| Reviews | Polish American Studies, 66.2

Reviews

Teresa Kaczorowska. Herodot Polonii amerykańskiej: Mieczysław Haiman (1888–1949). Warszawa: Muzeum Wychodźstwa Polskiego im. Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego Łazienki Królewskie, 2008. xxiv, 360 pp. ISBN 9788392808404.

The scholarship on American Polonia does lack full-length biographies of its numerous illuminati. Mieczysław Haiman, a poet, a journalist, an editor, writer, historian, librarian, archivist and museum curator all in one, now belongs to the elite group of deserving Polonia leaders whose life and achievements attracted a scrutiny worthy of a book-long study.

Teresa Kaczorowska, the author of the study, passionately poured over the historical sources relating to Haiman, producing a treatment simultaneously rich in biographical detail and poor in broader historical reflection. Kaczorowska is a writer, a journalist, and a poet herself. She is active on the cultural scene of her native Pułtusk region, while lecturing at the Aleksander Gieysztor Humanistic Academy there. Haiman's biography was her Ph.D. dissertation, published by a relatively new Polish institution focused on emigration history, Muzeum Wychodz;stwa Polskiego im. Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego Łazienki Królewskie in Warsaw. In addition to authoring volumes of poetry, Kaczorowska is also an author of other books. W cieniu araukarii: spotkania z Poloni? brazylijsk? (In the State of Araucaria: Brazil's Polonia; 2000) contains her journalistic reflections about experiences of Polonia in Brazil based on interviews conducted during her trip to Latin America. Her book on the Katyń massacre appeared in English translation with McFarland in 2006 as Children of the Katyn Massacre. Finally, while studying Haiman, Kaczorowska collected and catalogued Haiman's early poetry and published it in a small but interesting volume Herodot Poloni (Poland's Herodotus; 2005).

Kaczorowska conducted an impressive amount of research for her book. Thanks to the Kosciuszko Foundation's stipend and help from many other individuals, she did her research in several archival repositories in the U.S, including the Kosciuszko Foundation, the Central Archives of Polonia in Orchard Lake (also marked as "Archiwum The Immigration History Research Center w Orchard Lake," a confusing and inaccurate combination of the Orchard Lake's Polonia archives and the IHRC, a separate institution located at the University of Minnesota, which houses a large collection of Polonia records), the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, the Polish Museum of America in Chicago, the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America archives in Chicago, as well as parishes in Chicago and Boston. Additionally, Kaczorowska researched several archives in Poland and Rome, including archives of the religious orders with which Haiman's sister had been affiliated. She also conducted a number of interviews, for example with Haiman's relatives and his long-time secretary Ms. Sabina Logisz.

Through this thorough research Kaczorowska uncovered some new information and corrected some previous inaccuracies about details of Haiman's family history, such as the correct spelling of his surname, his high school record, and some family colligations, including adoption of his two children. A lot of details regarding Haiman's family life came from his correspondence with his sister Maria Hermina and his friend and mentor, Rev. Alexander Syski. Although the author was aware of the potential pitfalls of trusting Artur L. Waldo as a source, she also relied heavily on Waldo's recollections of Haiman, including a story of an alleged dragon tattoo on Haiman's arm. Some details, however, remain confusing. For instance, Kaczorowska suggests three different, although perhaps related causes of Haiman's death: stomach cancer, ulcers, and (in the "Conclusion")—"overwork" (przepracowanie) or exhaustion.

A real contribution to Kaczorowska's portrait of Haiman is her emphasis on Haiman as a poet, which is a theme she brought up in her previous publication. In poems signed as Nie-Tersytes, Haiman not only expressed his feelings but also provided social and political commentary; a good example of it is in a panegyric on Roman Dmowski (p. 46) which the author quotes in full. Kaczorowska also highlights other aspects of Haiman's character and activities, which deepen our understanding of his individuality. Despite the generally accepted image of Haiman as a gentle book warm, Kaczorowska stresses his almost limitless energy and creativity, which he expanded to many different areas of work. For example, Haiman very effectively marketed and advertised his publications, sent press releases and donated copies to many Polonia and American institutions and individuals. He also tirelessly and energetically lobbied for support of his brain child, the Polish Museum in Chicago, which flourished under his leadership (incidentally, Kaczorowska's chapter on the museum's creation and development is the strongest in the book).

Haiman also belonged to the group of Polonia leaders who readily extended a helping hand to the wartime refugees arriving in the U.S. in the 1940s, and established working relationships with them and their institutions. His successful collaboration with Oskar Halecki and PIASA ultimately gave us the Polish American Historical Association and Polish American Studies. Unlike many other Polish Americans of his time, however, Haiman did not hesitate to cross the boundaries of Polonia and engage professionals of non-Polish background. He corresponded with many American historians, held membership in American professional organizations, and successfully brought their ideas to bear on the shape of his vision for both the museum and PAHA. This aspect of Haiman's contacts is even more remarkable if we remember that he had no formal education. As Kaczorowska uncovered, Haiman did not graduate from high school in Poland, and despite encouragement from his friend and mentor Rev. Syski, he had never pursued any formal education in the U.S.

Kaczorowska's work, however, displays some very serious shortcomings, out of which her lack of proper historical background is the most damaging to the overall value of the study. Kaczorowska, who meticulously follows the life of Haiman, has no idea what was going on in larger Polonia at the same time. Although she lists Andrzej Brozæek's history of Polonia in her bibliography, she shows no sign of actually having used it to understand the changes and trends that shaped Haiman's experience. For example she leaves hanging in a vacuum Haiman's strong political views and offers no commentary to the story of his censoring book holdings in the Chicago public library as well as the PRCUA library (p. 154). Kaczorowska's lack of historical background makes her also totally uncritical in regards to the historical value of Haiman's scholarship. She seems to be simply in awe of the fact that he did it and did it first, and pursues an annoying practice of exhaustively summarizing each of the publications.

It certainly might have helped if Kaczorowska knew English and was familiar with any of the work published in the U.S., but, sadly, this is not the case. Many years ago Stanislaus A. Blejwas (whose name in the book is consistently misspelled as "Blewajs") deplored prowincjonalizm in immigration scholarship on both sides of the ocean, with Polish scholars skipping American-published sources and American (or Polish American) scholars excluding Polish-language scholarship. Haiman's biography suffers from the results of such prowincjonalizm. The closest the author gets to a review of English-language publications is in a paragraph on page 298 where she haphazardly lists 34 names of historians, writers, journalists, and sociologists, who referred to Haiman in their works (titles of books by Pula, Polzin, and Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann have "Polish Americans" spelled as "Polish Americanos"). This listing is to prove that Haiman's scholarship is still widely used, despite her contradictory as well as exaggerated claim that Haiman has been mostly forgotten in the United States and Polonia.

And yet Kaczorowska has really no need to be that defensive about the necessity of undertaking Haiman's biography. There is no doubt that Mieczysław Haiman was a remarkable person and that his accomplishments were laudable. But he was also a product of his times and a great example of important changes in Polonia, which, regrettably, Kaczorowska does not capture in her book. All in all, she gives us a passionate and quite interesting read set in the genre of biographical, but not historical writing, bringing one of PAHA's founding fathers to light as a fascinating and complex individual.

The book also contains an English language summary; an annex with Haiman's life calendarium; a useful listing of all Haiman's publications in the bibliography; as well as a name index, and a collection of photographs.

Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann

Eastern Connecticut State University

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