Stanisław Chełchowski (February 27, 1866, in Chojnowo near

Przasnysz Przasnysz (; yi, פראשניץ, russian: Прасныш) is a town in north-central Poland. Located in the Masovian Voivodship, about 110 km north of Warsaw and about 115 km south of Olsztyn, it is the capital of Przasnysz County. It ...

– March 23, 1907, in

Ciechanów Ciechanów is a city in north-central Poland. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the Ciechanów Voivodeship. Since 1999, it has been situated in the Masovian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, it has a population of 43,495. History The ...

) was a Polish naturalist ( botanist and

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

and activist (social, educational and political). Founder and activist of various educational and agricultural organizations, author of many works from areas of mycology, agriculture and ethnography.

Biography

Stanisław Chełchowski was born on February 26, 1866, in Chojnowo near

into a Polish nobility family. He studied in

Mława Mława (; yi, מלאווע ''Mlave'') is a town in north-east Poland with 30,403 inhabitants in 2020. It is the capital of Mława County. It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship. During the invasion of Poland in 1939, the battle of Mława ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

; in his schools he was a member of various secret Polish educational societies, and headed a secret library of Polish literature (prohibited by the partitioners). Since he was 14 years old, he started writing, and his description of his home villages was published in ''Dictionary of Polish Geography'', a magazine published by Polish geographer, Filip Sulimierski. In 1887 he graduated, with a Golden Medal, from Physics and Nature Department of the

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

; his dissertation was in the field of mycology. Over the next years he continued his research, particularly concentrating on the ethnography of

Masovia Mazovia or Masovia ( pl, Mazowsze) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the unofficial capital and largest city. Throughout the centuri ...

region and the

Kurpie Kurpie () is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods. Kurpie is also the name of t ...

folk. He published several ethnographic works in the 1880s; among his most famous work is ''Folk tales and stories from Przasnysz'' (''Powieści i opowiadania ludowe z okolic Przasnysza'') from 1889 to 1890, collecting 86 local folk tales written in local dialect. He also gained fame as a mycologist, having discovered several species of mushroom and authoring the first Polish atlas of mushrooms. He also published several works related to agriculture in the 1890s, particularly after he took over his father's farm in 1891 (the same year he got married). He helped organize and publish results on the survey of agricultural plants diseases. He sponsored the creation of the first Polish academic journal in the field of agriculture, ''Rocznik Nauk Rolniczych''. In 1899 he declined an offer to teach agriculture at the Jagiellonian University, stating that he preferred to work in

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It ...

(then

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

, where the university was located in

Austro-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...

) and at the same time, Russian government which controlled

Privislinsky Krai Vistula Land, Vistula Country (russian: Привислинский край, ''Privislinsky krai''; pl, Kraj Nadwiślański) was the name applied to the lands of Congress Poland from 1867, following the defeats of the November Uprising (1830–3 ...

gave permission for locals to create and take part in agricultural societies. Chełchowski became involved in activities of several of them and in the 1900s he was an activist in various organizations related to education and agriculture, the most prominent of which included

Museum of Industry and Agriculture in Warsaw A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

Polska Macierz Szkolna Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 million people, and the s ...

and Flying University. Founder and chairman of Centralne Towarzystwo Rolnicze (1907). He was also active on a political scene. He was a deputy to Russian

Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were f ...

from

Płock Governorate Płock Governorate (russian: Плоцкая губернияя pl, Gubernia Płocka) was an administrative unit (governorate) of Congress Poland. It was created in 1837 from the Płock Voivodship, and had the same borders and capital ( Płock) a ...

(in 1906), and he became an activist and supporter of ''

endecja National Democracy ( pl, Narodowa Demokracja, also known from its abbreviation ND as ''Endecja''; ) was a Polish political movement active from the second half of the 19th century under the foreign partitions of the country until the end of ...

'' faction. He was also a friend of Polish politician

Roman Dmowski Roman Stanisław Dmowski (Polish: , 9 August 1864 – 2 January 1939) was a Polish politician, statesman, and co-founder and chief ideologue of the National Democracy (abbreviated "ND": in Polish, "''Endecja''") political movement. He saw th ...

. Stanisław Chełchowski died in

on March 23, 1907, on his way to

Płock Płock (pronounced ) is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by GUS on 31 December 2021, there were 116,962 inhabitants in the city. Its full ceremonial name, according to th ...

meeting of local Nature Society, where he was to give a lecture. He was buried in the village that was his residence for many years,

Czernice Borowe Czernice Borowe is a village in Przasnysz County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Czernice Borowe. It lies approximately west of Przasnysz and north of Warsaw ...

References

Stanisław Chełchowski - rolnik, naukowiec, organizator
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chelchowski, Stanislaw 1866 births 1907 deaths People from Przasnysz County People from Płock Governorate National-Democratic Party (Poland) politicians Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire Polish independence activists 19th-century Polish botanists Polish mycologists 20th-century Polish botanists People from Congress Poland

Biography

Further reading

References