Materials from a collection that resulted from a two-year study (1946-1948) overseen by Professor Edmund I. Zawacki of the Department of Slavic Languages, University of Wisconsin documenting rural Polish immigrant communities in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. The materials consist of sound recordings and photographs obtained from field work by Harriet Pawlowska in and around Independence, Wisconsin. The sound recordings contain mostly Polish but also Anglo-American folksongs, religious hymns sung in Polish and in English, instrumental Polish folk music, and discussions of Polish and American folkways. The photographs include captions written by Pawlowska, and consist of views of farms, farmers' businesses, homes and churches. A folklorist trained at Wayne State University, Pawlowska subsequently published a landmark annotated collection--Merrily we sing : 105 Polish folksongs (1961)--based on fieldwork among fellow immigrants to the Detroit area.

Audio and images of original disc recording sleeves courtesy of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Pawlowska photographs courtesy Wisconsin Historical Society.

Thanks to Julia Anderle de Sylor for providing song title translations and song transcriptions.

Special thanks to The National Endowment for the Humanities for providing essential support for this online collection.

Access

Original collection materials reside at Library of Congress and Wisconsin Historical Society. Materials are subject to these institutions' respective guidelines for use and reproduction of materials.