Encounters with our past…

Every passing day turns into a history in an imperceptible way, which we do not even realise. The “great” history is the domain of nations—it shapes the awareness and merges generations. Every single community has its own “small” history composed of small events and sometimes seemingly insignificant meetings. This history is formed by the traditions of our region, ongoing daily life in small towns as well as surrounding people and their affairs. Considering that specialists deal with saving the pages of the “great” history, only we ourselves can be the chronicles of the “small” one.

How many of us know where in our town the synagogue was? Who remembers that years ago on Independence Square the motorcycle racing had taken place? Do we know who glances at us from an old family photograph?

Let us remind ourselves about the people we once knew and who now belong to the past. Let’s recall facts and events that we still carry back in our minds.

We want to preserve the memory of former Nowy Tomyśl and surrounding villages for future posterity; restore the portrait of the old streets to the contemporary people, atmosphere of events, the characters of the city rulers, artisans, doctors, police officers, artists—people who are sometimes unusual, and other times quite ordinary, but always dear to us—our grandparents, great-grandparents, neighbors and friends.

Driven by the concern to preserve evidences for our local “small” history and the desire to present them to a wider audience, we decided to create the Nowy Tomyśl web gallery. We hope that in this way we ourselves, followed by our children and grandchildren, for whom the Internet is an obvious area for information gathering, will be able to explore the past of which our parents and grandparents were the participants and witnesses.

For this reason, we would like to ask you to share your own photographic souvenir of our local history. We realize that photographs are often the most precious family keepsake from our ancestors; therefore, in addressing this appeal to you, we only ask to enable us to prepare their digital copies. We can do this without borrowing your original photos and documents:

• in City and District Public Library in Nowy Tomyśl, Witos Street 8 - Grażyna Matuszak Tel. +48 61 44 21 278
  
• even at your home.
  

Action "Encounters with our past ..." is patronized by City and District Public Library in Nowy Tomyśl which is supported by local history enthusiasts, gathered around the library in Nowy Tomyśl under the Municipality Coalition for Library Development, with the participation of those involved with the Independent Forum of Nowy Tomyśl. Documentary materials provided will be used for showing purposes, e.g. creation of Nowy Tomyśl Web Gallery, future thematic exhibitions presented in the halls of the library and they will also constitute for additional materials for research projects on our local history.

We assure you that we will make an effort to respect the privacy of the individuals shown in the pictures and property rights to their photographs. In case of any deficiencies, we kindly ask for your understanding, since our efforts are dictated by the enthusiasm and the sole desire to commemorate the past of our land. Should you have any questions or some aspects appear to be unclear, feel free to contact us. Together with you, we want to deal with all doubts and….. that may arise.

Together with you we want to deal with all doubts and questions that may arise.