Did you know that art played a pivotal role in Poland’s 1989 Solidarity Movement?  Solidarity was a broad anti-bureaucratic, workers-rights movement in 1980s Poland that eventually became a powerful political force. In addition to publishing over 500 newspapers and broadcasting their message via pirate radio stations, the Solidarity movement used art, particularly posters, to communicate their revolutionary message,  and even created a new school of art—The Polish Poster School—along the way.  Special Collections has a treasure trove of hundreds of posters, handouts, and newspapers. There are copies of the iconic work of graphic designer Jerzy Janiszewski (who created a style of writing known as Solidaric)  as well as Tomasz Sarnecki’s well-known poster that features an image of Gary Cooper from the 1952 film “High Noon.”

View the finding aid for this collection, now available online, for more information about the Solidarity movement and the Solidarity materials held in the Library: http://aok2.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/Solidarity/index.php.

Want to come look at the records yourself? Contact Special Collections to set up an appointment at x52353 or speccoll@umbc.edu. We also hold open research hours on Monday through Friday, 1pm to 4pm, with additional hours from 4pm to 8pm Thursday nights.

This post was written by Theresa Donnelly

History graduate student Shae Adams worked in Special Collections this Spring with the Joseph L. Arnold manuscript. She has provided us with this report from the scene!

Intern Shae Adams here with breaking news from your very own Special Collections: Something exciting is happening in Special Collections! (Ed. note: something exciting is always happening in Special Collections.) We are partnering with the UMBC history department to bring you a digitized history of Baltimore that you can access from the comfort of your living room. Over the course of the semester I have begun compiling and editing a manuscript written by the late Dr. Joseph Arnold, a former UMBC history professor. The manuscript provides an overview of the history of Baltimore from its founding in 1730 to the beginnings of suburbanization in the 1920s with plenty of dramatic events in between. Dr. Arnold’s work explores the heroism of Baltimoreans during the War of 1812, the bitter divisions within the city during the Civil War, alongside the triumphs and tragedies of immigrants determined to find acceptance in their new home.

The manuscript is currently in the editing phases. But progress has been made! Only a few months ago, the book existed only as a jumble of chapters and revisions arranged in archival boxes. Now the chapters have been reunited in a single document ready for final content editing. Through the continued partnership with the history department, Special Collections has high hopes that the manuscript will become an integral part in growing UMBC’s presence in the digital humanities following its online publication.

Stay posted for further updates on this story as it unfolds!

Thank you, Shae!