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Slavic and East European Collections: Slavic New York: Poles

History of Poles in New York City

Polish people have been present in New York City since the early 17th century. Many educated Polish exiles arrived in New York after failed liberation movements in the 19th century. The mass migration that began around 1870 brought in rural laborers seeking economic opportunities. Initially, they settled in the Lower East Side, eventually expanding to other parts of the city. By 1893, there were 20,000 Polish people in the city and its metropolitan area, with some 40 Polish organizations active. Many Polish displaced persons (DPs) arrived after World War II, followed by those escaping the Communist-dominated homeland. In the 1970s, almost 300,000 New Yorkers were born in Poland, and about half a million were American-born of Polish descent. Political changes in post-Communist Poland halted migration and encouraged return migration. By 2006, the Polish-born population of New York had dropped to around 60,000 people. The concentration of the Polish diaspora is primarily in Brooklyn (Greenpoint), Queens (Ridgewood, Maspeth, and Middle Village), and Staten Island. [Pula, James S. "Poles." In The Encyclopedia of New York City, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson, 1006. New Haven: Yale University Press; New York: New-York Historical Society, ©2010].

See also oral history and memoirs

Organizations and Institutions

In 1846, Kasper (Gaspar) Tochman (1797–1880), a Polish-born American lawyer and soldier, established the Polish Slavonian Literary Association in New York. The aim of this organization was to promote knowledge of Polish history, literature, and scientific achievements among the American public. See his Speech ... delivered before the Polish Slavonian Literary Association, at its first organization meeting, held at the University Hall of New York, on the 17th of June, 1846.

Kosciuszko Foundation / Fundacja Kościuszkowska

Józef Piłsudski Institute of America / Instytut Józefa Piłsudskiego w Ameryce

Polish Istitute of Arts and Scienes of America / Polski Instytut Naukowy w Ameryce

Other organizations and institutions (in chronological order)

Political activity

Polish Information Center -- See its publications from the 1940s.

Polish Research and Information Service -- see its publications from the late 1940s.

Polish Labor Group -- see its publications from the 1940s.

Committee in Support of Solidarity -- see its publications from the 1980s.

Polish Workers Task Force -- see its publications from the 1980s.

See also the following studies

Works of fiction depicting Polish people in New York

New York World's Fair 1939-1940

Index

Studies

For more photographs see the NYPL Digital Collections. 

Media

Studies

Churches

Studies

Jubilee Books

Exhibitions of Polish Art in New York (A Selection in chronological order)

Performing Arts

Souvenir program, New York, 1961. / Mazowsze Polish Song and Dance Company.

Polish Writers in New York

Leszek Józef Serafinowicz (pen name: Jan Lechoń) was an accomplished Polish poet and literary critic who lived in New York City.  Wojciech Wyskiel wrote about the New York period of Lechoń's life in Kręgi wygnania: Jan Lechoń na obczyźnie as did Marian Stępień in Jan Lechoń w Nowym Jorku. Stanisław J. Kowalski focused on Lechoń's career in New York as a journalist and editor in Jan Lechoń jako redaktor i publicysta w okresie nowojorskim (1991). Selections of poems, articles, and entries from Lechoń's diaries written in New York appeared in Lechoń nowojorski (1999) prepared by Maciej Patkowski and Beata Dorosz. Some of Lechoń's works were originally published in New York, including:

Józef Wittlin (1896–1976) was a Polish novelist who after World War II lived in New York. See Between Lvov, New York, and Ulysses' Ithaca: Józef Wittlin: poet, essayist, novelist / edited by Anna Frajlich (2001).

Irena "Lenta" Główczewska was born in the city of Łódź, Poland and immigrated in 1962. She lived in New York and worked at the Sid Deutsch Art Gallery. Between 1983 and 2002 she wrote about the artistic, cultural, and intellectual life of New York City for the renowned Polish literary journal, Zeszyty Literackie. Her essays were later collected in the book Nowy Jork: kartki z metropolii 1983-2002 (2004) with an introduction by the Polish poet Julia Hartwig.  

Sydor Rey (aka Izydor Reiss) was a Polish novelist and poet of Jewish background who arrived in New York in 1939 and stayed in the city at least until 1960. In 1945 he published here a book of poetry Pieśni mówione which among other poems included “Kobieta w Nowym Jorku.” He also wrote a novel on New York's Lower East Side.

Polish collection at the New York Public Library