EN
Based on the accesible family correspondence and academic publications, the present study aims to describe Maria and Jaroslaw Konopnicki's family life history, and pays special attention to the figure of Maria's husband. The subject of the editorial part are Konopnicka's survived letters to her husband which touch upon the painful and shameful problem of their daughter's Helena mental illness. The letters in question, being undoubtedly a part of much richer collection of letters exchanged between the couple, on the one hand show Konopnicka as a weak and unhappy mother, and on the other hand as a woman of an exceptionally strong, firm, and independent character. Additionally, they indirectly inform of Konopnicka's other children, complement our knowledge about her life and work conditions, and eventually serve as a clear evidence that Konopnicka's departure from the Kingdom of Poland at the beginning of the year 1890 was of an exclusively family character, not a political one.