The Polish Cultural Institute and Museum is a cultural and historical museum, founded in 1979 to preserve the Polish and Kashubian heritage of Winona, Minnesota. Known locally as the Polish Museum, it is housed in a lumber yard office built by the Laird-Norton Lumber Company in 1890, located at 102 Liberty Street in

Winona, Minnesota Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the state of Minnesota. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf. The city is named after legendary figure Winona, who ...

, United States.

The Polish Cultural Institute

The Laird-Norton Building was purchased in 1977 by Father Paul Breza, a Winona-born priest of the Roman Catholic

Diocese of Winona In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. It was intended to store historical materials pertaining to Polish immigrants in Winona, but disagreements within Winona's Polish community led to the formation of two separate organizations: the ''Polish Heritage Society'' and the ''Polish Cultural Institute''. Under Fr. Breza's leadership, the Polish Cultural Institute was formally incorporated in 1979 to continue renovating the Polish Museum and to otherwise foster an appreciation of Polish contributions to the Winona community. The status of Winona as "Kashubian Capital of America" is also recognized by the Polish Museum. In 2010, the Polish Heritage Society inducted Fr. Breza into its Polish Heritage Hall of Fame, formalizing a reconciliation between the two organizations. Plans are underway for the Polish Heritage Society to be merged into the Polish Cultural Institute. Another Kashubian-American activist associated with the Polish Cultural Institute is the writer and educator

Anne Pellowski Anna Rose Pellowski, Polish American educator and author, was born June 28, 1933, on the family farm in the Trempealeau County town of Arcadia, Wisconsin, daughter of Alexander and Anna (Dorawa) Pellowski, both of whom were descended from Kashubian ...

, who was born in

Trempealeau County, Wisconsin Trempealeau County (, ) is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,760. Its county seat is Whitehall. Many people of Hispanic, Polish, Norwegian and German descent live in this area. History Patche ...

, but attended high school in Winona and lives there in her retirement.

The Polish Museum

The first floor of the Museum building contains exhibits and other materials relating to Polish and Kashubian immigrant life in Winona and the surrounding areas. A gift shop offers for sale books, clothing, music and other items, many of which are imported from Poland. In recent years, two nearby buildings have been acquired: the Schultz House is being renovated to serve as a heritage house, and the Morrison Annex serves as a site for cultural events, such as dances and musical performances. The Morrison Annex also features a 165-foot mural illustrating the lives and contributions of Polish and Kashubian immigrant families in Winona.

The Diocesan Collection

The second floor of the Museum building is devoted to a collection of artifacts recovered from churches in the Diocese of Winona, such as the

Basilica of Saint Stanislaus Kostka The Basilica of Saint Stanislaus Kostka (Polish: ''Bazylika Świętego Stanisława Kostki'') is a historic church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona in Winona, Minnesota, United States, and a prominent fixture on the city's skyline. With ...

. While this collection has been acquired and curated by Fr. Breza, the items themselves remain the property of the Diocese. The collection is extremely extensive and includes statuary, sanctuary furniture, vestments, and other semi-forgotten accoutrements of nineteenth-century Polish Catholicism in the United States. Occasionally, items from the collections are lent out to area Catholic churches seeking to enhance the historicity of their worship spaces.

Cultural Activities

The Polish Cultural Institute has always been active in fostering an understanding of Polish and Kashubian culture, whether the immigrant culture of Winona or that of modern Poland. In recent years, as appreciation of Kashubian-American culture has increased, the Polish Cultural Institute has featured Kashubian customs (such as the Blessing of Flowers and "Smaczne Jablka" or Apple Fest) and reached out to Kashubian Poles, especially in the town of Bytow, which is one of Winona's sister cities. One regular activity is the exchange of high school students between Bytow and Winona. Another is musical presentations at the Annex, which range from local polka bands to the performance of recently discovered music written by Polish immigrants.

References

External links

Polish Cultural Institute and Museum
- official site {{Coord, 44, 3, 2.7, N, 91, 37, 40.8, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Winona, Minnesota Ethnic museums in Minnesota Kashubian culture Kashubian-American history Museums in Winona County, Minnesota Polish-American culture in Minnesota Polish-American museums Religious museums in Minnesota