Journal ‘Przewodnik Naukowy i Literacki’ (1873-1883): Editorial Policy, Authors’ Circle, Range of Historical Problems

Abstract

The purpose of the research paper is to uncover the mechanisms of editorial policy formation of the journal ‘Przewodnik Naukowy i Literacki’ in the field of history from 1873 to 1883, the peculiarities of filling the historical section, and the specifics of the author’s circle of that publication.

The scientific novelty of the research is in the fact that for the first time, an analysis of the editorial policy of the journal ‘Przewodnik Naukowy i Literacki’ in the formation of the historical section during the first decade of its activity in Lviv is conducted, the circle of authors is outlined, and the range of historical problems of the papers is analyzed.

Conclusions. The progress of Polish intellectual culture became the main motive in establishing the printed edition ‘Przewodnik Naukowy i Literacki’ in 1873 in Lviv. Its pages covered and discussed issues of science and literature. The journal was clearly dominated by historical issues, mainly related to the political past of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Significant attention was also paid to the analyzes of the Polish state’s political system, in which the scholars focused on finding the reasons for the loss of sovereignty. In the context of the introduction of positivist research methods, issues of the state of historical research, tasks, and methods of historical studies were sporadically raised.

The need to maintain the level of scientific knowledge and reader interest made the editors balance between ‘pure’ research, presented by representatives of academic institutions in Lviv and Krakow, and historical and literary articles, the authors of which were amateur historians and writers. They filled the publication with materials that were distinguished by their attractiveness and, mostly, appealed to nostalgic feelings ‘for the old days’ or were instructive in nature.

Thus, the journal under study appears as a published edition that reflected the main trends in the development of Polish historical science in Galicia from the 1870s to the early 1880s. The journal became a center around which a wide circle of experts in antiquity gathered, most of whom lived and worked in Galicia. Given the fact that more than half of the authors of the younger generation studied under K. Liske, the journal could also be considered as a presentation platform for the achievements of Lviv historical and didactic school. In general, the first stage of the activity of that crypto-historical printed edition was an important step in the professionalization of historical studies in Lviv, preparing the emergence in 1887 of the first Polish specialized historical journal ‘Kwartalnik Historyczny’.