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² Polonia is a term used to denote all Poles living outside of Poland. Polish-language newspapers at the turn of the century occasionally published lists of names of agents authorized to collect money for the subscriptions, see for example Polish Weekly “Czas“ (Brooklyn, NY); Gazeta Polska Narodowa (Chicago); Kuryer Polski and Gazeta Wisconsinska (Milwaukee); Gwiazda Polarna and Rolnik (Stevens Point, WI). With the exception of Gwiazda Polarna, none of the newspapers ever used the term other than simply “agents.” Only twice the lists of agents, which appeared in Gwiazda Polarna in the spring of 1914, were entitled “Agenci Oświatowi ‘Gwiazdy Polarnej”’ (educational agents of Gwiazda Polarna), but it appears that it was a random occurrence. Gwiazda Polarna, April 10, 1915, 3; June 5, 1915, 3.Google Scholar

³ Rosiński, Wiktor, Antoni A. Paryski: Zycie, prace i czyny, 1865–1935 (Toledo, OH: Ameryka-Echo, 1945), 46. The phrase “kaganek oświaty” comes from Adam Mickiewicz's famous poem. Novels Trylogia by Sienkiewicz, Henryk, and Faraon by Bolesław Prus, as well as poetry of Adam Mickiewicz, belong to the canon of Polish classic literature. See also Majewski, Karen, Traitors and True Poles: Narrating a Polish-American Identity, 1880–1939 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2003), 44–46.Google Scholar

⁴ For the discussion of some issues of informal education for the immigrant adults see for example Ida Cohen Selavan, The Columbian Council of Pittsburgh, 1894–1909: A Case Study of Adult Immigrant Education (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1976); Maxine Seller, “Success and Failure in Adult Education: The Immigrant Experience, 1914–1924.” Adult Education 28 (Winter 1978): 83–99; Mohl, Raymond A., “The International Institutes and Immigrant Education, 1910–40,” in American Education and the European Immigrant: 1840–1940, ed. Weiss, Bernard J. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982), 117–141; Frederick, J. , Augustyn Jr., “Together and Apart: Lithuanian and Polish Adult Literacy Programs in Chicago, 1890–1930.” Polish American Studies 57 (Autumn 2000): 31–44.Google Scholar

⁵ According to Rosiński, the name of the village was Bąków, but his is the only source giving this name, which appears to be an error. Rosiński, Antoni A. Paryski, 9.Google Scholar

⁶ “Czterdzieści Lat Pracy Oświatowej Antoniego A. Paryskiego, Wydawcy i Naczelnego Redaktora ‘Ameryki-Echa,”’ Ameryka-Echo, March 1, 1928, 11.Google Scholar

⁷ “Paryski, Antoni A.,” Ameryka-Echo, December 27, 1902, 9.Google Scholar

⁸ Czesław Łukaszkiewicz, Nauczyciel wychodztwa: Antoni A. Paryski (1865–1935) (Toledo, OH: Ameryka-Echo, [n.d.]), 15; Rosiński, Antoni A. Paryski, 10–11.Google Scholar

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¹¹ Buszko, , Historia Polski, 182; Ryszard Wroczyński, Dzieje oświaty polskiej, 1795–1945 (Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1980), 136–267; Dybiec, Julian, Mecenat naukowy i oświatowy w Galicji, 1860–1918 (Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1981).Google Scholar

¹² Miłosz, Czesław, The History of Polish Literature, 2nd ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 283.Google Scholar

¹³ Ibid., 284.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Ibid., 284.Google Scholar

¹⁵ For a comprehensive treatment of Polish Positivism see Stanislaus Blejwas, A., Realism in Polish Politics: Warsaw Positivism and National Survival in Nineteenth Century Poland (New Haven, CT: Yale Concilium on International and Area Studies, 1984). See also Norman Davis, God's Playground: The History of Poland in Two Volumes, vol. II: 1795 to the Present (New York: Columbia University Press, 1982), 3–52; Ryszard Wroczyński, Programy oświatowe pozytywizmu w Polsce na tle społecznym i gospodarczym (Łódź: Zakład Pedagogiki Społecznej Uniwersytetu łódzkiego, 1949), 47–151; idem, Pedagogika pozytywizmu warszawskiego (Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich, 1958).Google Scholar

¹⁶ Davis, God's Playground, vol. II, 233–37.Google Scholar

¹⁷ See for example Blobaum, Robert E., Rewolucja: Russian Poland, 1904–1907 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995), 115–187; Davis, God's Playground; Edmund Staszyński, Polityka oświatowa caratu w Królestwie Polskim (od Powstania Styczniowego do I Wojny Światowej) (Warsaw: Państwowe Zakłady Wydawnictw Szkolnych, 1968), 111–248.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Pula, James S., Polish Americans: An Ethnic Community (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995), 19.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Rosiński, , Antoni A. Paryski, 70.Google Scholar

²⁰ Ibid., 70. See also Borden, Timothy G., “The Salvation of the Poles: Working Class Ethnicity and Americanization Efforts during the Interwar Period in Toledo, Ohio,” Polish American Studies 56 (Autumn 1999): 24.Google Scholar

²¹ Borden, , “The Salvation,” 24. Chelminski seems to interpret this activity as pure opportunism on the part of Paryski, who aimed at getting rid of the Communist paper printed in Polish, a competition to his own Ameryka-Echo. David Gwidon Chelminski, “Toledo's Nineteenth-century Polonia: Ziomki i Rodacy (Countryfolk and Compatriots),” (PhD diss., The University of Toledo, 1989), 477.Google Scholar

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²⁶ Majewski, , Traitors, 38.Google Scholar

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³⁰ In one speech Paryski said: “I never fought religion. I only responded to the priests’ attack, when they attacked me.” łukaszkiewicz, Nauczyciel, 38.Google Scholar

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³⁷ Ameryka-Echo, January 5, 1930, 19. The letter appeared for the first time on December 5, 1903, 3. Over the years, the wording changed slightly, but the gist of the message remained the same. All translations done by author.Google Scholar

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⁴⁰ “oświate, Jak szerzyć,” Ameryka-Echo, October 10, 1915, 14.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Ibid.Google Scholar

⁴² According to Miąso, Paryski employed two and a half thousand agents, but the figure seems greatly exaggerated. Miąso, The History of the Education, 87.Google Scholar

⁴³ Dawny agent Ameryki-Echa, “Przebiegly wydawca,” Gwiazda Polarna, June 20, 1914, 7; in the two isolated instances agents were mentioned in 1915 and 1917; “Jak szerzyć oświate,” Ameryka-Echo, October 10, 1915, 14; Agent Ameryki-Echa, “Agent “Ameryki-Echa” w tarapatach i jak uszedł z katastrofy. Historya z prawdziwego życia,” Ameryka-Echo, March 4, 1917, 16.Google Scholar

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⁴⁵ See for example Ameryka-Echo, August 17, 1907, 1. The lists include last names and first name initials of the agents, making it difficult to identify their gender. It can be done only when the last name appears with an ending, which in Polish language indicates female gender (-ska), or when a full first name is listed. In a few places either Panna/Pani or Miss/Mrs. proceeded an agent's name, also allowing for gender identification.Google Scholar

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⁵⁰ Miąso, The History of the Education, 86–87. Unfortunately, Miąso did not provide information on where he examined the original of the Catechism and despite efforts I was unable to locate it on my own.Google Scholar

⁵² “W, Przygody agenta. jaki sposób i wśród jakich warunków odbywa sie obecnie praca oświatowa A.A. Paryskiego. Ilustrowana obrazkami prawdziwymi z życia naszego ludu w Nowym Yorku i okolicy,” and “Wspomnienia z pola pracy oświatowej Wydawnictwa A.A. Paryski,” Ameryka-Echo, July 23, 1910–May 20, 1911.Google Scholar

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⁵³ Wójcik, “Przygody agenta,” Ameryka-Echo, August 27, 1910, 14; November 5, 1910, 14; November 26, 1910, 14; May 20, 1911, 18.Google Scholar

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⁵⁶ Wójcik, , “Przygody agenta,” Ameryka-Echo, November 5, 1910, 14; January 28, 1911, 16–17; “Agent Ameryki-Echa w tarapatach…,” Ameryka-Echo, March 4, 1917, 16.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Wójcik, , “Przygody agenta,” Ameryka-Echo, November 26, 1910, 15.Google Scholar

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⁵⁹ Wójcik, , “Przygody agenta,” Ameryka-Echo, May 6, 1910, 16.Google Scholar

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⁶⁴ Wójcik, J., “Przygody agenta,” Ameryka-Echo, April 1, 1911, 12–13; April 8, 1911, 16.Google Scholar

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⁶⁶ Ameryka-Echo, April 11, 1908, 15.Google Scholar

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⁶⁸ See for example Ameryka-Echo, July 18, 1908, 2.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Ameryka-Echo, February 5, 1909, 14.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ “Ostrzeżenie! Prosimy nie płacić agentom za gazete,” Ameryka-Echo, November 20, 1909, 1.Google Scholar

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⁸¹ Ibid., 39.Google Scholar