Overview
Letters to and compositions by 20th-century Polish novelist, journalist, and publicist, Józef Mackiewicz.
Dates
- Creation: 1945-1970
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in Polish and some in Russian.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
2 linear feet (4 boxes and 12 volumes)These papers contain letters to Mackiewicz from friends and colleagues, especially other writers, mostly concerning Mackiewicz's writing. The composition series contains autograph manuscript drafts and notes for some of his published works, as well as corrections to these works by his wife, Barbara Toporska. Includes manuscripts for: Droga donikąd, Lewa wolna, Nie trzeba głośno mówić, and Sprawa pułkownika Miasojedowa, among others.
Biographical / Historical
Józef Mackiewicz (1902-1985) was a Polish novelist, journalist, and publicist. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1902 and in 1907 his family moved to Wilno, Poland. He fought as a Polish volunteer in the Soviet-Polish war of 1920 and studied at Warsaw University. He worked in Wilno (under Polish control 1920-1939) as a journalist until the Red Army drove him west in 1945. He spent the rest of his life in exile in Rome, then London, and finally Munich. He was the brother of journalist Stanisław Mackiewicz (1896-1966), and the husband of writer Barbara Toporska (1913-1985).
His first venture as a writer was in 1922 in the Vilnius-based daily newspaper Słowo (The Word.). He later wrote semi-documentary historical novels on the fate of the Poles and other ethnic groups during World War II and also wrote about the 1919-1921 Polish-Bolshevik war. He wrote consistently anti-communist political journalism, stories, and memoirs.
Arrangement
Organized into the following two series:
- I. Letters to Mackiewicz
- II. Compositions
Please note that this finding aid skips item numbers 47 and 51.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
*94M-43. Bequest of Professor Aleksander Janta; received after 1974.
Separated Materials
The other papers received in the Aleksander Janta bequest have been cataloged into separate finding aids as:
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt, with the assistance of Grażyna Slanda, Nina Karsov, Golda Steinberg, Joseph Zajac, and Gwido Zlatkes.
- Title
- Mackiewicz, Józef. Józef Mackiewicz papers: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou00230
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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