Bibliography of Tatra and Podhale by Zofia and Witold Henryk Paryski – History and the Present

Abstract

The region of the Tatra Mountains and Podhale, due to its place in social awareness and literature, has always required a description encompassing the literary output connected with its culture, geography, ethnology and many other research fields, and also with its art and literature. Smaller or larger compilations appeared in the writings related to the Tatra Mountains but they could only be regarded as an initial impulse for future bibliographers. In the 1930s W. H. Paryski began to work on a catalogue including popular science literature related to the Tatras and Podhale. In the process, he broadened the scope of research on Spisz and Orava. Paryski’s intention was to publish his bibliography in a printed form; in 1950s he created a research team which included Zofia Radwanska Paryska, Juliusz Zborowski, Jan Gwalbert Pawlikowski and himself. During the next decade their work led to a significant expansion of the contents of the bibliography. According to the Centre for Documentation of Tatra, it now contains 75,000 index cards and about 100,000 catalogue cards. In 2001, as per will of Zofia Paryska, the Paryscy Foundation was established, the main goal of which is to continue work on the bibliography. In 2015 the bibliography was published in digital form on the website of the Library of the Tatra National Park. The title of this project is Digitization of the index cards of the Bibliography of Tatra and Podtatrze of Witold Henryk Paryski.