Buffalo, NY – The Polish Genealogical Society of New York State (PGSNYS) has been awarded a $2,500 grant from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Arts & Culture Initiative, administered by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, to support the digitization of a decade of Dziennik dla Wszystkich (Everybody’s Daily), the main Polish-language newspaper that served as a vital news source for the Buffalo and Western New York Polish-American community from 1911 to 1957.

The grant provides crucial funding toward completing digitization of local Dziennik editions from the critical World War II period and early Cold War era, specifically the years 1941–48, 1950–52 and 1957. “Once digitized, these little-known records, achievements and stories of Polish Americans from Buffalo and throughout Western New York will be accessible on-line through Optical Character Recognition for the first time, and for generations to come,” stated Julie Szczepankiewicz, PGSNYS President.

Information reported in the Dziennik holds immense historical value for interested community members, genealogists, historians, and students, offering unique insights into the lives and times of Buffalo’s and Western New York’s Polish population. Its pages provide unique documentation on our region’s Polish American people, businesses, arts and cultural organizations, events, churches, schools, politics and institutions not covered by the mainstream press.

These digitized Dziennik editions will be hosted on the NYS  Historic Newspapers website (https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/), ensuring open access to all, including non-Polish speakers, who can utilize translation tools to explore the collection.

The digitization is being conducted through a collaboration between PGSNYS and the Polish Museum of America in Chicago where the only paper copies of the local editions are held.

There is a fundraising campaign to raise the additional financial support required to complete the project. For more information or to make a donation, please visit https://pgsnys.online/dziennik-digitization/.

About the Polish Genealogical Society of New York State

PGSNYS, established in 1988, is an organizational resource for anyone interested in Polish genealogical research, Polish American culture and the history of Poles in the Greater Buffalo area. PGSNYS provides assistance to persons researching their family history through monthly speaker meetings, which are open to the public, a website with free access to various databases and indexes, and Searchers, an educational newsletter.

About The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Arts & Culture Initiative

The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Arts & Culture Initiative was established at the Community Foundation to support arts and culture in the eight counties of Western New York, plus Monroe County, in recognition of the key role arts and culture organizations play in a thriving economy. Part of that announcement includes $500,000 in annual funding to be awarded primarily to support small to mid-sized arts and culture organizations in the nine counties.

For more information, on the project and to contribute to the remaining phases, please visit https://pgsnys.org

Click here to download a copy of this press release.

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