Priest Prelate Hilary Jastak Legacy
This time we will focus on diapositive photos from the Priest Prelate Hilary Jastak Collection. He was the first parish priest of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Gdynia and the builder of its church. Records of his extensive activity have been placed in the historical Archives of the Solidarity National Commission. The collection comprises 4 running metres and 250 archival units of documentation, divided into 8 parts. This is the legacy of the Priest’s whole life. Issues related to Solidarity movement are its crucial part.
In the collection one can find Priest Jastak’s works, such as his books and newspaper articles, sermons, commemorative speeches, notations, as well as papers on Priest Jastak. It contains his personal documentation, documents of Priest Jastak’s church and social activities in numerous institutions, e.g. in Caritas, as well.
Also included is the chronicle prepared for Pope John Paul II, Priest Jastak’s guest book, honorary diplomas, certificates of decorations, congratulations certificates, congratulatory scrolls, wishes. Priest Jastak’s incoming and outgoing correspondence, including mail related to August 1980 strikes, takes over 10 archival units.
In comparison to other holdings of the Archives of the Solidarity National Commission the Priest Prelate Hilary Jastak collection is distinguished by its age. The oldest documents in this collection date back to the interwar period, namely those in the folder containing personal documents concerning Priest Hillary Jastak’s life in 1925-1941, or even to 1914 (date of his baptism).
Diapositive photos
A significant part of the Priest Jastak’s legacy are photo albums. Apart from positives also some negatives have been preserved. Among nontextual records Priest Prelate Hilary Jastak’s diapositive photos are to be found. Diapositive photos, based on the type of archival material, are categorized as photography. The history of photography dates back to 1839, when the first daguerreotype was presented in public. It was a photographic image made on a sheet of silver-plated copper, available in a single copy only. Physautotype images were produced as early as in 1832. Since diapositives are regarded as photographs they have been included in the subcategory “Diaries, journals and commemorative albums” in the biographic series records. 8 diapositive photos, 5 cm square in shape, are to be found in this subcategory.
We encourage you to review the scanned diapositive photos presenting Priest Hilary Jastak amongst friends.
Visit us at the Archives of the National Commission of NSZZ „Solidarność”
Those interested in our archival materials are kindly invited to make use of our holdings in our Reading Room. They are accessible from Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 15:30. Please let us know in advance about your planned visit either by phone +48 (58) 308-43-92 or at .
/Łukasz Grochowski, The Archives of the Solidarity National Commission,
Iwona Flis, Stanislaw Flis Foundation “Pomerania Archives”/
