More Photos from PAHA's 72nd Meeting in New York

View from the Empire State Building

The 72nd Annual Meeting of the Polish American Historical Association ended on Sunday, January 4, 2015, with two sessions (instead of the planned three).  The morning session, "Themes in the History of Polish Music" was combined with a simultaneous morning session, "Polish American History from the Seventeenth Century through the Mid-Twentieth Century."  Presenters Juliana Wrycza Sabol (Szymanowski's Songs) and Anne Gurnack (Kashube Fishermen) did not attend and Maja Trochimczyk's paper replaced Anne Gurnack's. 

The afternoon session on the aftermath of World War II brought a fascinating variety of subjects and ended with a paper by Rachel Rothstein, the winner of the 2015 Graduate Student Award. All participants are encouraged to submit their paper for consideration by the Polish American Studies. 

Times Square on a rainy night.

After the conference sessions, participants continued discussions in less formal settings, as well as took tours of New York, from an afternoon in Central Park to Times Square at night, in the city that never sleeps.  Even the rain did not put a damper on the enthusiasm of all scholars and fans of Polish American history and culture.

Our dearly departed mentor and friend, Prof. Anna Cienciala was remembered and specifically singled out for praise during the Award Ceremony on Friday, January 2, 2015, by Prof. Neal Pease - who attributed his success as a historian to the models of Prof. Cienciala (who died recently on December 24, 2014), and Prof. Victor Greene.   The names of our awardees will be published shortly.

Central Park

 _______________________________________________________________

Polish American History from the Seventeenth Century through the Mid-Twentieth Century,  combined with Themes in the History of Polish Music

Sunday, January 4, 2015: 11:30 AM-1:30 PM
New York Hilton, Harlem Suite; Chair: Thomas Napierkowski, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Dr. Pien Versteegh with Dr. Tom Napierkowski.

• New Amsterdam or New Gdańsk? Polish Settlers in New Amsterdam, 1624–64 - Pien Versteegh, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences and James Pula, Purdue University North Central

• KNAPP: The National Committee of Americans of Polish Descent -  Charles Chotkowski, Piast Institute 

Dr. Maja Trochimczyk with Dr. Tom Napierkowski and Dr. Jim Pula.

• The Impact of Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz’s American Years on Spiewy Historyczne -  Maja Trochimczyk, Moonrise Press

• A New Polonia? The Recreation of Polish American Identity, 1918–45 -  John Radzilowski, University of Alaska, Southeast

 ___________________________________

The Aftermath of World War II

Sunday, January 4, 2015: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM New York Hilton, Concourse F; Chair: Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann, Eastern Conn. State University

Anna Jaroszynska-Kirchmann introduces the panelists.

• Citizenship Practices during the Cold War: A Polish American Model? - Florence Vychytil-Baudoux, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

• Paralyzing the Polonia from Within: Communist Secret Police Infiltration of the Polish American Community -  Pawel Styrna, Institute of World Politics

Panelists at the last session.

• Cold War Émigrés: Looking for Patterns in Exile Political Activism -  Anna Mazurkiewicz, University of Gdansk

• Polish Refugees from Siberia in the United States, 1945–2014 -  Iwona Korga, Józef Pilsudski Institute of America

Presentation by Iwona Drag-Korga.

• Defending the Remnants: American Jews Respond to Poland’s 1968 Anti-Zionist Campaign -  Rachel Rothstein, University of Florida

Mary Erdmans participates in the discussion.

Dr. Grazyna Kozaczka with Dr. Mary Erdmans.

Discussion continues after the closing of the last session.

Dr. Grazyna Kozaczka, Dr. Maja Trochimczyk and Dr. Anna Jaroszynska-Kirchmann.

For more PAHA pictures by Dr. Karen Majewski, Dr. Maja Trochimczyk, Dr. Anna Mazurkiewicz and Marcin Mazurkiewicz visit our Photo Album. 

Washington, D.C. in January? Program of PAHA 2014 Conference

PAHA 2014 Annual Meeting Program
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Rd NW
Washington, D.C., DC 20008, 202-328-2000
Registration

Program of Events:

On January 3 and 4, 2014, one of Polonia’s most venerable organizations will hold its Annual Meeting at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington D.C. The conference will gather over 30 scholars presenting their current research during eight scholarly sessions dedicated to such topics as: Protest and Exile, Polish Immigrant and Ethnic Women, Between the Revolutionary War and World War II, Polish Immigrant and Ethnic Identities, Religious Leaders and Communities, and Stories of World War II. Individual presenters will discuss: Pułaski’s burial, Polish troops in the American Civil War, General Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski, Pope John Paul II in America, World War II mementos and family histories, Polish children in exile, Polish-Jewish émigré composers and their inclusion into Polish music history, writings by women, American support for Warsaw in 1944, Polish-American press in Canada and the U.S., careers of second generation émigrés, Polish documents at the Library of Congress, dialects in Polish folk theater, and much more.

A special book forum will be dedicated to Mieczysław B.B. Biskupski’s The United States and the Rebirth of Poland, 1914–18 (with comments by noted historians Prof. Neal Pease, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and Prof. James Pula, Purdue University North Central). The Conference will end with a screening of Mariusz Kotkowski’s Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema held on Saturday, January 4, 2014: 5:30 PM at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Jefferson Room. PAHA Annual Awards for research in the field of Polish American Studies will be announced during the Annual Awards Banquet on Friday, January 3, 2014. 

PAHA Annual Board Meeting
Thursday, January 2, 2014: 3:30 PM-5:30 PM
Marriott Wardman Park, Taft Room

---

PAHA Registration Desk
Friday, January 3, 2014: 8:00 AM-2:30 PM
Marriott Wardman Park, Registration Counter A

---

Protest and Exile
Friday, January 3, 2014: 8:30 AM-10:00 AM
Marriott Wardman Park, Taft Room
Chair: John Radzilowski, University of Alaska Southeast 

Papers:
"In America Forever or Only a Short Time": Brotherhood of Dispersed Solidarity Members
Mary Patrice Erdmans, Case Western Reserve University

Jewish Composers of Polish Music in 1943
Maja Trochimczyk, Moonrise Press

"On or Before January 1, 1972": Detente and the American East European Exile Programs
Anna Mazurkiewicz, University of Gdansk

Comment: The Audience

Review of a 1943 Performance of Aleksander Tansman's Polish Rhapsody.

---

Polish Immigrant and Ethnic Women
Friday, January 3, 2014: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
Marriott Wardman Park, Taft Room
Chair: Maja Trochimczyk, Moonrise Press 

Papers:
What Women Wrote: Polish American Women Readers and Their Letter in Ameryka-Echo, 1902–69
Anna Jaroszynska-Kirchmann, Eastern Connecticut State University

Monica Krawczyk's Rebellious Women
Grazyna Kozaczka, Cazenovia College

Case Study of a c. 1912 Polish Immigrant: The Story of Ludovica Baldyga of Zalas, Poland and Clinton, Mass
Barbara Pulaski, Mount Ida College
Francis Wolenski, Millennium Pharmaceutical Co.

Comment: Mary Patrice Erdmans, Case Western Reserve University

---

Between the Revolutionary War and World War II
Friday, January 3, 2014: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM
Marriott Wardman Park, Taft Room
Chair: Anna Mazurkiewicz, University of Gdansk

Papers:
I Have a Bone to Pick: A Study of the Evidence for the Pulaski Burial
James Pula, Purdue University North Central

Captain Alexander Raszewski's Polish Legion and Other Lesser Known "Polish" Troops during the Civil War
Piotr Derengowski, University of Gdansk

Frantic 7 and the American Resupply Mission to Besieged Warsaw, 1944
John Radzilowski, University of Alaska Southeast

General Boleslaw Wieniawa-Dlugoszowski: The Last True Cavalry Officer of the Twentieth Century
Charles Chotkowski, Piast Institute

Comment: The Audience

---

Polish Immigrant and Ethnic Identities
Friday, January 3, 2014: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM
Marriott Wardman Park, Taylor Room
Chair: Mary Cygan, University of Connecticut at Storrs 

Papers:
Mediating Nationalism: The Case of Gazeta Katolicka in Interwar Canada
Gabriela Pawlus Kasprzak, University of Toronto Scarborough

Career Patterns of Second Generation Polish Migrants in the United States, 1900–30
Pien Versteegh, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences

Respecting the Past, Embracing the Future: A Study of Polish American Public Opinion
Thaddeus Radzilowski, Piast Institute
Dominik Stecula, University of British Columbia

Confronting the Dynamic of American Polonia's Sands of Time
Anthony Bajdek, Northeastern University

Comment: The Audience 

---

Awards Banquet (by invitation only)
Friday, January 3, 2014: 7:00 PM-9:30 PM
Embassy of the Republic of Poland
2640 16th St NW
Washington, DC 20009 

---

PAHA Registration Desk
Saturday, January 4, 2014: 8:00 AM-2:30 PM
Marriott Wardman Park, Registration Counter A

---

Polish and Polish American Religious Leaders and Communities
Saturday, January 4, 2014: 9:00 AM-11:00 AM
Marriott Wardman Park, Taft Room
Chair: Theodore Zawistowski, Pennsylvania State University 

Papers:
Building the Community: Oblates in the Canadian Polonia
Michal Kasprzak, Ryerson University

Poland's John Paul II: Pope and Cold Warrior in the Americas
Julia L. Sloan, Cazenovia College

Reverend Wincenty (Vincent) Barzynski, C.R.: A Nineteenth Century Transformative Leader for Chicago Polonia
Michael Dziallo, Westchester Public Schools

Comment: The Audience

---

Seventy-Five Years Later, Stories of World War II Emerge from Polonia's Basement
Saturday, January 4, 2014: 9:00 AM-11:00 AM
Marriott Wardman Park, Taylor Room
Chair: Mary Patrice Erdmans, Case Western Reserve University 

Papers:
The Power of Identity: Polish Children in Exile
Wesley Adamczyk, independent scholar

The Wall Speaks Project
Wojtek Sawa, Warsaw Academy of Advertising

Polish Legacy Project: World War II
Andy Golebiowski, Independent Photojournalist

Comment: The Audience

---

Polish Diaspora in America
Saturday, January 4, 2014: 11:30 AM-1:30 PM
Marriott Wardman Park, Taft Room
Chair: Pien Versteegh, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences 

Papers:
Polish History Sources in the Library of Congress's Manuscript Division
Frederick J. Augustyn, Library of Congress

Ken Parejko's Remember Me Dancing: A Literary and Historical Record of the Stara Emigracja
Thomas Napierkowski, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Crossing the Boundaries of Modernity: The Transatlantic Journey of Polish Peasants to the United States
Marta Cieslak, University at Buffalo (State University of New York)

Our Own Language: Ceremony, Performance, and Dialect in the Polish Folk Theater
Mary Cygan, University of Connecticut at Storrs

Comment: The Audience

---

Book Forum: The United States and the Rebirth of Poland, 1914–18
Saturday, January 4, 2014: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM
Marriott Wardman Park, Taft Room
Chair: M. B. B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University

Comment:
Neal Pease, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
James Pula, Purdue University North Central 

---

Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema
Saturday, January 4, 2014: 5:30 PM
Marriott Wardman Park, Jefferson Room
Chair: Mariusz Kotowski, independent filmmaker