University museums of the Silesian Voivodeship (Republic of Poland)

Abstract

The article considers the scientific basis for the study of the activities of university museums by Polish scientists. The main support for Polish university museums is said to be provided by the Association of University Museums (AUM). The author analyzes its research and popularization activities. The main purpose of the work is to study the history of the formation and development of six university museums of the Silesian Voivodeship in the Republic of Poland: “Museum of Geology of Deposits named after Czeslaw Poborsky at the Faculty of Mining and Geology of the Silesian University of Technology”, “Museum of the Faculty of Geosciences of the University of Silesia”, “Museum of Silesian Organs”, “Center for History and Traditions of the University of Economics in Katowice”, “Museum of Technology of the Silesian University of Technology” and the “Museum of Medicine and Pharmacy in Sosnowiec”. The author also examines their collections and exhibitions. Theoretical research in the field of studying university museums is considered in detail. For the analysis, scientific articles, books, brochures, mass media materials and information on museum websites are used in order to provide a complete picture of the historical and current state of university museums in the region. In the process of writing the article, the author contacted several guardians and university museum staff to clarify the dates and information provided in various sources. The work partially uses their responses received by e-mail, with the indication of information about the source.