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Zborowski, Juliusz (EN)

Biography and Literature

Zborowski Juliusz, *8 April 1888 Lviv, †15 June 1965 Zakopane, Polish linguist, ethnographer, and expert on Podhale and the Tatra Mountains. After graduating from high school in Kraków, he began studying Polish at the Jagiellonian University and also studied in Leipzig. In 1913–20, he was a teacher at a high school in Nowy Targ and from 1918 to 1920, an editor of “Gazeta Podhalańska”; he also collaborated with the editorial offices of “Echo Tatrzański” (1918–19) and “Gazeta Zakopiańska” (1921–23). In 1920–22, he was the president of the Tatra Museum Society, from 1922 curator of the ethnographic department of the Tatra Museum in Zakopane, and in 1922–65 its first director. A member of the Language Commission of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences from 1918 and also of the Geographical and Ethnographic Commissions from 1926. He received the title of associate professor in 1955 and of honorary citizen of Zakopane in 1962.

Since 1911, Zborowski conducted linguistic research in Podhale and the Tatras, and in 1914–16, he pioneered the recording of Podhale dialect and music on phonographic cylinders (including the scores of Bartuś Obrochta, recently released on CD). The result of his work is a huge lexical and musical collection, files of song texts, and extensive materials for a planned but unfinished dictionary of the Podhale dialect (published recently). He is the author of about 600 works in the field of linguistics (including Przyczynek do pochodzenia nazwy Tatr and Z góralskich nazw miejscowych i osobowych, “Język Polski” 1916 No. 1 and 1933 No. 3, Wskazówki do zbierania nazw geograficznych, Kraków 1923, O topograficzną nomenklaturę tatrzańską and Sprawa nomenklatury tatrzańskiej w dziejach Polskiego Towarzystwa Tatrzańskiego “Przegląd Turystyczny” 1927 No. 7–8 and 1928 No. 9–10), ethnography (including Moda i wieś góralska “Ziemia” 1930 No. 19, W sprawie programu badań etnograficznych na góralszczyźnie “Lud” XXVII, 1929), music (including Wspomnienia and O zagadnieniach zbierania melodyj ludowych “Ziemia” 1934 No. 1–2 and No. 1–4, Zakopiańskie wspomnienia o Karolu Szymanowskim “Kurier Codzienny” 1952 No. 79), history and culture of Podhale, Tatra tourism, museology, etc. Some of the works, including correspondence, were published after the author’s death, some remained in manuscripts.

Zborowski, known by the pseudonyms “Samuel” and “Baca,” was one of the most outstanding and versatile researchers of the Tatras and the Sub-Tatras, and one of the most popular figures in Zakopane. He played a huge role in the development of the Tatra Museum not only as a museum institution but also as an institution supporting the protection of nature and monuments, equipped with a rich library, having its own publications (including “Rocznik Podhalański”), being a centre for scientific research on Podhale and the Tatras visited by scientists from all over Poland (visiting researchers, staying in the guest rooms of the Museum, jokingly referred to as the Grand Hotel, often took up topics inspired by its host). He was friends with K. Szymanowski, whom he helped many times in various matters (including those related to Atma), and also made his collection of Podhale songs available to him. Zborowski, together with other people devoted to Zakopane, including J.G. Pawlikowski junior, H. and M. Rytard, B. Romaniszyn, R. Malczewski and A. Chybiński, formed a group called by Szymanowski “the emergency service of highlander culture.”

Literature: S. Urbańczyk Śp. Juliusz Zborowski 8 IV 1888–15 VI 1965, “Język Polski” 1966 No. 1; J. Okoniowa Juliusz Zborowski i jego słownik, in: Słownik gwary Zakopanego i okolicfrom Zborowski’s materials, edited and supplemented by the team of the Institute of the Polish Language of the Polish Academy of Sciences under the direction of J. Okoniowa, Zakopane– Kraków 2009; “Rocznik Podhalański” XIV, 2020 (contains materials from a national scientific conference “Juliusz Zborowski i jego dzieło. W 130-lecie Muzeum Tatrzańskiego”, including articles: W. Pawlikowska Naukowy szlak Juliusza Zborowskiego, M. Małanicz-Przybylska, Nieoczywiste dziedzictwo Juliusza Zborowskiego. O wpływie nagrań archiwalnych na dziedzictwo muzyczne Podhala, M. Rak Juliusz Zborowski i badania gwary podhalańskiej, A. Kozak Juliusz Zborowski i kolekcja etnograficzna Muzeum Tatrzańskiego w latach 1918–1939, and selected letters).

Editions

Pisma podhalańskie, 2 volumes, collections of works, ed. and selection J. Berghauzen, Kraków 1972 (contains an article on Zborowski)

Słownik gwary Zakopanego i okolic, from Zborowski’s materials, edited and supplemented by the team of the Institute of the Polish Language of the Polish Academy of Sciences under the direction of J. Okoniowa, Zakopane–Kraków 2009

CD Rozpoczął tedy fonograf zbieranie melodii podhalańskich…Pierwsze nagrania muzyki tradycyjnej na Podhalu vol. 1, Zborowski’s recordings, ed. A. Szurmiak-Bogucka and Jacek Jackowski, published by the Tatra Museum in Zakopane and the Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Art, 2015