As part of the Knowsley Borough of Culture 2022 celebrations, the archive contacted Merseyside Polonia, a Polish not-for-profit organisation, and embarked on a collaborative project to translate and exhibit the Skura papers.
Summary
In 2017, a volunteer at Knowsley Archives discovered a collection of papers at a local car-boot sale. The records contained personal documentation about a Polish national, a blacksmith named Stefan Skura who migrated to England in 1947, as a private in the Polish Resettlement Corps.
As part of the Knowsley Borough of Culture 2022 celebrations, the archive contacted Merseyside Polonia, a Polish not-for-profit organisation, and embarked on a collaborative project to translate and exhibit the Skura papers. For Knowsley Archives, the project provided an opportunity to develop strong, new links with an external organisation, as well as to share the diversity of their collections.
The challenge
To create an opportunity to showcase Knowsley Archives’ diverse collections through the papers of Stefan Skura as part of the Knowsley Borough of Culture celebrations, and to make Knowsley Archives visible and accessible to local communities.
The solution
As part of the Knowsley Borough of Culture 2022 celebrations, the archive contacted Merseyside Polonia, a Polish not-for-profit organisation, and embarked on a collaborative project to translate and exhibit the Stefan Skura collection. To locate Stefan’s life within the wider context of Polish history and migration the project developed two exhibitions tracking the life of both Stephan Skura, and the Polish composer and pianist, Frédéric Chopin.
For Knowsley Archives, the project provided an excellent opportunity to make strong new links with a community organisation and to share the diversity of their collections. Polish volunteers visited the archive and worked together on translating the Skura collection. Whilst the documents presented challenges, such as some out-dated Polish terminology, the volunteers felt that they developed personally through the experience, improving both their confidence and language skills.
The exhibitions, ‘Famous & Unknown: Discover Polish Migration Stories’, opened with a launch event on 21 June and ran until 7 July 2022. Fifty people from the local community attended the event, with Polish food and a performance of Chopin’s music. The exhibitions received local recognition, with an article published in the July edition of Knowsley’s local newspaper, The Challenge. The positive publicity and continued demand for the exhibitions is testament to the success of this collaborative project.
The impact
Polish archives within the UK are still quite rare and some visitors can view the archives as difficult spaces to navigate. For the Polish volunteers working with the Stefan Skura collection, seeing their language and stories promoted as an important part of local history created a sense of belonging. Exhibiting the collection helped to further strengthen the emotional ties between Knowsley Archives and the Polish community.
Not only did we make a new and valued partnership, but we brought diverse communities together through powerful storytelling that found resonance with our shared past"
- Lin Rice, Librarian: Community History, Knowsley Archives Service
How is the new approach being sustained?
In 2023, the Stefan Skura Collection travelled to the Smithy Heritage Centre in Eccleston, St. Helens. During a visit to the Smithy, a nephew of Mr. Skura identified his uncle and through him, the Archive has been able to share the collection with family members and add more information and material to the collection which would otherwise have remained undiscovered. In parallel, conversations with academics at Liverpool John Moores University have resulted in further research interest in the collection, which has emerged as an important record of life for Polish migrants following World War II.
Lessons learned
Through the project, a new partnership was cemented which allowed Knowsley Archives Service to reach a wider audience through authentic story telling backed up by an engaging collection. Clear communication and trust were key to developing the project, from creating the project brief, meeting the Merseyside Polonia volunteers and commissioning the transcription work to the delivery of the exhibition and launch event. The latter proved to be the perfect opportunity to celebrate the project and appreciate the volunteers and staff from both Merseyside Polonia and Knowsley Archives Service.
Contact
Lin Rice, Librarian: Community History, Knowsley Archives Service