EN
The article presents the sources of inspiration, assumptions and implementation of a long-term (2009–2018) project devoted to the biography of Professor Józef Kostrzewski, a leading 20th-century Polish prehistorian. This project was implemented by the author of the article as an employee of the Archaeological Museum in Poznań, and later, following retirement, as a worker in the Poznań Branch of the Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences. As a result of an extensive archival and bibliographic query, a number of new facts about the life and work of the Professor were unearthed, especially regarding his activities outside the academic field of interest (including a number of social, patriotic and religious initiatives, often carried out within the underground movement, since Poland existed only as a partitioned land). The results obtained will be soon presented in a monograph entitled Żywot długi, pracowity i spełniony. Profesor Józef Kostrzewski (1885–1969) – prehistoryk, patriota, Europejczyk, which is underway since 2014 in co-authorship with Dr. Jarmila Elżbieta Kaczmarek.