SR0311 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0311 LRB104 13565 MST 26128 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate wish to congratulate the Polish Museum of America on the 90th anniversary of its founding; and

WHEREAS, The Polish Museum of America was founded in Chicago by the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America on October 15, 1935; and

WHEREAS, The Polish Museum of America's first curator was Mieczyslaw Haiman, who began cataloging a sizable and invaluable collection of documents, which opened to the public on January 12, 1937 as a single room museum; it continued to grow over the decades and now fills four floors; and

WHEREAS, The Polish Museum of America gained autonomous status in 1960 and was reincorporated in 1971; its library opened on April 18, 1915 as the library of the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America and was consolidated with the museum in 1960; and

WHEREAS, The Polish Museum of America's library includes more than 100,000 titles; its archives hold almost 400 unique collections, and its photography archives consist of over 5,000 photos; the music collection is comprised of 840 titles of printed sheet music and 5400 record titles cataloged online; and

WHEREAS, The Polish Museum of America and its collections have been recognized internationally; it was bestowed the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture (Gloria Artis Medal) by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland in September 2016; documents from the Polish National Department, the first collection of the museum, were added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in September 2018; and

WHEREAS, The Polish Museum of America has received numerous distinguished visitors, including Pope Saint John Paul II, when he was Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, President Barack Obama as a U.S. Senator, Poland President Lech Walesa, Cardinal Joseph Glemp, Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski, Gen. Jozef Haller, and Poland President Andrzej Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda; and

WHEREAS, The Polish Museum of America has hosted the official State of Illinois Pulaski Day Observance on the first Monday in March since 1987; and

WHEREAS, The Polish Museum of America is an integral part of the dynamic mosaic of cultural life in Chicago and across the United States, and its mission is to promulgate the rich cultural history of the Polish people by collecting, preserving, interpreting, and displaying materials related to this heritage and to integrate these resources into appropriate programs, activities, and exhibitions that enrich the intellectual and artistic lives of all members of society; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the Polish Museum of America on the 90th anniversary of its founding, and we wish it many more wonderful years; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Polish Museum of America as a symbol of our respect and esteem.