Nauczyciele w materiałach źródłowych archiwów Wilna i Lwowa

Abstract

Analysis of sources found in the archives of Wilno and Lwów constitutes a way to enriching the knowledge about teachers at the onset of the 20th century and in the Second Republic of Poland. The query that the author of the paper has been conducting for many years presents the teachers’ dedication to the didactic and educational work of schools and tothe cultural and educational development of local communities. Information about the pedagogical staff is to be found in the personal files of teachers stored in the archives. Their content is diverse: from full documentation, including, e.g., handwritten curricula vitae, certificates and diplomas connected with teachers’ education and employment, to files containing single, sometimes handwritten notes, which are often of little cognitive value, such as, e.g., a train ticket or a teacher’s note to the school headmaster concerning the former’s sudden need to visit a doctor. Substantial information on the didactic, educational, and social work of teachers is found in, e.g., staff meeting reports and protocols and correspondence between units of school administration or city officials. The majority of the pieces of information regarding the teaching staff, especially those referring to work outside schools, are dispersed in the environment. The teachers’ achievements in social work are described in, e.g., written accounts of the celebrations of national annuals, the founding of a library, or initiatives undertaken for the benefit of the local population.