Polish Museum of America

The Polish Museum of America is located in West Town, in what had been the historical Polish Downtown neighborhood of Chicago. It is home to a plethora of Polish artifacts, artwork, and embroidered folk costumes among its growing collection. The Polish Museum of America, founded in 1935, is one of the oldest ethnic museums in the United States. Its promotes the knowledge of Polish history, culture, focusing on Polish and Polish American art in its paintings, sculptures, drawings and lithographs by well-known artists. It offers exhibits in addition to cultural programs such as lectures, movies and slide presentations, theater performances, meetings with schools and people dedicated to Polish Culture from all over the world.

History

The Polish Museum of America was established in 1935 as the "Museum and Archives of the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America".

Alleged Haunting

One of the most visited rooms is the Ignace Paderewski Room which was started around June 1941 through generous donations from his sister Antonina Paderewski Wilkonska. The room includes items also donated from the Buckingham Hotel in New York City where Paderewski spent the last months of his life. The room was officially opened to the public on November 3, 1941. Many believe that the museum and in particular the Paderewski Room is haunted, perhaps by Paderewski himself. The staff recounts a number of incidents related by a number of people, including the cleaning crew who have claimed to experience ghostly-related phenomena late at night. The Ghost Research Society was even brought in by the museum staff to investigate these claims. [ [http://www.ghostresearch.org/Investigations/Polish_Museum.html Polish Museum of America ] ] According to the Ghost Research Society's Website:

:According to an article in the Polish Museum of America's Newsletter of Autumn 2004 written by Mr. Kurdek:

:"Operations Manager Rich Kujawa is our resident Paderewski expert and chief raconteur about these eerie events. Over the past few years, Rich has made a ritual of placing flowers on the mantel over the PR's (Paderewski's Room) fireplace on the maestro's birthday, November 6th, and also on June 29th, the day he died. Rich has noticed that the flowers and their fragrance endure well beyond November 6th, while those from June 29th strangely leave no scent and die within a few days. Rich also recalls an incident that occurred while he was giving a tour of the PR to a school group. For some odd reason, the cassette tape began playing Paderewski's minuet on its own, and then just as mysteriously stopped playing after a short while.

:"Also two former Mormon missionary museum volunteers told Rich they would periodically hear the sound of someone typing while they were working on a poster project in the PR. On display in that room is Paderewski's typewriter. Rich says Paderewski was known as a practical joker in life, so perhaps what we've been witnessing is the handiwork of a mischievous but basically benevolent ghost. Another source of unusual tales is Helena Glinczak of our maintenance staff. Helena has long felt 'spooked' by a presence in the PR, but she has since learned to live with it. A former weekend guide also often spoke of her reluctance to enter the PR for the same reason."

:Other experiences are of an olfactory nature and have been smelled by Kurdek on the first floor, near the museum's conference room and the adjoining corridor. He has gotten a whiff of something burning and food cooking when there was no source to explain this.

Notable Exhibits

*A sleigh that was a gift of the former king of Poland Stanislaus Leszczynski to his daughter.
*Sculptures by Stanislav Szukalski.
*a collection of original drawings by Thaddeus von Zukotynski.
*Bas relief carved in salt from the legendary Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Contact Information

Polish Museum of America is located at 984 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, Tel: [phone]. The hours of operation are: Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday from 10am-4pm, Wednesday 1-7pm and closed on Thursday and Sunday. [http://pma.prcua.org/ Official website]

References