The Alfred Jurzykowski

Memorial Library

The Library formally came into existence in 1960 thanks largely to the generosity of Alfred Jurzykowski, prominent polish-brazilian entrepreneur and philanthropist. It was Jurzykowski through his foundation, who provided a suitable home for the library first in a townhouse on 59 East 66th street in Manhattan and from 1986 to the present, in a townhouse on 208 East 30th street. So, it is not surprising that the Library is named after its major benefactor Alfred Jurzykowski.

In the 1960’s the Library was organized and directed by Dr. Alfred Berlstein, formerly head of the Slavonic Division of the New York Public Library assisted by Ewa Maria Lipska. In 1974 Krystyna Baron became the chief librarian and remained in that position till 2009. Visiting Research Librarians from the Biblioteka Narodowa in Warsaw (Beata Capik, Dominika Jagiello and Katarzyna Kwiatkowska-Zak) provided professional services from 2004 to 2008.

The reference library that now contains over 20,000 volumes, makes it an important research center for Polish and Polish American studies, in the capital city of the world, which is New York. The books are classified according to a modified Dewey Decimal System. Currently the card catalogue is being replaced with an electronic resources catalogue and partly published in the Net. There are 500 titles of periodicals, 8,000 brochures and pamphlets and a Rare Books Collection. The Library has a unique book collection in Spanish and Portuguese on Polish topics donated by Professor Edmund S. Urbanski, of Howard University. Efforts continue to expand and enrich the Library’s collection by purchases of new titles, private donations, exchanges with publishing houses and universities in Poland.

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Catalog

Common Catalogue of American Polish Libraries

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208 East 30th St. 
New York, NY 10016

+1 (212) 686-4164

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Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland