• Lecture by Dr. Patrice Dabrowski on “Poland” 1880-1920 at 2 pm
• Free refreshments of Eastern European desserts
• Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts, Polish Center of Discovery & Learning and Polish American Foundation booths
• Displays of Eastern European immigrant photos, maps, and artifacts
• Pysanki egg decorating demonstration & sale by Carol Kostecki
• Polish cultural & craft demonstrations by Susan Urban and more!

Why leave Central and Eastern Europe (that is, the former Polish lands) for America between 1880 and 1920?  This lecture will provide some background history on Poland and its fate as well as explain what life was like in this part of Europe for many of its inhabitants. We will consider the various reasons why people—your ancestors—were willing to leave everything they knew behind to travel across the ocean and strike out on their own in the New World.

Patrice M. Dabrowski has a PhD in History from Harvard University, where she studied under Roman Szporluk. She is currently a Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute Associate, a member of the Board of Directors of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, and editor of H-Poland.  Dabrowski is the author of three books: The  Carpathians:  Discovering the Highlands of Poland and Ukraine (2021), Poland:  The First Thousand Years (2014; paperback edition, 2016; audiobook, 2022), and Commemorations and the Shaping of Modern Poland (2004). In 2014 she was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. Dabrowski was the 2021 recipient of the Mary Zirin Prize, awarded annually by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies to an independent scholar. In 2022 her Carpathians book won two Polish awards: honorable mention for Pro Historia Polonorum, an award for the best Polish history book written by a non-Polish historian in the last five years (2017-2021) as well as honorable mention in the category “best foreign publication promoting Poland’s history” sponsored by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.  Dabrowski continues to study and write about the Carpathian Mountains.

Susan Urban, Polish Craft and Culture specialist, will teach the art of pajaki, Polish stars.  Pajaki, translated means “spiders of straw” and these mobiles of straw and colored paper are used to decorate homes.  Her original wycinanki, paper cut-outs, compositions of dancing couples, flowers, birds, etc., are based on two centuries of the traditional Polish folk craft. She’ll be displaying her designs and demonstrating her technique. She’ll be showing traditional Polish paper eggs, stars, ornaments, etc. and will have some items for sale.

The Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts, a chapter of the Polish Genealogical Society of America, will have members available to assist in research efforts and to share knowledge about family history.  They will have Polish maps, reference books, and other genealogical materials.

The Polish Center of Discovery and Learning is a living monument that celebrates the many contributions, both past and present, made to the economy, arts, and sciences of our nation by Polish people and their descendants. The mission of the Center at Elms College is to preserve objects representative of the material culture of the Polish people in America; to provide guidance and support materials to schools and other institutions wishing to introduce Polish topics to their students; and to offer a variety of workshops, exhibits, concerts, conferences, seminars, films, plays, lectures and other events that focus on the history and cultural traditions of the Polish people in Europe and the United States.

The Polish American Foundation of Connecticut will have an exhibit of materials that display the quality of its wide range of programs that: preserve and showcase Polish cultural heritage in literature, dance, music, visual arts, and crafts, celebrate the immigrant heritage of all ethnic groups in our state, foster inter-ethnic understanding, and promote the interests of our community and support local economic development.

Artist Carol Kostecki will demonstrate the decoration and design of pysanki, Easter eggs.  Many descendants of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants call the Connecticut River Valley home. Among the most cherished cultural expressions in this community are specially decorated pysanki. She uses a stylus called a kistka to apply wax, which resists the dye she is adding. The designs on these pysanki include imagery and color symbolism reflecting Catholic belief as well as pre-Christian Ukrainian and Polish cultures.  Her eggs will also be available for sale.

Kostecki, who lives in Montague Center, is of French-Canadian, German, and Abenaki descent. Her husband William’s heritage is Polish, and with him she became a communicant at the Polish parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Turners Falls. After taking classes at a local Ukrainian parish, Carol went on to apprentice with Father Paul Luniw of Saint Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Terryville, Connecticut.

The afternoon will include family activities; an Ellis Island immigration program with PVMA museum educators; displays of Eastern European immigrant photos and artifacts; door prize drawings; and more.

Free refreshments of Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish desserts such kolachy, chrusiki  rugelach, wafle czekoladowe, macaroons, etc. coffee, tea, and bottled water will be available.