Polonia Amerykańska o sobie: źródła do historii”, PIW, 2025; as well as numerous articles on the history of the Polish American community. She serves as the editor-in-chief of the scholarly journal titled: “Polish American Studies”. She is active in the Polish American Historical Association, having served, as the organization's president from 2007 to 2009.
