The nobility, since the 19th century, was a social layer which played a crucial function in the past of the Polish nation. Regardless of the region, regardless of the Russian, Prussian or Austrian occupation, it was economical or cultural.
Although in this social group there were different representatives of it – from “warch” to enlightened ones, who saw more and more than most representatives of this social group. The assessment of the nobility – the lands of that time influenced years after the Second planet War. During this period, the past of the nobility was presented unequivocally negatively, as a class of exploiters of peasant masses. Only any characters were presented in a somewhat different way, in a better light. For the reasons mentioned above, another certificates were in the hands of private, household resources or state archives. Only fresh years have led to the anticipation of bringing them closer to both historians, researchers of the past and to those curious in amateur past reaching for this reading. Their content is frequently a origin of historical cognition not only for families, but besides for the localities or regions where the diary was created.
The issuing of these historical sources is undertaken by various institutions. Among them is the Regional Museum in Siedlce. 1 of the latest publications of the Siedle Museum is simply a volume entitled "With God began the diary, written by Timothy Luniewski".
Until the time of his publication he was known only to a fewer researchers who had to go to Wrocław to learn his content and survey there this historical origin stored in the archival resource of the Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław. It went there in 1959 deposited by the author's daughter Maria of Luniewska Fonberger. And practically until the publication of the print was known only to a narrow group of researchers, who frequently accidentally came to this paper during conducting inquiries.
The basic question to be raised here refers to the information value of this paper for the investigation of the past. Its evaluation is worth starting by presenting the character of the author of the diary himself. Timothy Luniewski was born in Sokolov Podlaski on 24 January 1847. For his time and his earthly background, he received careful agricultural education. He was a listener of the Warsaw School of Economics and a postgraduate of an agricultural school in Belgian Gembloux. He was a typical kid of his era. He participated in the January Uprising. He served in a branch commanded by a descendant of the Polishized Irish Titus O'Byrn. Fortunately, the insurgent past did not prevent him from active activity in his life. As for his person, the word “Renaissance Man” can be used. Of course, agriculture was the leading area of his regular work. His work on potato cultivation rules has been recognised as the biggest agricultural achievement. He shared his cognition in this field with his fellow landowners as well as with his men. He cared about the education of the second so that they could usage the best modern methods of cultivation.
This was not the only field of cognition that was curious in T. Luniewski. His interests besides revolved around archaeology, ethnography and meteorology. These interests caused him to have a wide ellipse of friends who appreciated his industriousness and knowledge. The Polish encyclopaedist among them was not short Sigismund Gloger. This activity of life besides directed him to respective associations, not only of a terrestrial (agricultural) character. He was an active associate of the Society of Sciences in Poznań and the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Petersburg. Unfortunately, the deteriorating wellness condition caused his life to be interrupted at the age of 58.
The merits of T. Luniewski for agriculture from the Mazovia and Podlasie area were as it turns out significant. The analysis of the expert press of the time allows us to find many evidence of this. Many publications were published in magazines. Historians, who at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, appreciated his function in past and took care of it, played an crucial function in discovering and portraying this character. They were all someway connected to the author. It was either due to kinship, or due to relationships with the towns where T. Luniewski worked. However, as has already been said, in their investigation they utilized the manuscript. Despite the unquestionable merit, no of these historians have taken the effort to make and print this diary. And so, again, the cognition of the information material, the origin material contained on his cards, was inactive mostly limited. Therefore, given the importance of his author to the past, Mazovia and Podlasie are highly valuable and it is essential to consider his publication. In this regard, thanks to the Siedle museum.
Despite the title, it is not a diary. For 1 reason, he can't be read like a household saga. A reader who expects a colorful communicative about the author's fate, his family, relatives and acquaintances, may be disappointed. From the published records, it is clear that T. Luniewski was alternatively a pragmatic man who “stepped hard” on cultivated land. For him, the most crucial issues are the decision-making of the best possible yields. Therefore, the writing kind utilized by the author is very concise, specific. Thoughts translated into paper are sentences containing circumstantial thoughts without unnecessary ornamentation. In them is what is most crucial for this issue. For example, in many cases it provides circumstantial prices for goods and services. And this information is 1 of the top historical values of the origin diary. Although we should not reject individual ones – we will besides find them in T. Luniewski – it is specified information contained in memoiral literature that constitutes its cognitive values.
The final effect of the published diary is the joint work of 2 people. The first to do so was Mrs. Sophia. Boglewska-Hulanica. As the granddaughter of the brother of the second wife of the author of the memoirs, she undoubtedly had easier access to the manuscript. And she's the 1 who started to rewrite the manuscript in typescript form. She besides prepared a household Note for the presented edition. This short text contains crucial information about the past of this historical source. She besides took actions that would yet lead to the publication of the diary. Her efforts led from the Wrocław Ossolineum, where the diary was kept up to Podlasie or Regional Museum in Siedlce. And it was this institution that yet led to the finalisation of this publication.
The second individual active in this edition was you Andrzej Chojnacki. Courtesy of Mrs. Z. Boglewski-Hulanicka gained access to the prepared typescript. He began working on the preparatory work and the survey of the text. It consisted in preparing short biographies of people who appear in the diary text. Furthermore, thanks to his work, the text was accompanied by footnotes relating to the towns described. It is undoubtedly besides written by both indices – geographic and personal, which were in the end of the basic text.
A valuable complement to the content is photographic material. any of these illustrations were taken from the manuscript. But a very crucial addition are photos made available by Mr. Z. Boglowska-Hulanicka. Thanks to the photographs provided, people described in the diary become closer to us. It besides gains the contents of the diary. This makes him more readable and understood as if he were gaining life.
However, the user of this publication may not have enough. All of whom the author's character was close, starting with Zygmunt Gloger, and on contemporary historians ending, indicate T. Luniewski as an already recognized author of the publicist. It is simply a pity, therefore, that the authors of this edition, both Dr. A. Chojnacki himself, as well as the publisher, or Regional Museum in Siedlce, did not make another effort to prepare a bibliographic summary of published works by T. Luniewski. While it may be hard to gather this information, it was doubtless possible to ask for a bibliographic summary of at least the selection of his most crucial works. Then, the information contained in the introduction about the various interests of T. Luniewski would be authenticated. It is possible that this direction of exploring the activity of the author of memories is inactive waiting for his “discoverer” to undertake specified a task. However, it seems that in the case of specified a rich and industrious résumé, it is worth the effort to draw up specified a set.
The publication of the Siedle Museum is an highly valuable origin position. It is simply a very crucial component of the past of the Mazowiecko-Siedile region. But is it just? erstwhile assessing this work, it must be clearly stated that it is besides crucial for another parts of the alleged Congressional. It shows the destiny of its people. It is besides an illustration of social and economical relations. In this area in the second half of the 19th century and in the beginning of the 20th century. Written diary refers to the period after the fall of the January Uprising. This is the time, the approach to issues of patriotism and methods of regaining independency by Poland is changing. The defeat of insurgents became the beginning of positivistic organic work, work at the base. The function of specified people as T. Luniewski was all the more crucial here, for whom the most crucial issue was work on the role, economy and knowledge.
Undoubtedly, a wide scope of historians will benefit from the cognition contained in this diary. But it would besides be worth curious in young people, so that, by learning, among others, through this source, the past of their region, she felt more consciously connected with it. And not to perpetuate the inferiority of another parts of the country. And it is good that it comes to these young people in this form. It does not scope them in the form of historical reality shaped by historians. But this is firsthand knowledge, written by a direct witness of the era and a associate in the described events. Moreover, from the individual for whom the highest intent was the good of this land and its inhabitants.
Andrzej Kotecki
Luniewski Timothy, “With God began the diary.” improvement by Zofia Boglewska-Hulanicka, Andrzej Chojnacki, Regional Museum in Siedlce, Siedlce 2022.
Think Poland, No. 3-4 (15-22.01.2023)
