PIASA Library

The Alfred Jurzykowski

Memorial Library

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

In the 1960s, 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 until 2009. Visiting Research Librarians from the Biblioteka Narodowa in Warsaw—Beata Capik, Dominika Jagiełło, and Katarzyna Kwiatkowska-Zak—provided professional services from 2004 to 2008.

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