The Complete Works vol. 85: The Biography of Oskar Kolberg. In preparation for printing.

The volume will contain a complete scholarly biography of Kolberg, prepared on the basis of all accessible source materials. It will utilize the results of many years of collective investigation of Kolberg’s manuscriptal legacy conducted during the time of editorial and publishing work on ‘The Complete Works’. It will depict Kolberg as a man and the author of ‘Lud’ [The People] and ‘Obrazy etnograficzne’ [Ethnoghraphic Accounts] against the background of his time and its cultural and intelectual trends. It will also deal with some other aspects of his activity, mainly in the field of music. It will present changes of his life and formation of the concept of a panoramic, ethnographic picture of all the territories of Polish Kingdom, former Poland, as well as a fulfilment of this project in the form of a series of regional monographs. The book will contain an analysis of Kolberg’s scholarly contribution as an investigator of Polish folk culture, theoretical and methodological assumptions of his work, his techniques of collecting, editing and documenting, as well as the peculiar evolution of his ethnographic approach and editorial programme. It will also be an attempt to evaluate Kolberg’s work and its significance to the development of Polish ethnography and folklore studies.