Kilka słów o Stefanii Ulanowskiej i jej spuściźnie. Na marginesie reprintu "Łotyszy Inflant Polskich"

• Authors: Teresa Rączka

Title variants

EN

A few words about Stefania Ulanowska and her heritage: on the margin of the reprint of "Latvians of Polish Livonia"

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Stefania Ulanowska, a Polish ethnographer and folklore expert connected with Polish Livonia, whose most intensive scientific activity took place in the last decade of the 19th century, is an author of a comprehensive three-volume book about Latvians of Polish Livonia (Cracow 1891, 1892, 1895). The book contains extensive material on folklore and ethnography, collected mainly in the vicinity of the small town Wielony (Latvian: Viļāni) including hundreds of songs, proverbs and riddles in the Latgalian language along with their translations into Polish. In 2011 the work was reprinted and published by Latvian linguists from Riga University. Undoubtedly, the reprint of Ulanowska’s work is praiseworthy; nevertheless, it was a serious mistake not to provide any information about the author’s biography and the work’s importance for Latgalian and Latvian ethnography and folklore studies. Moreover, the reprint fails to explain the reasons why the book had been forgotten for such a long time (the unfair critique of the work by the 19th century researcher of the history and culture of old Polish Livonia – Gustaw Manteuff el). Finally, the reprint does not include any commentary of linguists. As a result, the author of Latvians of Polish Livonia remains known only to a very narrow group of experts despite the fact of the book having been reprinted. Hopefully, a growing interest of Polish researchers in her correspondence and other materials kept in archives in Cracow and Vilnius connected with the author will allow us to learn more about the biography of Stefania Ulanowska.

Keywords

EN

Polish ethnography of the 19th century; Polish folklore studies of the 19th century; Gustaw Manteuffel; Latgale; the Latgalian language; the folklore of Latgale; the ethnography of Latgale

• Publisher: Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu
• Journal: Zapiski Historyczne
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 78
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 145-158

Contributors

author

Teresa Rączka