The activity of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in the years 1942–1989

Abstract

The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America was established by Polish scientists who found themselves on emigration in the USA as a result of World War II. At the moment of its origin, it was the continuation of the Polish Academy of Sciences as well as the symbol of free culture and scientific thought. It underwent many transformations in the years 1942–1989, it started its activity as the emigration scientific-cultural society, by 1989 it became an organisation of all-American scope. The article is an attempt to describe the activity of that most important Polish scientific centre in the United States from the perspective of research output, biographies of its creators and contributors and the role it played in the Polish and American science in the years 1942–1989. Special attention was paid to the publications, including The Polish Review journal, and books published in English, which joined the world science canon about Poland and Middleand Eastern Europe in the field of history, literary and social sciences.