Browse Items (226 total)

This bookstore's window display is packed with patriotic decoration: the Polish state emblem and a portrait of Józef Piłsudski announce National Independence Day, celebrated for the first time on October 11, 1937. This modern bookstore was the…

A view of the pond on the river Jasień. In the distance one can see a group of farm buildings belonging to the Scheibler family. On Sundays or other days after work nearby Łódź residents would flock to the pond for rest and relaxation, perhaps to…

The text of this song, satirizing the dismal living conditions in low-income rentals, would be readily understood by the inhabitants of impoverished working-class districts in any of Poland’s small or big cities. But the conditions it lampooned were…

An alley in the Railroad Park is shown in Pfeiffer’s photograph. In the background people are strolling through the part; in the foreground two groups are resting on either side of the alley. In one group are characteristically dressed Jews—men…

Ad from the Yiddish newspaper Najer Folksblat publicizing a 1930 screening of The Promised Land (Ziemia Obiecana) at the movie theater Raj in Bałuty. There is a particular poignance in this film version of Władysław Reymont's celebrated novel about…

Children's Preventorium, established in Łagiewniki in 1920 for children infected with tuberculosis. At this facility, children could rest in conditions favorable to their recovery. One of the establishment's founders, Seweryn Sterling was a…

Along the eastern frontage line of Łódź's Old Market Square one could always find a long line of horse-drawn cabs. The horse-drawn coach or droshky was the early-twentieth-century counterpart of today's taxi. On an advertising post (only partly seen…

Old Market Square as seen from Zgierska Street and the square's southwest corner. We can see a group of store fronts that today no longer exist running along the southern and eastern sides of the square. A crowd of respectable size underscores the…

The Old Market Square, appropriately named since it is oldest square in Łódź, has been with the city since its earliest days. In the first half of the 20th century only Jews resided in this vicinity. Commerce blossomed here: this was the location of …

People flocked in great numbers to visit the market stalls on Old Market Square where almost anything could be procured. The crowd in this photo includes both children and adults, among whom we can find elegant men sporting top hats, Jews wearing…