What does PBM consist of? – A Guide to the Polish Music Library
PICTURES
An important, although perhaps not obvious, element of the Polish Music Library are iconographic resources, i.e. photo reproductions of graphics, letters and musical prints. It is a real treasure trove of visual materials that document musical life from different eras.
Filtering search results
To find graphics that interest you, in addition to the main search engine, it is worth using the filters available in the Pictures section. Thanks to them, you can sort resources, among others, by author, date of creation or type of material.
Examples of iconographic materials and tips on how to search for them:
-
Portraits of composers, musicians, figures from the world of music and more – a rich collection of portraits of Polish and foreign composers and people associated with them, such as instrumentalists, opera singers, as well as closest relatives and friends.
∗Tip: to find the above resources, simply enter the name of the person you are interested in in the “phrase” field, e.g. “Wieniawski, Henryk,” and in the “select type” field, select e.g. the “photography” option. To search for people related to a given composer, select the “relatives and loved ones…” option in the “select topic” field, e.g. “relatives and loved ones of R. Schumann.”
-
Musical instruments – unique graphics of old and modern musical instruments, both popular and lesser-known, e.g. cabasa, guiro or tam-tam.
∗Tip: to find the above resources, simply select the phrase you are looking for in the “select topic” field, e.g. “plucked instruments,” “wind instruments” or more specifically, e.g. “concert flute,” “Hawaiian guitar,” “castanets.”
-
Cities – unique graphic collections showing panoramas, views and monuments of Polish and foreign cities.
∗Tip: to find the above resources, simply search in the “select topic” field for the name of the city, e.g. “Vilnius (Lithuania).” You can also select a specific option in the “select type” field, e.g. “woodcut,” if you want to filter a specific type of graphic. An interesting way to search is to use the metadata available in the view of the selected work – when viewing one panorama, you can go to the other resources from the series by clicking the link available in the “Series” field.
-
Ethnographic materials – a rich collection of photographs and graphics documenting the folk culture of various geographical regions, presenting objects such as traditional instruments, ornaments, cutouts or ceramics.
∗Tip: to find the above resources, simply search in the “select topic” field, e.g. the phrase “Indian culture,” “highland culture,” then, to narrow the results to a specific type of material, select the “painting on glass” option in the “select type” field. You can also enter “ethnography” in the “Series” field – the search engine will suggest all resources marked in this way.
© Note: the materials described above are intended for use within the framework of fair public use or fair private use. Read more about fair use.
The PBM Pictures Library is a place where music meets image – it’s worth checking out to see what the history of musical life looks like from all over the world. In the next post, we’ll discuss the “Encyclopaedia” tab. Stay up to date and discover the wealth of PBM resources with us!
