Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Poland. Rada Ministr贸w
- Abstract:
- Reports, memoranda, and statistical data, relating to administration of the government of Poland.
- Extent:
- circa 416,000 digital files (80.9 Gigabytes; several hundred compact discs and 0.5 linear feet of printed matter in 7 manuscript boxes) (2.8 Linear Feet)
- Language:
- Polish
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], [file/segregator number], [CD number], Poland Rada Ministr贸w records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Rada Ministr贸w (Council of Ministers) records consist of reports, memoranda, and statistical data relating to administration of the government of Poland. They are the source of raw documentation not so much on why particular policies affecting the lives of millions of Polish citizens were made, but on how they were carried out. Thousands of internal reports, memoranda, and statistical bulletins, which were classified as secret or top secret until 2001, are included. The records provide a virtually complete source for the study of the functioning of a communist state.
Besides Polish materials, the collection includes key documentation, in Russian, on the affairs of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), the Soviet tool for controlling the economies of its East European satellite countries. All official documents issued by the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance were written in Russian and translated if necessary.
The digitized documents are described by a database; all of the digitized documents and the database are available on a computer workstation in the Hoover Archives reading room. The digitized documents are page images, the text of which cannot be searched, so the database descriptions, in Polish, are the only searchable text. Some digitized documents are difficult or impossible to read, usually because the source documents were poor-quality carbon copies. The zoom feature may help make these digital copies legible; printing the documents may also facilitate legibility.
The Chancellery of Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, whose Solidarity government held office until October 2001, undertook a massive declassification and scanning project to make the records of the government of communist Poland accessible to scholars in Poland and abroad. Due to political considerations, the decision to declassify and digitize the Council of Ministers records was implemented rapidly and not publicized until it was completed, a few days before the accession to office of the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance. Documents were scanned directly off the shelves, preserving original order by shelf and jacket (folder), but with no effort to provide a guide to the contents of the collection.
A number of Polish institutions received digitized copies on compact discs. The Hoover Institution is the only non-Polish repository having a set of copies. The arrangement and description of the digitized documents, and the creation of a database to contain the descriptions, was performed by InfoProject Ltd. from 2002 to 2004, with funding by the Hoover Institution.
The Polish-language database describes groups of similar records that were arranged into new "documents" after all of the documents were digitized in 2001. Similar records were grouped according to subject, person, or event. These groupings, or newly arranged documents, are only sometimes the same as the groupings of paper originals in jackets.
For each newly arranged "document," the database assigns a number, such as "dok_12" and provides the following information in Polish: title, administrative unit of government ("category"), descriptive note, year and month of creation, language, Russian title (if relevant), number of pages, number of unreadable pages, segregator/file number, and CD number.
A set of three volumes prepared by InfoProject with "Archiwum URM PRL 1944-1988" on the cover (box 7) provide the following information in Polish:
- -Introduction to the project (with partial English translation);
- -List of categories (units of government) used in the database;
- -List of abbreviations;
- -List of document titles;
- -List of Russian document titles.
According to the English-language methodology document written by InfoProject (box 7), the database contains digitized "in/out" documents that were sent by administrative units of government and formally received by the Council of Ministers. The file ("segregator") number combines two numbers relating to the original documents. The number before the underscore is the number on the "in/out" document list, and the numbers after the underscore refer to the range of jackets (folders) containing the documents. For example, file number 2_144-152 refers to the original documents that are summarized on the list of "in/out" documents as number "2" and can be found in jackets numbered from 144 to 152. Each document in file 2_144-152 bears a document number, such as dok_12.
The file numbers were not changed by InfoProject, but the documents within the file numbers often were rearranged and changed by InfoProject. Thus the file numbers are the same between the initial series of raw captures (Documents digitized by the Office of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister) and the processed series (Digitized documents processed and described by InfoProject), but the arrangement of documents and the document numbers is frequently different.
- Biographical / historical:
-
During 1944-1989, the highest authority in Poland rested in the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party. The Rada Ministr贸w (Council of Ministers), comprised of top party functionaries, administered the country by implementing the directives of the party in all areas of political, economic, social and cultural life. The Council of Ministers' archives, therefore, consists of the records of the government of Poland.
- Acquisition information:
- Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives from 2001 to 2004.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is organized by file numbers that reflect the filing system used with the original papers.
- Physical location:
- Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- File plan:
-
- ChRL
- Chi艅ska Republika Ludowa
- CMEA
- Komisja Gospodarcza Ameryki 艁aci艅skiej
- CPN
- Centrala Przemys艂u Naftowego
- CSRS
- Czechos艂owacka Republika Socjalistyczna
- CUG
- Centralny Urz膮d Geodezji
- CUGIK
- Centralny Urz膮d Geodezji i Kartografii
- CUP
- Centralny Urz膮d Planowania
- ECE
- Economic Commission for Europe
- EEK
- Evropejskaja Ekonomi膷eskaja Kommissija
- EKG
- Europejska Komisja Gospodarcza
- EnJ
- Energia J膮drowa
- EWG
- Europejska Wsp贸lnota Gospodarcza
- GUKPiW
- G艂贸wny Urz膮d Kontroli Prasy i Wydawnictw
- GUS
- G艂贸wny Urz膮d Statystyczny
- IK SEV
- Ispolnitel'nyj Komitet Soveta Ekonomi膷eskoj Vzaimopomo拧膷i
- KBW
- Korpus Bezpiecze艅stwa Wewn臋trznego
- KERM
- Komitet Ekonomiczny Rady Ministr贸w
- KHZ
- Komisja Handlu Zagranicznego
- KK
- Kraje Kapitalistyczne
- KKPT
- Komisja Koordynacji Pomocy Technicznej
- KNiT
- Komitet Nauki i Techniki
- KOK
- Komitet Obrony Kraju
- KON
- Komitet Obrony Narodowej
- KPpRM
- Komitet Planowania przy Rady Ministr贸w
- KRL-D
- Korea艅ska Republika Ludowo-Demokratyczna
- KRN
- Krajowa Rada Narodowa
- KS
- Kraje Socjalistyczne
- KW RWPG
- Komitet Wykonawczy Rady Wzajemnej Pomocy Gospodarczej
- KWGzZ
- Komitet Wsp贸艂pracy Gospodarczej z Zagranic膮
- LRA
- Ludowa Republika Albanii
- LRB
- Ludowa Republika Bu艂garii
- MAP
- Ministerstwo Administracji Publicznej
- MB
- Ministerstwo Budownictwa
- MBiPMB
- Ministerstwo Budownictwa i Przemys艂u Mat. Budowlanych
- MBP
- Ministerstwo Bezpiecze艅stwa Publicznego
- MF
- Ministerstwo Finans贸w
- MGBW
- Mi臋dzynarodowy Bank Wsp贸艂pracy Gospodarczej
- MBP
- Ministerstwo Bezpiecze艅stwa Publicznego
- MF
- Ministerstwo Finans贸w
- MGBW
- Mi臋dzynarodowy Bank Wsp贸艂pracy Gospodarczej
- MGiE
- Ministerstwo G贸rnictwa i Energetyki
- MGK
- Ministerstwo Gospodarki Komunalnej
- MH
- Ministerstwo Handlu Wewn臋trznego
- MHZ
- Ministerstwo Handlu Zagranicznego
- MIiP
- Ministerstwo Informacji i Propagandy
- MK
- Ministerstwo Komunikacji
- MKi呕
- Ministerstwo Komunikacji i 呕eglugi
- MON
- Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej
- MP
- Ministerstwo Pracy
- MPC
- Ministerstwo Przemys艂u Ci臋偶kiego
- MPCh
- Ministerstwo Przemys艂u Chemicznego
- MPiT
- Ministerstwo Poczt i Telegraf贸w
- MPL
- Ministerstwo Przemys艂u Lekkiego
- MPM
- Ministerstwo Przemys艂u Maszynowego
- MPT
- Mi臋dzynarodowe Targi Pozna艅skie
- MR
- Ministerstwo Rolnictwa
- MS
- Ministerstwo Skarbu
- MSpr
- Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwo艣ci
- MSW
- Ministerstwo Spraw Wewn臋trznych
- MSZ
- Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych
- MRDiL
- Ministerstwo Transportu Drogowego i Lotniczego
- MZiOS
- Ministerstwo Zdrowia i Opieki Spo艂ecznej
- M呕
- Ministerstwo 呕eglugi
- NBP
- Narodowy Bank Polski
- NIK
- Naczelna Izba Kontroli
- NPG
- Narodowy Plan Gospodarczy
- NRD
- Niemiecka Republika Demokratyczna
- OECD
- Europejska Organizacja Wsp贸艂pracy Ekonomicznej
- ONZ
- Organizacja Narod贸w Zjednoczonych
- OWK
- Organizacja Wsp贸艂pracy Kolei
- PKKPT
- Sta艂a Komisja Koordynacji Pomocy Technicznej
- PKN
- Polski Komitet Normalizacyjny
- PKPG
- Pa艅stwowa Komisja Planowania Gospodarki
- PKWN
- Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego
- PRM
- Prezydium Rady Ministr贸w, Prezesi RM
- PRz
- Prezydium Rz膮du
- PUR
- Pa艅stwowy Urz膮d Repatriacyjny
- PZPR
- Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza
- RM
- Rada Ministr贸w
- RN
- Rady Narodowe
- RRL
- Rumu艅ska Republika Ludowa
- RWPG
- Rada Wzajemnej Pomocy Gospodarczej
- SEV
- Sovet Ekonomi膷eskoj Vzaimopomo拧膷i
- SFRJ
- Socjalistyczna Federacyjna Republika Jugos艂awii
- SRW
- Socjalistyczna Republika Wietnamu
- TRzJN
- Tymczasowy Rz膮d Jedno艣ci Narodowej
- UNCTAD
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
- URM
- Urz膮d Rady Ministr贸w
- WOP
- Wojsko Ochrony Pogranicza
- WP
- Wojsko Polskie
- WRL
- W臋gierska Republika Ludowa
- ZSRR
- Zwi膮zek Socjalistycznych Republik Radzieckich
- ZWM
- Zwi膮zek Walki M艂odych
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research. Materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright in the database, including the document descriptions, is held by InfoProject Sp.z o.o, Pozna艅, Poland. For copyright status of other parts of the collection, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], [file/segregator number], [CD number], Poland Rada Ministr贸w records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Location of this collection:
-
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford UniversityStanford, CA 94305-6003, US
- Contact:
- (650) 723-3563