History of the Library / Historia Biblioteki

In 1973, soon after the Polish Cultural Foundation (PCF) acquired a storefront information office in Irvington, NJ, a donated storage rack was installed and, with a few donated books, the Foundation Library was created. Additional gifts of books from members and well wishers grew the collection to about 100 volumes.

Later, with the acquisition by gift from the estate of Kazimierz Kolodziejczyk of books, periodicals and storage racks, the holdings increased to about 15,000 volumes with a very large number being bulk amounts of individual items. These holdings were from the former Polish Book Importing Company located in Union Square in New York City.

The holdings were placed in paid dead storage until the Foundation acquired its facilities in Clark, New Jersey around 1983. The print materials were transferred to the new facilities in Clark and stored in the room now known as the Banquet Hall. As time went on, the books were processed by first removing them from wooden storage crates, disposing severely damaged or mildewed items and distributing the rest throughout the entire facility to await further processing. To reduce duplicates, some items were sold retail and others in bulk.

As time went on, space was designated for the library (in place currently known as the Marjanczyk Library) and donated storage shelving was mounted and secured. Slowly, print materials were retrieved from all parts of the newly acquired buildings and placed on the racks. Then, books were placed in some order and a modified Dewey decimal system was slowly implemented to identify the materials.

When the Board of PCF Board of Trustees reached a final decision to retain the Clark property, a generous monetary gift was received from Msgr Joseph A Marjanczyk in honor of his parents to relieve the financial burden of maintaining the library. In gratitude, the library received its present name: “The Joseph and Catherine Marjanczyk Library”.