Series II: Posters by Geographic Origin, 1898-1939

The Poland (Vilna Archives) Collection consists entirely of ephemera and fragmentary materials. Included are printed materials, announcements, invitations, leaflets, notes, minutes, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and posters. The materials are loosely linked by the fact that they derive from the same town or city. The following topics are included: political organizations such as Agudas Yisroel, Bund, Hehalutz, Mizrachi, Poalei Agudas Yisroel, Poale Zion; community elections, elections to the Sejm (Polish Diet); business and economics: banks, credit unions, taxes; labor: trade unions, strikes; cultural activities and groups: Yiddish cultural organizations, publishing houses; religious matters: synagogues, ritual slaughter (shekhitah), rabbinical figures; sports clubs, games; historical events: pogroms, German occupation of Poland during World War I. Of special interest are town histories compiled by YIVO correspondents who took part in a project by the YIVO Historical Commission for Poland to research and write Jewish communal history in the places where they lived.