History department

In the collection of the history department of the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola there are nearly six thousand exhibits. The collection, the basis of which is formed by monuments related to the history of the San River region, includes iconographic, historical and archival musealia. The core of the museum’s collection is made up of monuments related to the history of Rozwadów and the history of Stalowa Wola – built as part of the implementation of the COP plan.
An important collection for both the history of the region and national history is a group of materials devoted to the Central Industrial District. The group consists of unique photographs and archives documenting the economic history of the Second Republic of Poland seen through the prism of Stalowa Wola – one of the most important realizations of the CID plan. The collection includes materials related to the construction of the Southern Plants, Power Plant and the city of Stalowa Wola – documentation concerning modernist architectural and urban complex of the city, as well as photographs and archives documenting manifestations of its economic, cultural and social life.
The Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola has one of the largest collections of art déco art in the country, which consists of more than 1,000 exhibits. Since 2006, it has been systematically accumulating a collection of handicrafts, utilitarian objects, archival materials, graphics belonging to the art déco style. The collection began with unique Polish office furniture deposited at the Museum, made at the Jozef Magrowicz Office Furniture Factory of Pabianice for the offices of the pre-war Southern Works in Stalowa Wola. The collection is supplemented by a pair of armchairs on a structure of bent steel tubes, probably made by Jarnuszkiewicz. In addition, the collection includes the products of carpentry factories and workshops from the area of the former Second Polish Republic, as well as several examples of furniture from Western Europe. The collection of artistic textiles is also significant, especially kilims and tapestries from Poland, mainly from Lviv, the Malopolska region and as well as from the Lad cooperative. The collection is also not lacking in silver and metal products from, among others, the Fraget factory, the Henneberg brothers, but also made in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. There are sugar bowls, platters, cigarette cases and unique metal packaging for products such as chocolates, cookies or cosmetics. Phenomenon of art déco are glass flacons, jardinieres, toilet sets, tableware produced by Polish glassworks: Niemen, Zawiercie, Hortensja, as well as those coming from Belgium, Czech Republic and Germany. Ceramics are represented by products from factories in Pacykow and Ćmielów, which commissioned designs of new patterns from Zofia Stryjeńska or Bogdan Wendorf, as well as objects from factories in Bolesławiec, Tułowice, Żory, Katowice Bogucice. In the collection we can also find objects of technology and everyday use. An important part of the collection is a collection of dozens of drawings, advertising prints, publications and postcards pertaining mainly to the promotion and advertising of Polish food products, tourism, as well as cinematography.
The history of Rozwadów – a former town, now a district of Stalowa Wola – dates back to 1690, and the archives concerning the history of Rozwadów, which are in the collections of the Regional Museum, date back to the 19th/20th centuries. Within this group there is documentation of varied subject matter devoted to the development and changes that took place in the city over the years. The archives include documents related to Rozwadow’s railroad past (it was once a large and significant railroad junction), the activities of local offices (court, tax office), the activities of organizations and societies (e.g. TG Sokół, Hejnał Choir), and the achievements of Rozwadow’s residents. Rozwadowiana is also rich in iconographic material. Of particular importance are photographs and postcards documenting the architecture of old Rozwadów, which no longer exists. The history of the town is closely connected with the history of the family of the Lubomirski dukes. The family of famous victors and patrons of culture also clearly marked its presence in the Nadsany region. Thanks to Jerzy Ignacy (1687-1753), as a consequence of his purchase of estates in the Rozwadów area, the Rzeszów ducal line transformed into the Rozwadów one. Thus, since the first half of the 18th century, the fate of Rozwadów and the surrounding area has been linked to the activities of the duke and his successors. A testament to this activity and the fate of individual family members are the objects in the Museum’s collection. It is a collection of diverse characteristics with items dating from the 19th century to the late 1940s. It is dominated by documentary records, there are a few photographs. The objects making up the collection are characterized by significant historical value, understood in two ways. On the one hand, the collection, due to its regional dimension, is part of the mission of the Museum, whose goal is to provide the recipient with a space for contact with the values of local heritage. On the other, in the context of the role the family played in the history of the Polish state, it has national significance.