Doctoral seminars at the Archive Studies Department of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University – from guiding the academic development to educating

Abstract

The tradition of educating on a doctoral level, on the University of Maria Curie- Sk lodowska, dates back to the end of 1970s. As far back as 1977, when the Department of Auxiliary Sciences in Historical Research and Library Science had been founded, two doctoral dissertations were defended there: theses of Maria Trojanowska and Barbara Trelinska, which were written under the guidance of Jozef Szymanski. His doctoral seminar soon came to be called “the Lublin school of the auxiliary sciences in historical research.” At the end of 1990s, the scientific development of its adepts, enabled creating an independent Archive Studies Department in the MSCU. The Institute Director continued the tradition of Szymanski’s seminar. The educational system reform in Poland, at the turn of 20th and 21st century, caused changes in the functioning of the Lublin seminar. Apart from the university teachers, who combined working on their dissertations with their didactic responsibilities at the MSCU (Artur Gorak, Robert Jop), the students of the four – year doctoral program (Marek Konstankiewicz, Marcin Pytel, Tomasz Czarnota), also participated in the seminar. Thanks to that, the Lublin Doctoral Seminarhas moulded experts, who gained research experience on the mechanics of creating and maintaining the administrative offices’ files, as well as on the changes they underwent in the 19th and 20th century; and complemented the level of expertise of the MSCU Archive Studies Department’s academics.