PAHA's 75th Anniversary Conference at Loyola University Chicago, September 7-9, 2018

On September 7-9, 2018, PAHA will be celebrating its 75th Anniversary. The Association is planning a three-day event to take place at Loyola University in Chicago.  The director of the Polish Studies Program at Loyola, Bozena Nowicki McLees, will serve as host to PAHA and its guests at the conference venue located right on the waterfront of Lake Michigan. In addition to Loyola University Chicago, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (Kraków, Poland) is a proud partner to this event - which is partially funded by the Senate of the Republic of Poland.  

The three-day conference will begin with the keynote address by Prof. John Bukowczyk of Wayne State University, “PAHA within the field of United States’ ethnic history - past, present and future.”  The Friday program will include academic sessions related to PAHA’s contribution to the fields of migration and ethnic studies (including the association’s journal, Polish American Studies), the association’s current research as well as community outreach projects. You will hear from some of the most prominent PAHA's scholars - of all generations. 

The Saturday sessions will be dedicated to Polish American issues and will include a local Polonia roundtable.  Prof. Dominic Pacyga, the key PAHA expert on the history of Chicago, will chair a session on Polish American history in Museums - both in the USA and in Poland. There will be plenty of opportunities for PAHA scholars to meet, interact and plan future programs with members of American Polonia. The conference will be rounded up with a Chicago Tour, Loyola University special collection tour, and a Saturday night concert at Mundelein Center, Loyola University  Chicago. 

ORGANIZERS: The 75th Anniversary Conference at Loyola University Chicago is partially funded by the Senate of the Republic of Poland. The organizers include: Polish American Historical Association; Polish Studies Program at Loyola University Chicago; Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU); Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora, Faculty of International and Political Studies at the Jagiellonian University; Committee for Migration Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN).

All conference events will take on the campus of Loyola University of Chicago. Here's the campus map.

REGISTRATION is free, but you need to register for the whole conference or specific sessions:
http://polishamericanstudies.org/files/public/Registration75YearsPAHA.pdf

PROGRAM: The PDF version of our program brochure is available on the PAHA website: 
http://polishamericanstudies.org/files/public/PAHA75ProgramBrochure.pdf

PROGRAM

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
McCormick Lounge in Coffey Hall 1000 W. Sheridan Road, Loyola University Chicago

9:00–9:35    WELCOME

9:40–10:15 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
John Bukowczyk, PAHA within the field of United States’ ethnic history - past, present and future


10:30–12:30   QUO VADIS POLISH AMERICAN STUDIES:
THE PAHA JOURNAL AS A REFLECTION OF THE SCHOLARLY FIELD
McCormick Lounge in Coffey Hall 1000 W. Sheridan Road, Loyola University Chicago

Chair: Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann
- A Brief History of PAS – James S. Pula
- Labor and Working Class – Dominic A. Pacyga
- Polonia’s Organizations – Donald Pienkos
- Gender and Family – Mary P. Erdmans
- Literature – Grażyna Kozaczka
- Study of American Polonia and Scholars in Poland – Adam Walaszek

12:30–13:50 LUNCH BREAK

14:00–15:20 YOUNG SCHOLARS & NEW TOPICS FORUM
McCormick Lounge in Coffey Hall 1000 W. Sheridan Road, Loyola University Chicago
Chair: Dorota Praszałowicz

15:30–16:50 PAHA’S NEW PROJECTS
McCormick Lounge in Coffey Hall 1000 W. Sheridan Road, Loyola University Chicago
Chair:  Neal Pease

- PAHA’s communication media, challenges and opportunities of
the digital age – Maja Trochimczyk & Stephen Leahy
- Adjusting to the New Reality: Good Management Practices in Academia – Pien Versteegh
- PAHA and Polish American Community – Joint Projects: Polish American Travel Guide; Memoirs Project; Objects that Speak; Teaching Resources – panel discussion (Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann, Ewa Barczyk, Anna Muller, Anna Mazurkiewicz)

18:00 BANQUET AT THE POLISH CONSULATE, CHICAGO
(Prior registration required. Polish Consulate 1530 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2018

9:00–11:00    POLISH AMERICAN HISTORY IN MUSEUMS

McCormick Lounge in Coffey Hall 1000 W. Sheridan Road, Loyola University Chicago

Chair: Dominic A. Pacyga; Discussant: Anna Muller

- The Polish Museum of America, Chicago –Małgorzata Kot

- Polish History Museum, Warsaw – Anna Piekarska

- Chicago History Museum, Chicago – John Russick

- Emigration Museum, Gdynia – Sebastian Tyrakowski

- Józef Piłsudski Institute of America, New York – Iwona Korga

11:15–12:45  CONCURRENT EVENTS

a) LOYOLA ARCHIVE TOUR with Nancy Freeman
Loyola Archives Tour starts at 11:15 at McCormick Lounge in Coffey Hall 1000 W. Sheridan Road

b) FILM SCREENING  of The Fourth Partition: Chicago by Adrian Prawica

Damen Student Center Cinema on ground floor, Loyola University Chicago

13:00–14:00  LUNCH BREAK

14:00–15:00  PAHA 2018 HALECKI BOOK PRIZE 

McCormick Lounge in Coffey Hall 1000 W. Sheridan Road, Loyola University Chicago

Joanna Wojdon, White and Red Umbrella – presentation of the Haiman Medal and discussion of the prize-winning book 

15:00–17:00 POLONIA ROUNDTABLE ON THE ADVANCEMENT OF POLISH AND POLISH AMERICAN STUDIES 

McCormick Lounge in Coffey Hall 1000 W. Sheridan Road, Loyola University Chicago

Chair: Bożena Nowicka McLees. Discussants:  Members of Chicago & Great Lakes Polish-American social and cultural organizations. 

17:30  RECEPTION FOR  REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS

Crown Center Lobby, Loyola University Chicago

20:00–21:30  CONCERT of LOYOLA CHAMBER SINGERS AND  HANSUNG KANG at Mundelein Center, Skowronski Hall, 2nd floor, Loyola University Chicago. 

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2018

9:30–13:00 SPECIAL PROGRAM FOR REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS 

Tour of North Side of Chicago with Victoria Granacki 

Bus tours pick-up and drop off at the Hampton Inn.

8:30–12:30 PAHA BOARD MEETING–PAHA Council and Officers only,  Crown Center 200 East

12:30–13:30 Working Lunch for PAHA Council and Officers only,  Crown Center 200 East

13:30–16:30 Bus Tour of South Side of Chicago for PAHA Board members with Dominic A. Pacyga

PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Anna Mazurkiewicz, PAHA President, University of Gdańsk; Zygmunt Kolenda, President on behalf of PAU; Bożena Nowicka McLees, Chair of the Polish Studies Program, Loyola University Chicago. Members: Mary P. Erdmans, Case Western Reserve University; Neal Pease, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Dominic Pacyga, Columbia College Chicago; Dorota Praszałowicz, PAN Committee for Migration Studies; James Pula, Purdue University Northwestern, Adam Walaszek, Jagiellonian University.

To find out more about PAHA's history and achievements, please have a look at our Anniverary Book, edited by James S. Pula and available here [click]. 

Spring 2016 Message from the President – by Prof. Grażyna J. Kozaczka

   

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

PAHA opened the New Year 2016 with a strong 73rd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Anna Mazurkiewicz, PAHA's First Vice President, organized an impressive program, which included eighteen papers grouped into eight sessions that testified to the multidisciplinary nature and vibrancy of the research conducted in the field of Polish American history and culture as well as migration studies. Presentation topics ranged from Cold War issues, to Kaszubian funeral traditions in Canada, post-war experiences of women prisoners of German concentration camps and the concept of a double diaspora in Polish American lesbian fiction.

Dr. Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann organized a session devoted to the work of the late Victor Greene (1931-2014), an eminent historian interested in the fields of immigration, popular culture and labor. During this fitting tribute to a scholarly life, many of his colleagues and former students discussed Professor Greene's scholarship as well as shared personal stories and anecdotes. In addition, the 73rd Annual Meeting provided PAHA with an opportunity to recognize excellence in scholarship and service during the awards ceremony held at a charming and historic southern restaurant.

Victor Greene Session organized by Dr. Anna Jaroszynska-Kirchmann

As members of PAHA, we should also be proud of the strong showing of scholarly monographs on Polish American and Polish topics at the book fair organized in conjunction with the AHA conference. Many of these titles were authored by our members. It was also pleasure to see our own journal, Polish American Studies, prominently displayed and advertised by the Illinois University Press.

May I also extend my appreciation to ALL those PAHA members that attended or contributed in any way to the planning and success of the program. Without their volunteer efforts and their dedication to PAHA, nothing in our organization could possibly work. Bardzo dziękuję!

Dr. Joanna Wojdon, with Dr. Pien Versteegh, PAHA's Executive Director

and Dr. Grazyna Kozaczka, PAHA's President.

As proud as we are of past accomplishments, it is time to look to the future. We are already planning our 74th Annual Meeting to be held in Denver, Colorado, January 5-7, 2017. Hopefully, many of you will be able to join us there to present your scholarship. And, of course, it is impossible not to notice that in about a year and a half, we will be celebrating PAHA’s 75th Annual Meeting. What a great accomplishment for our organization!

The 75th Annual Meeting will also coincide with PAHA’s 70th anniversary as an autonomous scholarly society. Even a cursory glance at the history of PAHA allows us to appreciate the changes this organization has undergone from its original heavily religious profile to what we see now, a multidisciplinary and multinational association of scholars who study the history and culture of Polish Americans, respond to the changes in the fields of migration studies, look at the larger Polish Diaspora, and who research the experience of Polish immigrants on different continents.

PAHA Board in Atlanta: Anna Mazurkiewicz, Grazyna Kozaczka, James Pula,

Pien Versteegh, Anna Miller, Anna Jaroszynska-Kirchmann, Mary Patrice Erdmans,

Robert Synakowski and Maja Trochimczyk 

Also as can be attested by our latest meeting in Atlanta, PAHA begins to attract scholars of other ethnic groups who seek comparative approaches and topics. In addition, PAHA keeps strengthening its connections to migration scholars in Poland by again cosponsoring migration workshops together with the Jagiellonian University and Polska Akademia Umiejętności. The workshops will be held in Kraków in early June 2016.

We have already started planning special projects to mark PAHA’s double anniversary. One is a plan to digitize the past issues of PAHA’s Bulletin/Newsletter all the way back to 1943. This publication provides not only a wealth of historical material chronicling the evolution of PAHA but also of the changes in the approach to ethnic studies. With the help of Ms. Renata Vickrey, University Archivist, of the Central Connecticut State University Library and Ms. Magda Jacques also of CCSU, we hope that the whole run of the Bulletin/Newsletter will be available to researchers in a digital format (issues from 2002-15 are posted online). An easy access to the full run of this publication may attract researchers interested in conducting an analytical study of the Bulletin/Newsletter. Such a study could become a fitting celebratory gesture to mark PAHA's Anniversary.

The second project under consideration is a revision of Polish Heritage Guide to USA and Canada edited by Jacek Gałązka and Albert Juszczak (Polish Heritage Publications, 1992). Thanks to sensitive negotiations conducted by Dr. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann, PAHA obtained rights from Mr. Gałązka to revise and edit the previously published material and seek publication for the revised edition.

The final project that PAHA might implement is a planned and systematical strengthening of Polish American topics available through Wikipedia. All projects will be discussed at the May 2016 midyear board meeting to be held at the Joseph S. Skalny Welcome Center, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY, thanks to the kind invitation PAHA received from Mr. Frederic Skalny and the Polish Heritage Society of Rochester.

I would like to end on a couple of personal notes. I received an invitation from Polska Akademia Umiejętności to represent PAHA at a seminar “Poles in World Scholarship” organized in Krakow in mid-June of this year to plan the 2017 Congress of Polish Scholarly Associations Abroad. I accepted this invitation since I believe that it is very important for PAHA to be represented during the planning stages for such an important Diasporic event.

Dr. Iwona Drag Korga, Executive Director of the Pilsudski Institute.

Also, this past winter, I was fortunate to visit the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America in their new headquarters in Brooklyn, NY on a kind invitation of its Executive Director and PAHA’s Second Vice President, Dr. Iwona Drąg Korga. It is truly impressive what the Institute was able to accomplish in such a short time. Not only are the collections beautifully displayed, but the archives now boast archival shelving which maximizes space. Likewise the Institute immediately after its forced move from Manhattan grew into the fabric of its new Polish American community through an impressive number of programs both scholarly and popular that it organizes on its premises. I would like to wish the Institute continued success.

Respectfully submitted,


Dr. Grażyna J. Kozaczka
Cazenovia College
President, Polish American Historical Association