EN
William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki undoubtedly belong to the precursors of research on migration. With the 100th anniversary of the publishing of The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, the paper prompts a reference to this unique work. The first part of the article discusses contemporary migration processes, the second refers directly to Thomas and Znaniecki’s book, while the third focuses on a new type of personal documents. Produced by migrants and refugees, they may and should be a subject of interest to social researchers.