PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Identification of source

PolishLibrarian — Fri Feb 06, 2026 1:02 pm

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2026 1:02 pm

BarbOslo wrote:

Hi,
This is a really interesting publication that I didn’t even know existed. My grandmother always used to say ...that you keep learning throughout your whole life.
The publication contains a lot of information about the region. The schematisms include lists of civil servants working in different institutions, as well as lists of teachers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, and others who worked in Galicia.

Public and departmental schools (szkola ludowa i wydzialowa) are common types of elementary schools, operating primarily in Galicia. Folk schools provided basic education in villages and small towns. They were the lowest level of education, often consisting of one or two grades, and followed a basic curriculum (reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion). Departmental schools was a type of urban school that was organizationally superior to folk schools. They had more classes and a broader curriculum, preparing for further education.

About the images in your first post:
On page 813, there is no information about him. The list of names just continues under the letter “Ł”, so 813 doesn’t seem to be a page number but something else. Unfortunately, I don’t know what it refers to.

I checked the abbreviations used in this publication, and after looking at other schools, I’d conclude the following:
n.k. (nauczyciel / kierownik) – the person in charge of the school, basically like a principal today, but this person was also the teacher at the school.
tymcz. (tymczasowo) – temporarily employed.
nadet. (na etacie) – permanently employed

Here’s a link to the page with access to all the years:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szematyzm_Kr%C3%B3lestwa_Galicji_i_Lodomerii_z_Wielkim_Ksi%C4%99stwem_Krakowskim

Hope this helps a bit!
Regards,
-Barb

Thanks Barb. The first image in the snip was the index entry (names are in alpha order where Babczakiewicz showed up) and the 2nd image was taken from page 813 in the book. I don't remember what image# that was in the digital book that Sophia found for me.

I found via OldNews.com which I believe is offered as a subscription through MyHeritage. I saw a free access offer, plugged in my unusual surname and that result came up, but I couldn't get to the actual source full page image without subscribing.

Thanks for the link to the Polish Wikipedia article. I did initially see that article, but I still couldn't understand what little I could see in my image, so decided to ask here. The Szematyzm is quite the resource. For someone like me, who doesn't know Polish, trying to use it digitally is very overwhelming. It's hard enough understanding layouts, etc. in U.S. city directories from the same time period.

Even though I don't have a Stanislaw in my tree, I still wanted to get a sense of what the source could tell me. Thanks for taking a look and reporting back.
~PL

Re: Identification of source

BarbOslo — Fri Feb 06, 2026 10:37 am

Author: BarbOslo

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2026 10:37 am

Hi,
This is a really interesting publication that I didn’t even know existed. My grandmother always used to say ...that you keep learning throughout your whole life.
The publication contains a lot of information about the region. The schematisms include lists of civil servants working in different institutions, as well as lists of teachers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, and others who worked in Galicia.

Public and departmental schools (szkola ludowa i wydzialowa) are common types of elementary schools, operating primarily in Galicia. Folk schools provided basic education in villages and small towns. They were the lowest level of education, often consisting of one or two grades, and followed a basic curriculum (reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion). Departmental schools was a type of urban school that was organizationally superior to folk schools. They had more classes and a broader curriculum, preparing for further education.

About the images in your first post:
On page 813, there is no information about him. The list of names just continues under the letter “Ł”, so 813 doesn’t seem to be a page number but something else. Unfortunately, I don’t know what it refers to.

I checked the abbreviations used in this publication, and after looking at other schools, I’d conclude the following:
n.k. (nauczyciel / kierownik) – the person in charge of the school, basically like a principal today, but this person was also the teacher at the school.
tymcz. (tymczasowo) – temporarily employed.
nadet. (na etacie) – permanently employed

Here’s a link to the page with access to all the years:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szematyzm_Kr%C3%B3lestwa_Galicji_i_Lodomerii_z_Wielkim_Ksi%C4%99stwem_Krakowskim

Hope this helps a bit!
Regards,
-Barb

Re: Identification of source

PolishLibrarian — Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:50 pm

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:50 pm

Sophia wrote:

Hi,

You have to page back all the way to here to page 691 to see what section of the book you are in:
https://polona.pl/item-view/2506e41c-67e2-4a66-95de-2943224f42a1?page=1461

This is all about schools. It begins (on the page I just provided) with "1. W powiecie bialskim" so that is a listing about the schools in that powiat (district). By the time we get to yours, we are on the 43rd powiat, specifically "w powiecie nowotarskim" that is to say, in the Nowy Targ district, as you can see if you go back to page 812. I believe what we are seeing is a list of teachers, some of whom are in male-only classes, others in female-only classes and others in mixed classes. It would be helpful if Barb could look at this.

Sophia

Thank you again Sophia!
Hmm...what I was seeing with Google Translate changes for the earlier words, when I add Szkoły wydziałowe i ludowe pospolite (Departmental and ordinary elementary schools) to the list of phrases to translate. Now the other meanings have changed to: a) full-time male teachers, c) full-time mixed-gender teachers, and 2nd class schools (instead of overtime).

The book is certainly very specific, again making the translation complicated. Since I do not have Stanislaw as a sibling of my grandfather (b 1885), I will not pursue anything more about Stanislaw. I appreciate your prompt efforts. But I would be happy to hear if Barb can add anything new to the discussion.
~PL

Re: Identification of source

Sophia — Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:20 pm

Author: Sophia

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 12:20 pm

Hi,

You have to page back all the way to here to page 691 to see what section of the book you are in:
https://polona.pl/item-view/2506e41c-67e2-4a66-95de-2943224f42a1?page=1461

This is all about schools. It begins (on the page I just provided) with "1. W powiecie bialskim" so that is a listing about the schools in that powiat (district). By the time we get to yours, we are on the 43rd powiat, specifically "w powiecie nowotarskim" that is to say, in the Nowy Targ district, as you can see if you go back to page 812. I believe what we are seeing is a list of teachers, some of whom are in male-only classes, others in female-only classes and others in mixed classes. It would be helpful if Barb could look at this.

Sophia

Re: Identification of source

PolishLibrarian — Thu Feb 05, 2026 11:56 am

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 11:56 am

Sophia wrote:

News flash! The Polona website also has the 1913 edition:

https://polona.pl/preview/2506e41c-67e2-4a66-95de-2943224f42a1

Here is a direct link to the book's page 813:

https://polona.pl/item-view/2506e41c-67e2-4a66-95de-2943224f42a1?page=1705

Morning coffee can be so inspirational.

Enjoy!
Sophia

Thank you! Yes I can see it is some kind of employment directory. These are often hard to understand when you don't speak the language because they use lots of abbreviations. I noted this on the page: c) etatowe mieszane
2=klasowe
Using Google Translate it seems he's listed in a group of full-time, 2nd class employees (are these people who are working for the different towns, so he's working in Tylmanowa?). And with "nadet." I get the meaning "overtime". Not sure if that is correct.

Thanks for any further clarity you (or someone else) can provide.
~PL

Re: Identification of source

Sophia — Thu Feb 05, 2026 5:48 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 5:48 am

News flash! The Polona website also has the 1913 edition:

https://polona.pl/preview/2506e41c-67e2-4a66-95de-2943224f42a1

Here is a direct link to the book's page 813:

https://polona.pl/item-view/2506e41c-67e2-4a66-95de-2943224f42a1?page=1705

Morning coffee can be so inspirational.

Enjoy!
Sophia

Re: Identification of source

Sophia — Thu Feb 05, 2026 5:38 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 5:38 am

Good morning,
Following the link I gave you, the alphabetical list of names begins on Skan 901 (image 901, which corresponds to Karta 867, the actual page number of the book). Paging ahead to Skan 903, I can see the name Babczyn Zygmunt, which shows up in the snippet you posted from the 1913 version of the book, but I do not see Babczakiewicz listed there.
Best regards,
Sophia

Re: Identification of source

Sophia — Wed Feb 04, 2026 8:56 pm

Author: Sophia

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2026 8:56 pm

Hi Polish Librarian,

Nice to see you!

I don't have time at the moment to dive into this, but if it is helpful, here is a link to a full copy of the same book (albeit from an earlier year, 1895).

https://polona.pl/preview/9d9c0e97-53d3-43e6-87e7-bd0f17a5ce8b

My guess is that the book is rather like the old city directories, that included lists of government officials, lists of people of various trades, etc. But perhaps you can page through this link and see what you can decipher from it.

Best regards,
Sophia

Identification of source

PolishLibrarian — Wed Feb 04, 2026 8:37 pm

Author: PolishLibrarian

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2026 8:37 pm

I have found a reference to a Stanislaw Babczakiewicz (there aren't many of us around and we all came from Nowy Targ, so I like explore anytime I find the surname) on oldnews(dot)com. I don't have full access to the website, so this is all I can see as shown in the image. I tried to attach a PNG image but I'm not sure I was successful (now I see it's here twice & I don't know how to delete one of the images.

My grandfather Walenty Babczakiewicz was born in Nowy Targ in 1885 & came to the US in 1909. He had 9 siblings and 3 half-siblings, although none were named Stanislaw.

I'm wondering if anyone knows anything more about the source - Szematyzm Królestwa Galicyi i Lodomeryi z Wielk. The date is 2 Jul 1913. I know the title translates to: Schematic overview of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria with the Grand Duchy of Krakow, but that doesn't tell me what the purpose is of this book. Does anyone have access to the publication and can look on p. 813 to see what it says about Stanislaw (maybe it is just the info that is in the 2nd image)? Blue arrow - Stanislaw is noted under the location Tylmanowa which is a little east of Nowy Targ.

Thank you for any insight you can provide.
~PL