The Polish Archives of the Discalced Carmelites: History, Outstanding Figures, Method and Collections

Abstract

In accordance with the old custom of monasteries, important documents, books and precious objects were assembled in arca trium clavium – a three-key chest. It served as a home archive. The 16th and the 17th centuries were not very good periods for the Carmelite archives. Most of the Discalced Carmelite monasteries were founded in the eastern territories of the Polish Commonwealth, which were lost as the result of numerous wars. However, over the centuries there were plenty of friars who undertook an effort to collect and describe archival materials. They were Fr Wawrzyniec of the Blessed Virgin Mary (d. 1682), Fr Jan Kanty Osierda (1878–1948), Fr Benignus Wanat (1934–2013), Fr Honorat Gil (1934–2015) and Fr Kajetan Furmanik (1929–1990). The contemporary archives of the Polish Discalced Carmelites were organised and ordered by Fr Wanat. According to the canon, which is binding in archival science, he described each unit in the Archives of the Province of Czerna adopting the following scheme: team name, reference number, unit title, earliest and latest dates, language, external description, number of cards/pages, notes, information about available microfilms, scans or extra information about the unit. In 2012, the archives of the Province were moved from the monastery in Czerna to the monastery in Kraków, at 5 Zygmunta Glogera Street.