Scope and Content Note
The Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States consist chiefly of 111 volumes of approximately five million signatures of Polish citizens. Compiled under the auspices of the American-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Poland and the Polish-American Society, the collection was presented in October 1926 to President Calvin Coolidge in recognition of the 150th anniversary of American independence. The commemorative volumes also acknowledge American participation in World War I, contributions of the "American Aviators of the Kosciuszko Squadron in our war against the Bolshevik hosts in 1920," and aid given to Poland during the war. In November 1926 President Coolidge ordered the transfer of the collection from the White House to the Library of Congress. The collected signatures are bound in 109 volumes and in one portfolio of unbound sheets. Also included is a bound guide to the collection. Throughout the volumes are many pages of photographs or colorful illustrations.
The first five volumes contain the signatures of Ignacy Moscicki, president of Poland, and representatives of various government, religious, social, business, academic, and military institutions. The volumes are embellished with illustrations of buildings, coats of arms, historical monuments, rural and urban scenes, and famous historical figures. Volume six includes autographs of Poles residing in Austria. Volumes seven through thirteen contain signatures of faculty and students of secondary schools, and volumes 14 through 109 include those of grammar and elementary school students and faculty arranged primarily by administrative district. An index to the elementary school districts appears in a separate descriptive guide to the collection compiled by Zbigniew Kantorosinski. Volume 110 is a portfolio of unbound sheets which were received by the compilers after binding had been completed, and volume 111 includes a brief guide to the collection and acknowledgements. The volumes are arranged in the order in which they were originally bound and presented.
The volumes include artwork by prominent Polish artists, official seals, coats of arms, calligraphy, photographs, and decorative bindings. Volume two contains works by such painters and graphic artists as Stanisław Czajkowski, Władyslaw Jarocki, Zygmunt Kamiński, Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Władyslaw Skoczylas, Ludomir Slendziński, Zofia Stryjeńska, Jan Wroniecki, and Leon Wyczółkowski.