University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign American Books to the Rescue: The American Library Association (ALA) and the Postwar Restoration of Polish and Czechoslovak Libraries, 1944-1948 Marek Sroka University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign msroka@illinois.edu

Based on archival research, the project examines the ALA's efforts at sharing the works of American cultural and research institutions with war devastated libraries in the context of World War II losses suffered by Polish and Czechoslovak and American cultural relations with Eastern Europe. The “Aid to Libraries in War Areas” assistance program was totally funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and was administered by the ALA’s Committee on Aid to Libraries in War Areas in collaboration with the ALA’s International Relations Board. The program consisted of two components: the first, which ran from 1941 to 1947, dealt with journals; the other, in operation from 1944 to 1947, handled books. Extra funding was also provided by the Rockefeller Foundation for special requests handled by the ALA (1945 to early 1948). The ALA’s Collaboration with the Kosciuszko Foundation and the American Book Center for War Devastated Libraries (ABC).

Number of Books and Journals Sent to Polish and Czechoslovak Libraries Books: Czechoslovakia and Poland received the same number of sets of American books published from 1939 to 1946, including 771 titles in 858 volumes (published in 1939-1943), 187 titles in 196 volumes (published in 1944), 153 titles in 177 volumes (published in 1945), and 144 titles in 146 volumes (published in 1946). The total number of titles and volumes amounted to 1,255 and 1,377, respectively, which made Czechoslovakia and Poland one of the top ten receivers of the ALA’s donation. That was about 150 titles more than the average shipment of 1,110 titles sent to other libraries, but three to four times less than the amount sent to Chinese, English, and Russian libraries. In total, 45,600 volumes were sent to over 200 institutions in 31 countries “Special requests” books: 574 items sent to Poland and 731 to Czechoslovakia. Periodicals: Poland received 311 journal titles and 675 sets of journals, which represented the second largest gift of sets (after China). Czechoslovakia received 336 journal titles and 631 sets of journals, which represented the fifth largest number of titles (after France, China, USSR, and the Philippines). The ALA sent a total of 6,037 journal titles and 9,320 sets of journals to 33 countries, with France and China receiving the largest number of titles, 361 and 359, respectively. The American Book Center for War Devastated Libraries (ABC): Poland received 712 cases of materials, which represented the third largest shipment in terms of the total number of items and their estimated value. The estimated value of the shipped materials, which included 365,389 periodicals, 34,362 books, and 140,591 other items, was $117,623. Czechoslovakia received 183 cases that included 38,245 periodicals, 20,254 books, and 13,324 other items. The estimated value of the donation was $41,619. Out of 45 countries, only China and the Philippines received more items than Poland, with Poland receiving the largest donation of materials of all European countries.

The donated books were identified by the bookplate carrying the ALA insignia and the legend in Latin, suggested by William Bishop, member of the Committee on Aid to Libraries in War Areas: “Ad rem publicam litterarum restituendam” [For the restoration of the republic of letters]. Courtesy of the ALA Archives at the UIUC [RS 7/1/52, Box 4, Poland file, ALA Archives]

Conclusion The ALA’s and ABC’s contributions to the restoration of Polish and Czechoslovak libraries were considerable. Many libraries were able to enrich their depleted collections and offer their academic communities scholarly publications, which otherwise would be almost impossible to obtain. The ALA’s previous experience with the reconstruction efforts involving national book drives during World War I, and its book assistance program for European and Latin American libraries prior to and at the beginning of World War II, made it well positioned to organize an extensive post-World War II restoration program for European and Asian libraries. It should be noted that the ALA’s aid program for libraries in war areas included former Axis powers such as Germany, Italy, and Japan, as well as the newly emerging Soviet satellites such as Poland and Czechoslovakia. The ALA emulated the Rockefeller Foundation’s apolitical stand while shipping books and periodicals to the Soviet Union and its satellites, rightly believing that any contact with Eastern Europe was better than none at all. There was another aspect to American donations, which was probably best described by Stephen Mizwa, the Executive Director of the Kosciuszko Foundation, in his January 1948 letter to the ALA, when it was obvious that Poland and other Eastern European countries had become totalitarian states. Mizwa stressed the importance of “Western-minded Poles” keeping in touch “with our life and thought” through American publications. He warned that the “time may come in the not far distant future when no books on other than purely scientific topics will be allowed to come into Poland.” One may argue that the ALA played a significant role during a brief period of American cultural engagement with pre-Stalinist Poland and Czechoslovakia, resulting in spreading American ideas and values through the printed word. Forthcoming Publications: Sroka, Marek (2016) “American Books to the Rescue: The American Library Association (ALA) and the Postwar Restoration of Polish Libraries, 1944-1948,” The Polish Review 61(4) (forthcoming). Sroka, Marek (2017) “”A Book Never Dies”: the American Library Association and the Cultural Reconstruction of Czechoslovak and Polish Libraries, 1945-48,” Library and Information History (forthcoming).