Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann | The Polish American Historical Association: Looking Back, Looking Forward | Polish American Studies, 65.1

The Polish American Historical Association: Looking Back, Looking Forward

by
Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann

Although the Polish American Historical Association (PAHA) has only functioned as an organization since 1942, it builds on the Polish immigrants' interest in Polonia's history as an integral part of the Polish-American experience in the United States since the beginnings of the mass Polish settlement in America. According to John Bodnar, "Collective memory is a body of beliefs and ideas about the past that allows an entire social group to interpret and understand its presence."¹ Polish Americans appropriated and shared public memory of their immigrant experience through numerous commemoration rituals: street parades, ethnic celebrations, dedicating monuments, plaques and markers; naming of streets and public spaces, etc. They also created a number of libraries, reading rooms, archives, museums, and galleries, which preserved, but more importantly interpreted the past to the immigrants and the larger society. Both amateur and professional historians wrote and disseminated the stories of the building of the Polish communities in America, Polish contributions to the United States, as well as Polish immigrants' ties to their faith and homeland. The first libraries were established in the 1890s; the first comprehensive history of Polish settlements penned by Rev. Wacław Kruszka appeared in 1908; in 1910, great celebrations accompanied unveiling of the monuments to Kościuszko and Pułaski in Washington, D.C.; and in 1935, the Polish Roman Catholic Union created a museum and archives that were to become the Polish Museum commemorating Polonia's past and serving "her glory."²

LOOKING BACK — THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF PAHA

The beginnings of PAHA are intrinsically connected to the person of Mieczysław (Miecislaus) Haiman, a Polish-American historian and from 1935, a curator of the Polish Museum in Chicago. Although not trained as a professional historian, Haiman meticulously researched and published several volumes on the early Polonia history in the 1930s.³ In 1942, Haiman was contacted by Oskar Halecki, a leading Polish émigré historian and a recent exile in New York. Halecki and a handful of other Polish scholars and scientists in war-time exile in the United States were in the process of creating the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, an institution designed to continue activities of the Polska Akademia Umiejętności (PAU, Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences), which had been closed down by the Nazis in occupied Poland. In his letter to Haiman, Halecki suggested cooperation between PIASA and Haiman's Polish Museum, which would bring closer together an émigré organization and a Polonia institution.⁴ In December 1942, Haiman was appointed chair of the PIASA Commission for Research on Polish Immigration (later renamed Polish American Historical Commission), which "was to gather documents pertaining to the life and activities of American Polonia, catalogue the materials dealing with the history of Polonia and begin research into the history, structure and evolution of the Polish community in America."⁵ The headquarters of the Commission, which was to remain a part of the Section of Historical and Political Sciences of PIASA, was to be located at the Polish Museum in Chicago.

Logo of the Polish American Historical Association

Beginning in 1943, the Commission met annually, and a year later it initiated its own journal, the Polish American Studies. In 1945, PIASA lost its funding from the Polish government-in-exile residing in London and entered a period of organizational turmoil.⁶ At the same time, Haiman took steps to secure an independent financial future for the Polish American Historical Commission, based on its expanding membership, which by 1947 reached 250 people, as well as subsidies from other Polonia organizations.⁷ Following Haiman's untimely death from cancer in 1949, the commission adopted its current name, the Polish American Historical Association (PAHA), and further loosened its ties to PIASA, with whom it remained affiliated in theory only. In 1950, PAHA was relocated from Chicago to St. Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Michigan. Around that time, its membership passed 400.⁸

According to John J. Bukowczyk, the chronicler of PAHA, "Haiman became the bridge between the organization's varied—émigré and American-born—constituencies," and "his special genius lay in his ability to unite these diverse groups."⁹ In this early period of its existence, PAHA received financial support from the older Polonia fraternals, such as the Polish Roman Catholic Union, and the Polish Women's Alliance, as well as the political umbrella organization created in 1944, the Polish American Congress. In the eyes of its founders, however, PAHA was not just another ethnic organization, but a historical society, whose membership was open to all without regard for ethnic background. At the first conference one of the invited speakers was Theodore Blegen, Director of the Historical Services Board of the American Historical Association, who spoke on the Norwegian-American Historical Association's efforts to promote research.¹⁰ Further underscoring its professional character and scholarly links, in 1947, PAHA joined the American Historical Association and the Catholic Historical Association.

With Rev. Joseph Swastek as PAHA's president and editor of the Polish American Studies, in the 1950s PAHA remained strongly influenced by the Roman Catholic clergy, both male and female, who constituted the majority of its membership. As historian Paul Best notes, "There was a heavy emphasis on religious matters and clerics have frequently controlled the major offices. For example from 1945 through 1965, the annual meetings took place at the Orchard Lake Seminaries, Mass was said for the convention, prayers were used to open and close the meetings and seven sisterhoods and five male religious orders were regularly represented."¹¹ The majority of authors of articles published in the Polish American Studies were priests and nuns, who together with "a broad cross-section of Polish Americans—hobbyists, antiquarians, genealogists, and academic historians" produced scholarship of frequently "uneven value," and more often that not focused on religious topics.¹²

By the end of the 1950s, PAHA, again quoting Bukowczyk, slipped into a state of "restiveness" and "confusion," as a younger generation of lay scholars began to challenge the goals of the organization and to call for an expanded and more critical research agenda as well as for the constitutional reform.¹³ The 1960s indeed brought change with a revised PAHA constitution, adopted in 1964. The Haiman Medal, named after the founder of the organization, became the first PAHA award presented to those who offered outstanding service to the organization. The membership numbers increased, reaching 600 in 1964, plus over one hundred additional subscribers to the Polish American Studies. The same year a decision was made to organize local chapters of PAHA in order to reach out to the local Polish-American communities as well as the youth. In subsequent years several of the chapters were created, but their level of activism and longevity varied. The board also decided that the annual conference of PAHA would take place in the same location as the American Historical Association, returning to the tradition of the first years of PAHA and the initial intentions of its founders. Some of those initiatives came as a result of the gradual passing of the leadership in PAHA to the group of lay scholars, such as Eugene Kusielewicz, PAHA's president in 1964–65. Although in the early 1960s, still roughly half of PAHA members continued to be male and female religious, they were significantly less represented in officer and council positions. Polish American Studies also began to gradually expand its focus, publishing more articles on non-religious topics. After 1966, the overlooked issue of the relationships between the Roman Catholic Church and the Polish National Catholic Church and the religious schism in Polonia also started to receive more scholarly attention. Two years later Joseph Wieczerzak, the PNCC historian, took over the editorship of the PAHA Newsletter and in 1970, he became the first Polish National Catholic elected PAHA President.¹⁴

The fifteen years of PAHA's existence from 1967 until 1984 can be justifiably described as Rev. M. J. Madaj's era. First elected to the presidency in 1967, Madaj continued to lead the organization as the Executive Secretary. His influence, however, meant more than a simple return to the clerical domination from the times of Rev. Swastek. Madaj, who had completed a doctorate in history himself, embarked on a long process of modernization and professionalization of PAHA. He moved the headquarters from Orchard Lake back to the Polish Museum in Chicago. In 1971, he succeeded in passing a new constitution, and in 1972, he incorporated PAHA as an independent not-for-profit organization, formally ending its association with PIASA. Madaj also improved and centralized the administrative functions of the organization, while keeping for himself the position of the editor of PAHA Newsletter. According to Bukowczyk, the professionalization of PAHA under Rev. Madaj took several forms. First, PAHA's status as a professional organization was strengthened by becoming an affiliated society of the American Historical Association in 1975. Second, Madaj recruited scholars with formal academic credentials, such as Frank Renkiewicz, who took over the editorship of Polish American Studies in 1971. Third, since Madaj encouraged and welcomed lay scholars, as well as graduate students without concern for their church affiliation, PAHA set off on the gradual process of secularization. Both the general membership in PAHA and representation in officer positions of the religious dropped down. The Polish American Studies content also reflected larger participation by non-religious authors writing on non-religious topics.¹⁵

By the end of the 1970s, PAHA added several accomplishments. The first was the establishment of the two additional awards: the Fr. Swastek Prize for the best article in any given year published in Polish American Studies; and the Oskar Halecki Prize for the best book on Polish-American topics. The second accomplishment was securing several large grants and the publication or co-publication of several volumes on Polonia's history and politics. Soon, however, tensions within the leadership of PAHA surfaced again, as Rev. Madaj tried to hold on to his powerful position as the Executive Secretary. The challenge came from the ranks of the new generation of younger lay scholars. Ironically, the process of professionalization and secularization which Madaj initiated himself, now conflicted with his authoritarian style of leadership and eventually spelled the end of his rule over the organization.¹⁶ According to Bukowczyk, between 1985 and 1992 only once was PAHA's presidency held by a priest; other leadership positions, including editorship of the Polish American Studies, also remained in the hands of lay persons.¹⁷

Some of the changes which took place in the 1970s and 1980s exerted a long-lasting influence on PAHA. For example the younger academics now involved in the organization transformed the research agenda, tying it closer to the issues of the new social history, including studies of the working class, women, religious dissent, labor unions, and day-to-day immigrant experience. Their links to their parent institutions, as well as to other Polish-American professional organizations strengthened the character of PAHA as a professional historical society. At the same time, secure enough in this position, PAHA began showing more interest in contemporary politics related to Poland and Polonia, which eventually led to joining the Polish American Congress in 1985. PAHA also became involved in some anti-defamation activities, reacting to the negative image of Polish-Americans in the US, and began addressing issues of Polish-Black and Polish-Jewish relations. Similarly, PAHA's contacts with both individual scholars and institutions of higher learning from Poland increased, expanding the horizons of the organization.¹⁸

Writing his comprehensive account of PAHA's history in 1993, Bukowczyk took score of the organization, highlighting problems and challenges ahead. At that point PAHA's membership counted over 100 institutions and over 500 individuals, many of them middle-aged and older persons, and prompting Bukowczyk to call for the intensified recruitment of "more women, more students, more amateur historians [...], and more post-1968 Polish immigrants in order to survive." He also advocated for hiring of "a paid office staff that could offer more membership services," to replace the voluntary work of priests and nuns from the previous decades. At the same time, however, Bukowczyk optimistically looked ahead, accurately predicting PAHA's continuous growth and development.¹⁹

PAHA IN THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS, 1992–2007

Indeed, the 1990s and the first years of the new millennium proved to be a busy time for PAHA.²⁰ Among administrative and organizational changes the revision of the constitution and moving of the headquarters became primary concerns.

For most of the 1990s, PAHA functioned under the revised constitution, which was approved in 1991. In 2001, however, the organization was thrown into a constitutional crisis caused by the untimely death of President Stanislaus A. Blejwas. Since the 1991 constitution did not provide a clear procedure in case of vacancy in the president's office, the presidency passed to the First Vice-President Donald Pienkos and special elections were held to elect a new first vice president. The controversy surrounding the question whether Pienkos should have the right to serve not only the remainder of Blejwas' term but also his own two-year term was eventually decided in his favor, but shortly after taking office in 2003, Pienkos resigned, exposing an urgent need for yet another round of revisions to the constitution.²¹ The task was undertaken in 2004, and the new constitution was approved the next year.²² In addition to the clarified election, vacancy, and succession procedures, other major changes included the redefinition of the duties of the executive director, who now was responsible for the maintenance of the membership base, overseeing secretarial activities of the headquarters, coordinating work of the committees, and, first and foremost, for public relations. The position of the Third Vice President was eliminated, while the Second Vice President's main duty became the awards program. A new position of Director of Online Communications was created. Finally, PAHA officially disbanded local chapters.²³

In 1998, PAHA's headquarters moved from the Polish Museum in Chicago (where they were located since 1971) to St. Mary's at Orchard Lake Schools, where they remained for eight years, managed by Karen Majewski, an able Executive Secretary (later Executive Director) and the PAHA Newsletter editor.²⁴ Around the same time, following the resignation of Theodore Zawistowski from the office of treasurer, this position passed to James S. Pula, who also continued in his function as the Polish American Studies editor. Due to the administrative problems faced by St. Mary's, in 2004, PAHA headquarters moved again, this time to Central Connecticut State University, seat of Stanislaus A. Blejwas Chair in Polish and Polish American History. The CCSU provided part-time secretarial help to manage the headquarters and storage space for PAHA archives. Stephen M. Leahy replaced Majewski as the newsletter editor in the same year.

PAHA significantly increased its publication activity during the last fifteen years. In 1996, PAHA's fiftieth anniversary publication appeared, edited by Bukowczyk, and bringing together essays on Polish-American history, culture, and politics.²⁵ To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Polish American Studies, Rev. Kazimierz Grotnik compiled an index to the journal.²⁶ Following the 1995 symposium organized in Kraków, Poland, by PAHA and the Polonia Institute of the Jagiellonian University, a volume of twenty papers presented at the conference was edited jointly by Polish and Polonia scholars.²⁷ In 1997, Thomas S. Gladsky and Rita Holmes Gladsky edited a volume on American women writers of Polish descent.²⁸ PAHA also supported two translation projects: a multi-volume work on Polonia at the turn of the twentieth century by Rev. Wacław Kruszka, and a study of the Polish immigration to America in the pre-Civil War period.²⁹ Since 1999, PAHA financially supports the publication of the Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American Studies Series, with John J. Bukowczyk as its editor. For the fiftieth anniversary, PAHA sponsored a session at the PAHA/AHA conference on the scholarship of William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki, authors of the path-breaking Polish Peasant in Europe and America. The output of the session appeared as a special issue of the Journal of American Ethnic History in 1996.

Members of PAHA discussed the idea of a Polish-American encyclopedia beginning in the 1940s, but without success for decades. In 1992, the project again fell through while still in its planning stage due to the lack of funding.³⁰ In 2000, Stanislaus A. Blejwas returned to it, while preparing the international conference. Following Blejwas' death, James S. Pula, by then a central figure in PAHA's many initiatives, committed himself, with full support of the PAHA board, to the plan of editing and publishing the encyclopedia. In 2007, PAHA signed a contract with McFarland Publishers and Polish- American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia is expected to appear in 2010.

The Polish American Studies, since 2004 with a newly redesigned format and a glossy cover, continues to attract scholars of Polonia.³¹ With Pula continuing as its editor-in-chief, the journal published significantly more articles by scholars of non-Polish descent and became a host to more interdisciplinary research, printing studies by sociologists, political scientists, literary and cultural studies historians, etc. Articles by scholars from Poland appear regularly. Four special issues of the Polish American Studies were devoted to (1) early Polonia historians, (2) newest trends in the immigration history, (3) archives of Polonia, and (4) Polka.³²

The PAHA Newsletter had been less stable. Initially designed as a medium of communication with the broader membership, the Newsletter appeared four times a year between 1994 and 1999.³³ It featured PAHA board minutes, conference programs, and various announcements, as well as a large personalia section (sometimes including profiles of active members and leaders), new books listing, occasional editorials, letters to the editor, and popular articles highlighting episodes from Polish-American history, as well as fragments of primary sources on Polonia history. Under Majewski's editorship, the PAHA Newsletter began to appear twice a year, but the size of the issues grew to as much as ten pages. Majewski saw the role of the newsletter as an informative tool for the members, offering an enlarged section on web sites of interest, scholarship and grant opportunities, activities of other cultural organizations, and other cultural events in Polonia. After Majewski's resignation, Steven Leahy stepped in as an editor, and the newsletter continued to come out bi-annually in a somewhat reduced format, but featuring more attractive photographic material.

In addition to the more traditional PAHA Newsletter as a means of communication with the broader membership, PAHA launched its own web site in 1997. After undergoing a number of major changes, in 2003 the web site received its current shape under the management of Ann Hetzel Gunkel, who assumed the newly-created position of the Director of Online Communications as an appointed member of the Board.

During the last fifteen years PAHA also launched several special projects. In the mid-2000, PAHA's First Vice President Stanislaus A. Blejwas presented the board with an idea for an international Polish and Polish-American conference, organized jointly by PAHA and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. The conference would take place in the U.S. and provide an opportunity to review in comparative perspective scholarship on Polonias in the Western World (with sub-committees on Canadian, American, Latin American and Polish themes). Since 2004 would mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the first permanent Polish immigrant settlement in Panna Maria, Texas, the conference could commemorate this event. Blejwas' plan also included an exhibit, publication of proceedings, as well as a kick-off for the Polish-American encyclopedia. "The idea of a conference is perhaps urgent," wrote Blejwas, "because of the re-writing of post-World War II Polish history being done in Poland since 1989. Polish historians are falling all over themselves to write the history of what has been christened the Second Great Political Emigration. In the process, they have all but excluded American Polonia from the story."³⁴ During a follow up meeting, the organizing committee, headed by Blejwas, envisioned participation of graduate students as well as scholars of other than Polish ethnic groups in order to provide as large as possible context and comparative perspective. These ambitious plans were cut short by the untimely death of Blejwas.³⁵

In 1997, PAHA president William Galush initiated the ambitious Polonia Preservation Project, geared to coordinate the collection effort of archival materials pertinent to Polonia history. "PAHA, as the major organization in the country devoted to the study of the history and culture of Poles in the United States," wrote Galush, "is the obvious body to conceptualize and oversee the project. While we do not have resources of personnel and funds to directly collect Polonica, we can address the organization and coordination of the effort."³⁶ Despite the interest of several repositories, and the general support of the board, the project did not leave the planning stages. One of the obstacles became the lack of funds and grants to provide the archival institutions with "adequate assistance in cataloguing and accessioning" of potential collections.³⁷ Although the Polonia Preservation Project ultimately proved too difficult to implement, PAHA came back to the issue of care for the archival sources a few years later. The 2002 panel session at the annual conference in San Francisco gathered together representatives of all major Polonia repositories, who voiced the need for the closer cooperation and exchange of information among the institutions, scholars, and archival users. The session was then followed up by the publication of a special issue of Polish American Studies, devoted to archival matters. Thirteen articles featured archives in the US and Poland with substantial Polonia holdings.³⁸ In 2004, PAHA issued an appeal to preserve archival materials documenting experience of the postwar immigrant wave and volunteered to coordinate the flow of information on such depositions among the repositories with Polonia holdings.³⁹ In the meantime, more articles on the holdings and research possibilities in various collections appeared in Polish American Studies.

In 2001, Thomas S. Gladsky initiated the Polish-American Memoirs Project "to record and preserve the history of the Polish experience in the United States." The goal of the project was to encourage the writing of ethnic memoirs, then collect, edit and publish them.⁴⁰ The third special project supported by PAHA had been completed thanks to the grant from "Detroit 300;" a successful exhibit on the Polish Presence in Detroit opened in the fall of 2001.⁴¹

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, PAHA cultivated friendly relationships with scholars from Poland. In addition to the symposium in Kraków in 1995, PAHA's members participated in large numbers in the historic PIASA conference, again in Kraków, in 2000.⁴² Scholars from the Jagiellonian University, Adam Walaszek and Dorota Praszałowicz were elected to the PAHA Board five times in 1992–2007. PAHA honored Adam Walaszek with two Swastek awards and the Haiman medal. He and a number of other scholars from Poland participated in the PAHA conference and published in Polish American Studies. However, what might look like the basis of a strong relationship showed certain limitations in the last fifteen years. Although the group of scholars from Poland who research and write on American Polonia and Polonias of the world has grown substantially since the end of the Cold War, no Polish scholars from other than Jagiellonian University received invitations to join the PAHA board. Similarly PAHA failed to develop institutional relationships with other Polish institutions. Blejwas' idea to engage and perhaps challenge the new generation of Polish scholars working on the postwar Polish diaspora disappeared with his passing. News on the directions of research and events in Poland that might be of interest to Polonia and PAHA also do not seem to find their way to the association's newsletter or the web site.

A clear sign of the ending of the Cold War and changing times became, however, a tradition of the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Polish Consul in New York graciously hosting banquets for PAHA board and members whenever its conference took it to one of those cities. Consuls in Chicago were also present at PAHA conferences and banquets. At the January 2004 PAHA annual meeting His Excellency Przemysław Grudziński (a recognized Polish historian in his own right) delivered an address "Why Does History Matter?" during the opening session and outlined the main issues of Poland-U.S. relations in the wake of Poland's accession to NATO in 1999, and on the eve of her entrance to the European Union later that year, as well as in the light of Poland's support for the war in Iraq.⁴³

On the other hand, however, PAHA limited its involvement in political life of Polonia by leaving the ranks of the Polish American Congress after about ten years of membership. Although in 1993, the PAHA Newsletter still reported on the developments within the PAC,⁴⁴ by the middle of the decade the relationship seemed to deteriorate. In October 1996, PAHA President Thaddeus V. Gromada, wrote on behalf of PAHA board a letter to Edward Moskal, President of the PAC, informing him, that "PAHA disassociates itself from your letter of April 25, 1996, to President Kwasniewski of Poland. The letter contains intemperate observations regarding Polish-Jewish relations that sets back the Polish-Jewish dialogue that has been going on for some years and which is supported and blessed by Pope John Paul II. The tone and content of your letter which was made public were unacceptable and therefore we repudiate it." Gromada further explained that "We at PAHA are not unmindful of the fact that the Polish-American community has been aggrieved by hurtful statements directed toward all Poles coming from the Jewish side." However, Gromada appealed, it was Moskal's responsibility not to allow himself to be provoked and to support the rational dialogue.⁴⁵ Gromada's letter came as a consequence of the discussion on the issue which took place at the PAHA board midyear meeting in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in June, 1996. The second resolution of the board called for the immediate withdrawal from PAC, but after a discussion in which the board members were divided, it was decided that only the full membership vote could authorize the withdrawal.⁴⁶ The next year the discussion of PAHA's role in the PAC continued. The board decided that the issue of the withdrawal be postponed but in the meantime PAHA would make attempts to set up a meeting with Moskal to discuss PAHA's concerns and needs.⁴⁷ By 1998, it was reported that such a meeting had been scheduled, and that "PAHA would try to leave PAC amicably and quietly by simply not paying its dues."⁴⁸ During the midyear board meeting it was confirmed that "PAHA would not renew its membership" in PAC.⁴⁹ In the beginning of the decade it seemed that PAHA's entrance into PAC signified the organization's "arrival" both as a professional organization and as an ethnic one.⁵⁰ PAHA's leaving PAC a decade later indicated dissatisfaction with the conservative ethnic politics of the Chicago-based PAC, which tended to conflict with the more progressive and liberal-minded academicians in charge of PAHA.

In the meantime, PAHA's awards program expanded. In addition to Haiman medal, Swastek Prize, and Halecki Prize, the organization began granting Civic Achievement Awards in 1989. First awardees were the Skalny family of Rochester, NY, supporters of the Polish American Studies. In 1997, PAHA announced the creation of the Stanley Kulczycki Prize, honoring a major benefactor of PAHA. It was a bi-annual $2,000 publication award to encourage graduate and post-doctoral research in Polish-American studies. Originally, graduate students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities and post-doctoral scholars in the first five years of their scholarly careers were eligible for the award. Gradually, the award evolved to include applicants less than five years removed from the defense of their doctoral dissertations. It also opened to scholars, whose degrees came from universities outside the U.S. Since 1997, four Kulczycki awards have been granted; the last one to a scholar whose Ph.D. thesis, written in Polish, had been prepared for a college in Poland.⁵¹

In 1999, PAHA's Board established the Creative Arts Award. In subsequent years, authors of works of fiction, painters and design artists, as well as a choir director received the prize. The Amicus Poloniae Award, perhaps the nicest award in the program, was established in 2001. It recognizes a non-Polonian scholar whose work furthers the understanding of Polonia's history. Among the awardees are: Rev. William Wolkowich-Valkavičius; Laurie Winters of the Milwaukee Art Museum; Rudolph J. Vecoli, of the University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center; the Catholic University Press of America; Gillian Berchowitz of Ohio University Press, and Joel Wurl of the University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center. Established in 2006, the Student Travel Award came into being to encourage and facilitate participation of graduate students in the PAHA conference.

Membership numbers became a concern for PAHA by the end of the 1990s. As Bukowczyk reported, in 1992, membership stood at a little above 500, and in 1996, it reached about 625.⁵² However, in January 1999, PAHA Treasurer's report indicated that as of the end of the fiscal year "PAHA had 474 members, of whom only 394 were paying members, the rest being life members, exchanges, or complimentary memberships. ... For an organization which once numbered close to 750 members, it is obvious that serious erosion has taken place and priority should be placed during the coming years on a serious and comprehensive membership recruitment effort."⁵³ In response, President Gladsky formed a committee to lead a membership drive in 1999–2001, and in January 2000, membership numbers rose to approximately 560 members.⁵⁴ During the mid-year meeting in 2000, it was reported that "The membership drive to date has been very successful and has brought in about 150 new members to bring the total up to 646 at present."⁵⁵ The number grew to 689 in January 2001.⁵⁶

To promote the organization in smaller Polonia communities outside the AHA conference circuit, PAHA organized successful midyear board meetings paired with an outreach programs for the public in Stevens Point, Wisconsin; Rochester, New York; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Seattle, Washington.

A recurring theme during the last fifteen years in PAHA's history became a complaint on the constant lack of proper publicity. For example, in December 1995, Robert Szymczak sent to President Gromada a letter stating that "PAHA still suffers from a lack of recognition in academic circles despite our best efforts and our affiliation with AHA. It is essential that we increase our membership for all the obvious reasons. I think it is crucial that we increase the recognition factor by concentrating on advertisement at university and college departments and programs in American Studies, ethnic studies, and Slavic languages and literature, as well as traditional historical studies. I am aware that efforts along these lines have been made before, but I am suggesting a renewed, stronger campaign, casting a wider net."⁵⁷ Dennis L. Kolinski's report to the 1996 annual meeting echoed some of those ideas, suggested potential new venues, and concluded: "Although general publicity of the type [e.i. press releases sent to Polonia newspapers and ethnic organizations] ... may generate new PAHA members or bring new faces to PAHA annual meetings, it seems as if the greatest need is to attract young scholars to our ranks. Many potential new young members do not know about PAHA, or if they do, have never thought about joining for one reason or another."⁵⁸ In January 1999, President William J. Galush called for s similar program in his presidential address, "Listen Not Only to Ourselves."⁵⁹ But as the membership drive increased the numbers, PAHA did not pursue a comprehensive publicity program in order to increase the organization's visibility within the scholarly community.

LOOKING FORWARD — CHALLENGES AHEAD

PAHA as a professional rather than an ethnic organization has already established itself in the field of immigration history. In 2007, it is comfortable with its identity, but not complacent. The officers of PAHA are mostly academics from many disciplines, actively engaged in research and publishing, but also searching for opportunities to serve and network with others of similar interests. Fifteen years ago John Bukowczyk decried a small representation of women in the PAHA leadership. Among 20 officers and board members elected and appointed during each term, there were four women in 1993–4; three in each of the terms in 1995–1998; five in 1999–2000; six in 2001–02, and seven each in 2003–2007.⁶⁰ In addition to this rising number, since 2003, the PAHA presidency remains in the hands of women.

In September 2007, PAHA had a little over 600 members, including 472 individual members, with the remainder institutional memberships. The majority of them are from the U.S., with the sprinkling of individuals and institutions from Poland, Germany, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, France, and England. There are 149 women individual PAHA members, compared with 323 men.

The maintenance of the membership numbers and perhaps their expansion is one of the major tasks facing the organization in the future. Recognizing the need to better define who we are as an organization, PAHA's board authorized a membership survey, which it conducted in the spring and summer, 2007. Although a more in-depth analysis of the results is still in progress, the preliminary findings are rather revealing. By September, 2007, more than one third of PAHA's individual members responded to the questionnaire. Three quarters of the respondents are males. Almost all were born in the US, with fewer than 10 percent being born in Poland. Over ninety percent of all respondents have university degrees. More than half of them are retired. In the light of this, it is fair to say that an average PAHA member is a male born in the U.S., who has a university degree, worked in a professional occupation and is currently retired. Despite their stronger presence among the board members, women in general PAHA membership are still under-represented. The ratio of lay to religious members is strongly tipped towards the lay membership. PAHA obviously failed to attract Polish immigrants from postwar waves as well as a younger generation of Polish Americans, including graduate students.

In order to continue uninterrupted generational transition, PAHA must attract graduate students. The recently funded travel award for graduate students who would like to present at PAHA conferences is designed to do just that, but we need to think about other ways of bringing in more student members.⁶¹ Despite pleas from the past president, PAHA has not yet developed a program of financial support for research by individuals, or collaborative research projects.⁶² Next to the Graduate Student Travel award, such a program might effectively recruit younger scholars into the ranks of the organization.

However, PAHA's attraction to graduate students and younger scholars does not depend entirely on the publicity efforts undertaken by the officers. The future of PAHA as a professional organization is directly tied to the future of the discipline of ethnic and immigration history and the place of Polonia as an object of study. Correcting the balance of years of underdevelopment or even neglect, Latin American, Native American, African American, and Asian American studies now take a center stage, while Polonia finds itself a part of the European white ethnic group, gradually moving towards the margins of interest. The comparative lens remains a promising ground for further exploration of the European white ethnics group, but it assumes the ability to move beyond particular and into broad synthesis. Are Polish-American studies ready for such a synthesis, while Polonia history still lacks comprehensive treatments of so many issues and topics?⁶³

Equally importantly, PAHA still needs to ask itself a question: can it continue as a professional organization sustained by the scholarly activists and scholarly audience? How is its professional character tied to the academia redefining its mission? While searching for high academic standards and goals, are we falling into the trap of academic elitism, which may be limiting our potential?

For now, PAHA's ways to reach out are rather limited. First, every year the civic achievement awards are given to community activists to honor their accomplishments that benefited the history and culture of Polonia. The second way to be more accessible to the general public is through our web site polishamericanstudies.org, which generates a fair amount of interest. And thirdly, PAHA strives to reach out to the local Polish-American communities, which we visit in conjunction with either annual conferences or mid-year board meetings. Both become occasions to not only recognize active individuals from those communities, but also to present either book talks or short lecture programs to those communities. There is no doubt, however, that the organization will have to come up with more creative solutions to engage more general public. As John Higham pronounced in 1994: "The linchpin of the ethnic historical society as an American institution is mutual support between professional scholars and those far more numerous members of the group who cherish its past."⁶⁴

PAHA continues to organize successful annual conferences in conjunction with the AHA, with an average of six sessions. We note a better attendance of non-PAHA members at our sessions since the AHA integrated the programs of affiliated societies into the main program of the meeting. Many papers presented at the conference are published later in the Polish American Studies. Both the Polish American Studies and the PAHA Newsletter come out regularly. The position of the Polish American Studies is particularly strong. The board is in the process of researching options, which would allow the journal a better on-line presence, while protecting our financial base derived from membership dues paying for its publication.

In the publications area, PAHA is determined to continue its support for the Ohio University Press' series in Polish and Polish-American Studies, which has already resulted in the publication of eight volumes, with more coming down the pipeline. Perhaps our most ambitious publishing undertaking yet is our most recent project, Polish-American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia.

PAHA has always had good working relationships with other Polonia organizations with cultural agendas, most notably its parent organization, PIASA, and the Józef Piłsudski Institute in New York, with PAHA members often serving on their boards and vice versa. It is important to us to keep similar ties within other Polish-American organizations, such as the American Council of Polish Culture (ACPC) or the Kosciuszko Foundation. However, given the limited resources and decreasing membership base, Polonia's professional organizations must be aware of the internal competition for attention and financial support from the community. Projects which benefit all, such as the encyclopedia, should be expected to generate general support, but this is not always the case at the present time.

PAHA plans to continue its focus on the issues of care for archival materials and collaboration with archival repositories. Polish American Studies invite articles on this topic. PAHA is also committed to the closer cooperation with the institutions housing Polonia's historical records. At the same time, we hope that our collaboration with the Embassy of Poland will continue and that in time we will develop closer cooperation with Poland's universities and other cultural institutions. Although PAHA members belong to other professional organizations, such as the Immigration and Ethnic History Society or the Social Science History Association, we have no institutional ties to these organizations. Similarly, PAHA would like to develop a closer relationship with other ethnic historical associations.

In general, I think that for such a long-lived and active historical society, PAHA still remains somewhat on the sidelines of the scholarly landscape, a place neither desired nor deserved. We definitely need to strengthen our presence in the scholarly community through some more energetic as well as systematic publicity plan, which, sadly, we currently do not have. For example, we have failed to utilize the press, both print and on-line, as well as proliferation of on-line publications and discussion lists, which could give us access to the younger generation of members and graduate students.⁶⁵

In the world of multidisciplinary and comparative approaches to the study of immigrant and ethnic groups, PAHA needs to encourage a more varied focus on Polonia research. We can boast of an active literary group, and we made much progress including more cultural history scholars and artists presenting at our conferences and publishing in the journal, although this direction certainly needs more concerted effort on our part. We have a strong presence of sociologists (notably, PAHA's president for the last four years is a sociologist) and a somewhat smaller presence of political scientists. Without forgetting that we are a historical society first and foremost, I think that we need to pursue this direction in a more systematic and conscious manner. Similarly, we need to continue the trend of providing a welcoming and intellectually stimulating environment for comparative studies, both in the journal and at the conferences. Participation of non-Polonia scholars, which has steadily increased since the 1990s,⁶⁶ is an important factor in seeing the Polish-American experience in a broader and richer context.

The Polish American Historical Association in the 2000s is a professional organization envisioned by its founders in the 1940s. As we try to look into the future, the three greatest challenges looming on the horizon seem to be, first, the recruitment of a younger generation of students and scholars through a comprehensive publicity effort; second, a systematic expansion of focus to include more interdisciplinary and comparative research; and three, building stronger bridges to both new and old Polonia communities in the United States, as well as audiences in Poland. In conclusion of his Polish Past in America, Miecislaus Haiman noted that "Each generation of [Polish] pioneers left a record full of achievements and romance."⁶⁷ I believe that as PAHA's past accomplishments are indisputable, much of PAHA's "achievements and romance" is still ahead of us.

NOTES

I would like to thank John J. Bukowczyk and Suzanne M. Sinke for their valuable comments on this article, and Renata Vickrey at the Central Connecticut State University Polish Collection for her help in locating sources.

¹John Bodnar, Collective Memory and Ethnic Groups: The Case of Swedes, Mennonites, and Norwegians (Rock Island, IL: Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, Augustana College, 1991), 7.

²During the opening ceremonies of the museum Józef Kania, PRCU President, said: "In the Archive and Museum ..., we wish to gather ... all the most valuable proofs of our cultural achievement, all dates, all mementos, which will be handed down to the new generations. We dedicate the Polish Museum at the PRCU to the American Polonia, so it can best and usefully serve her glory." Zygmunt Stefanowicz, Historia Archiwum i Muzeum Zjednoczenia P.R.K. w Ameryce (Chicago, Ill, 1952), 6. See also John J. Bukowczyk, "Polish Americans, History Writing, and the Organization of Memory," in John J. Bukowczyk, ed., Polish Americans and Their History: Community, Culture, and Politics (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996), 1–38; Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann, "American Polonia, Memory, and Commemoration," in Janusz Farys;, Roman Nir, and Marek Szczerbiński, Studia z dziejów Polski i Europy w XIX i XX wieku: Księga dedykowana Profesorowi Piotrowi Stefanowi Wandyczowi (Gorzów Wielkopolski: Centralne Archiwum Polonii w Orchard Lake, 2004), 629–40.

³For Haiman's biography see Robert Szymczak, "The Pioneer Days: Mieczysław Haiman and Polish American Historiography," Polish American Studies, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring 1993), 7–22.

⁴Thaddeus V. Gromada, "Haiman and Halecki in Light of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America Archives," Polish American Studies, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Autumn 2006), 86.

⁵Paul J. Best, "Polish-American Scholarly Organizations," in Stanislaus A. Blejwas and Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski, eds., Pastor of the Poles: Polish American Essays Presented to Right Reverend Monsignor John P. Wodarski in Honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary of His Ordination (New Britain, CT: Polish Studies Program Monographs, Central Connecticut State College, 1982), 160.

⁶For the history of PIASA see Stanisław Strzetelski, The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America: Origin and Development (New York: The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, 1960); Damian S. Wandycz, Polski Instytut Naukowy w Ameryce: w trzydziestą rocznicę, 1942–1972 (Nowy Jork: Polski Instytut Naukowy, 1974); Thaddeus V. Gromada, Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America: 50th Anniversary, 1942–1992 (New York: Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America [1992]); Frank Mocha, "The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America. Its Contributions to the Study of Polonia: The Origins of the Polish American Historical Association (PAHA)," in Frank Mocha, ed., Poles in America: Bicentennial Essays (Steven Point, Wisconsin: Worzalla Publishing Company, 1978), 709–24.

⁷Gromada, "Haiman," 88–91.

⁸Frank Mocha, "Polish Institute," 715.

⁹John J. Bukowczyk, "'Harness for Posterity the Values of a Nation' – Fifty Years of the Polish American Historical Association and Polish American Studies," Polish American Studies, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Autumn, 1993), 14.

¹⁰Bukowczyk, "Harness," 9.

¹¹Best, "Polish-American Scholarly Organizations," 160.

¹²Bukowczyk, "Harness," 21.

¹³Bukowczyk, "Harness," 26–32.

¹⁴Bukowczyk, "Harness," 33–43.

¹⁵Bukowczyk, "Harness," 43–55.

¹⁶Bukowczyk, "Harness," 55–76.

¹⁷Bukowczyk, "Harness," 70.

¹⁸Bukowczyk, "Harness," 88–96. For the discussion of PAHA's activities in the early 1980s see also appraisals by departing PAHA presidents, which appeared in the Polish American Studies: Anthony F. Turhollow, "The Polish American Historical Association: An Act of Faith, Polish American Studies, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Autumn, 1980), 61–67; Angela T. Pienkos, "The Polish American Historical Association and Its Role in Research on Polish America: An Assessment," Polish American Studies, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Spring, 1981), 63–73; James S. Pula, "The Role of the Polish American Historical Association in the 1980s," Polish American Studies, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Spring, 1982), 6–13; Thaddeus Gromada, "The Polish American Historical Association and the American Polonia," Polish American Studies, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Spring, 1985), 5–10; Stanislaus A. Blejwas, "Presidential Letter, Polish American Studies, Vol. 42, No. 3 (1986).

¹⁹Bukowczyk, "Harness," 89–100.

²⁰PAHA's presidents in that time period included: Thomas J. Napierkowski (1992–94); Thaddeus V. Gromada (1994–96); William Galush (1996–98); Thomas Gladsky (1998–2000); Stanislaus A. Blejwas (2000–01); Donald E. Pienkos (2001–03); Mary Patrice Erdmans (2003–06); Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann (2007–09).

²¹Donald Pienkos, President's Report, January, 2003, 3.

²²The effort was led by PAHA Rules Committee, chaired by Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann. Members of the committee included: Mary Patrice Erdmans (ex-officio), John J. Bukowczyk, William Galush, Neal Pease, Thaddeus Radzilowski.

²³The question of PAHA's California Chapter proved to be one of the most frequently discussed issues during PAHA board meetings over the last fifteen years. It was the only remaining active chapter, which, however, did not have any regular relationship with PAHA elected officers and acted as a separate and independent entity. Consecutive PAHA presidents repeatedly extended efforts (mostly in vain) to ensure that California Chapter members were also national members and paid their dues, and that there is some form of oversight and review of their local activities. In 1992, a report on the activities of the California Chapter appeared in the PAHA Newsletter, Vol. 48, no. 1 (January, 1992). Since then only once, in 1999, the California Chapter's president supplied a report of the activities between 1997 and 1999 to the national office. PAHA board suggested that the California organization affiliates itself with another national organization, for example the ACPC, whose profile and goals matched its character. Even after the passage of the 2004 constitution, PAHA California Chapter requested to use PAHA national's tax exempt number for their fundraising effort. Regulating the relationship between the two organizations continues to be an urgent, albeit complicated matter.

²⁴"PAHA midyear Board meeting minutes," St. Mary's College, Orchard Lake, Michigan, July 11, 1998. The conditions of the arrangement were described as follows: "The college will provide the services of its business office in handling incoming checks, mailing, and so on. The college will also provide an office, a telephone and a part-time student worker to assist the Executive Secretary who will [be headquartered] at St. Mary's. In return, PAHA will give college an annual scholarship of $ 1,000 to a student in Polish or Polish-American studies."

²⁵John J. Bukowczyk, ed., Polish Americans and Their History: Community, Culture, and Politics (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996). Incidentally, the three volumes of selected essays from the fiftieth anniversary international congress of PIASA, PAHA's parent organization, which were published in 1993, were edited by PAHA members and activists, M. B. Biskupski and James S. Pula.

²⁶Rev. Kazimierz Grotnik, A Fifty-Year Index to Polish American Studies, 1944–1993 (Boulder: East European Monographs, 1998).

²⁷Thomas Gladsky, Adam Walaszek, and Małgorzata M. Wawrykiewicz, eds., Ethnicity. Culture. City: Polish-Americans in the USA. Cultural Aspects of Urban Life, 1870–1950 in Comparative Perspective (Warszawa: Oficyna Naukowa, 1998).

²⁸Thomas S. Gladsky and Rita Holmes Gladsky, eds., Something of My Very Own to Say: American Women Writers of Polish Descent (Boulder: East European Monographs, 1997).

²⁹Wacław Kruszka, A History of the Poles in America to 1908 (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1998; Vols. 1–4 edited and with an introduction by James S. Pula, translated by Krystyna Jankowska); Florian Stasik, Polish Political Émigrés in the United States of America, 1831–1864 (Boulder: East European Monographs, 2002; edited and with introduction by James S. Pula, translated by Eugene Podraza).

³⁰Joseph T. Hapak, "PAHA Board of Directors Minutes, June 29, 1991," PAHA Newsletter, Vol. 48, No. 1 (January, 1992), 2. PAHA's application for the NEH grant had been rejected.

³¹The publication of Polish American Studies is possible due to the financial assistance from the Louis Skalny Foundation Trust. James S. Pula has headed the editorial board since 1981.

³²These are issues (in chronological order): Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring 1993); Vol. 55, No. 1 (Spring 1998); Vol. 60, No. 1 (Spring 2003); Vol. 51, No. 2 (Autumn 2004).

³³In 1993 the newsletter was co-edited by M. B. Biskupski and James S. Pula; in 1994 Pula became the sole editor; in 1995–97 Theodore L. Zawistowski served as the editor; in 1997–99 Pula returned to this function; Karen Majewski served as an editor between 1999 and 2003.

³⁴Stan Blejwas, "To the PAHA Executive Committee and Council, re: International Polish and Polish-American Conference," July 30, 2000. Blejwas may have been referring to the three volume Druga Wielka Emigracja, 1945–1990 edited by Andrzej Friszke, Rafał Habielski and Paweł Machcewicz (Warszawa: Biblioteka Więzi, 1999).

³⁵Although PAHA co-sponsored the 2004 international conference commemorating 150 years of Polonia in North America, which took place at the Central Connecticut State University, the event did not embody the scope and impact its initial architect envisioned.

³⁶William Galush, President, "PAHA Memorandum," March 4, 1997.

³⁷"PAHA board midyear meeting," July 27, 1997, Minneapolis, MN.

³⁸Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann and Joel Wurl, guest editors, Polish American Studies, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Spring 2003).

³⁹For the full text of the appeal see www.polishamericanstudies.org. It does not seem that this initiative bore any fruit so far.

⁴⁰Thomas S. Gladsky, "Polish American Memoirs Project," [January 2001]. According to Gladsky, "Memoirs should focus on a defining moment, event, relationship, or experience which best alerted the writer to his/her own sense of Polish American identity, provided insight into the nature of his/her ethnicity, roots, traditions, and heritage, or served as an apt representation of what it means or has meant to be a Polish American. Writers are requested to avoid customs, traditions and rituals already preserved in other forms. Writers are also requested to avoid experiences designed exclusively to solicit sentiment, nostalgia, and ethnic self-aggrandizement." See also presidential address by Thomas S. Gladsky, "Beyond Sentiment," Polish American Studies, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Spring 2001), 5–11.

⁴¹See Thaddeus Radzilowski, "The Polish Experience in Detroit: An Exhibition created by St. Mary's College of Ave Maria University of Orchard Lake and the Polish American Historical Association in cooperation with the Detroit Historical Museum" (2001).

⁴²PAHA's midyear Board meeting was then held in the Polonia Institute in Przegorzały, Kraków, Poland in June, 2000.

⁴³His Excellency Przemysław Grudziński, "Why Does History Matter?" Polish American Studies, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Spring 2004), 5–10.

⁴⁴For example, the PAC resolutions adopted at 11th national meeting in Washington, D.C., in October 1992, were published in the PAHA Newsletter, Vol. 49, No. 2 (April, 1993), 3–4.

⁴⁵"Letter of PAHA President to the President of the Polish American Congress," PAHA Newsletter, Vol. 52, No. 4 (November, 1996), 3.

⁴⁶"Minutes of the 1996 Mid-Year Meeting of the Board of Directors," June 29, 1996.

⁴⁷"Unapproved Midyear Board meeting minutes, St. Paul, Minnesota, July 19, 1997"; "Minutes of the Annual Meeting, New York, January 2, 1997."

⁴⁸"Minutes of the Annual Meeting," Seattle, Washington, January 1998.

⁴⁹"Minutes of the Midyear Board Meeting," Orchard Lake, Michigan, July 11, 1998.

⁵⁰Bukowczyk, "Harness," 93. It remains unclear to what extent it also reflected personal and professional involvement of Stanislaus Blejwas in the PAC politics on both local and national levels.

⁵¹In 1999, the Kulczycki award went to Karen Majewski, in 2000 to Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann, in 2005 to Brian McCook, and in 2007 to Iwona Drąg-Korga.

⁵²"Minutes of the 1996 mid-year meeting of the board of directors, Scranton, PA, June 29, 1996."

⁵³James S. Pula, "PAHA Treasurer's Report," January 7, 1999.

⁵⁴Karen Majewski, "Executive Secretary's Report," January 7, 2000.

⁵⁵"Minutes of midyear meeting," Przegorzały, Kraków, June 15, 2000.

⁵⁶Karen Majewski, "Executive Secretary's Report," January 2001.

⁵⁷Robert Szymczak to Thaddeus V. Gromada, a letter, December 20, 1995.

⁵⁸Dennis L. Kolinski, 1996 PAHA Annual Meeting, "Report of the Third Vice-President." In 1996, President Gromada set out a number of goals for PAHA, including "increasing PAHA focus on comparative studies with other ethnic groups and promoting cooperation with the ethnic history organizations of other ethnic groups; improving cooperation with Polish scholars and institutions; getting more coverage in the Polish-American press; and increasing PAHA's visibility by sending our newsletter and other mailings to Polish consulates and the Polish embassy." "Minutes of the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors," January 4, 1996, Atlanta.

⁵⁹Polish American Studies, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Spring 1999), 5–6.

⁶⁰"Minutes of the PAHA Board of Directors meeting in Stevens Point, Wisconsin," from June, 1994, reveal that an inadequate number of women candidates among officers and council members was a topic of the discussion and concern during the meeting. PAHA Newsletter, Vol. 51, No. 1 (January, 1995), 3.

⁶¹One reason for this problem might be the general dearth of available academic positions in immigration/ethnic history involving immigrants from Europe, which might discourage potential young scholars from undertaking research in the filed. I would like to thank John J. Bukowczyk for sharing this observation with me.

⁶²Mary Patrice Erdmans, "In Praise of Work (to Be Done)," Polish American Studies, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Autumn 2006), 5–12.

⁶³For the discussion of the directions of development of the discipline see the special twenty-fifth anniversary commemorative issue of the Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Summer 2006). The most recent, although by now somewhat outdated review of the Polish-American scholarship is in John J. Bukowczyk, ed., Polish Americans and Their History: Community, Culture, and Politics (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996).

⁶⁴John Higham, "The Ethnic Historical Society In Changing Times," Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Winter 1994), 40.

⁶⁵See also William J. Galush, "Listen Not Only to Ourselves," Polish American Studies, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Spring 1999), 5–6.

⁶⁶One of the most successful early events that brought together scholars from various disciplines as well as non-Polonia scholars, and in many ways provided a model for the future, became PAHA's 50th Anniversary Conference program ("Polish American History: A Fifty-Year Retrospective, 1942–1992"), which took place in December, 1991), prepared by John J. Bukowczyk, PAHA's President.

⁶⁷Miecislaus Haiman, Polish Past in America, 1608–1865 (Chicago: Polish Museum of America, 1975), 161.