Kartoteka i słownik zesłańców syberyjskich – problemy źródłowe i interpretacyjne
Card index and dictionary of exiles to Siberia – problems of source criticism and intepretation

Author(s): Mariusz Kulik
Subject(s): Archiving, Cataloguing, Classification, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Siberia; Polish exiles; card index; January Uprising
Summary/Abstract: The card index of post-January-Uprising Polish exiles to Siberia was created at theInstitute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences thanks to the work of a team ofresearchers led by Prof. Wiktoria Śliwowska. Material (c. 200,000 cards) about 40,000people were collected. The information concerns people deported to Siberia and to otherplaces in the interior of the Russian Empire. As part of an ongoing National HumanitiesDevelopment Program project, a team of researchers is entering the information containedin the file into a computer database, which will enable independent scientificresearch and genealogical searches. All biographies are verified; however, there arevarious source criticism and interpretation problems that the team is trying to solve.These problems include: the large size of the card index, the heterogeneity of material(in terms of format; content – a number of people are only mentioned, with little tono further information; method of making records – manuscripts, printouts; presenceof several people with the same name and surname, etc.), the criteria of deportation(people deported before the outbreak of the January Uprising; some people deporteddeep into Russia; people who went to Siberia voluntarily, etc.). The presented problemsshow the complexity of the problem of verification and interpretation of biographicalinformation. The development of a biographical dictionary/database creates newpossibilities for research on the deportations of Poles to Siberia in the 19th century.

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