Paper Short Abstract:

The paper will deal with the problem of the “Encyclopaedia for Education” (1880 and 1923) as a means of general knowledge transfer and its role in establishing the understanding of the division between ethnography, ethnology, and anthropology as branches of knowledge on Polish ground in the late 19th century.

Paper Abstract:

The paper will deal with the problem of an encyclopaedia as a means of general knowledge transfer and its role in establishing the understanding of the division between ethnography, ethnology, and anthropology as branches of knowledge on Polish ground in the late 19th century.

The “Encyclopaedia for Education” was a multi-volume work published intermittently between 1880 and 1923. The project was put into motion by Prince Jan Lubomirski, a historian and encyclopaedist, who wished to provide a work that could become a “reference book for all those who educate, teach and deal with general social issues.” It was essential in the Polish context as the country lost its independence in 1795, and the homeschooling system during the long 19th century was viewed as a pillar for patriotic and cultural education of the youth. Unlike in many modern encyclopaedias, the entries were several pages long and provided an extensive overview of the subjects. The entry about ethnology and ethnography (vol. 3, 1885, 26 pp.) was written by Izydor Kopernicki, an esteemed anthropologist. The entry about anthropology (vol. 1, 1881, 13 pp.) was written by Bolesław Lutostański, a well-respected physician. The work, however, lacks an entry about other branches of knowledge, such as folklore studies, which is also significant in this context.

Both authors proposed reliable overviews, which aimed to facilitate the understanding of the relations between anthropology, ethnography and ethnology (which was not always the case in other works). Therefore, the entries offered the self-learning readers firm and relatively vast knowledge.