From the Valley Independent: Polish exhibit opens Sunday

MONESSEN – Preparing for a new exhibit at the Monessen Heritage Museum was a trip down memory lane for a group of women who wanted to celebrate their Polish ancestry.

Bittersweet tears flowed as Monessen residents Dorothy Jozwiak, Sophia Janol, Gloria Belczyk and Irene Babinski dug out treasures from their past for the new Polish Heritage Exhibit.

The exhibit will be on display at the museum, 505 Donner Ave., from Sunday to June 1.

The Greater Monessen Historical Society is hosting an open house for the new exhibit from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Museum hours after Sunday will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.

The exhibit coincides with the centennial anniversary of the former St. Hyacinth Polish Church and its women’s Rosary Society.

St. Hyacinth eventually merged with the four other ethnic Roman Catholic churches to form Epiphany of Our Lord parish.

The exhibit also pays homage to the former Sacred Heart of Jesus Polish National Church in the city.

Jozwiak, whose parents emigrated to Monessen from Poland, is the historian for the St. Hyacinth Church and has preserved many church relics that are now on display at the museum.

She believes it’s important to preserve and honor the accomplishments made by Polish people when they came to the city more than 100 years ago.

The largest wave of Polish immigration to America occurred in the early 20th century. More than 1.5 million Polish immigrants were processed at Ellis Island from 1899 to 1931.

“The Poles contributed a lot when they came to America and to Monessen,” Jozwiak said. “We wanted to do something to celebrate the spirit of Polish history.”

The exhibit features many family photographs, Polish flags and banners, and other items from the Polish National Alliance, today known simply as the PNA hall on Knox Avenue.

Jozwiak said there were once several Polish fraternal lodges in the city where families could buy reduced-cost insurance.

The women agreed preparing the exhibit brought back many memories.

They all came from large families – a trait of many Polish parents.

The displays feature a traditional Polish Easter basket filled with a loaf of bread, traditional Polish outfits, hand-made wood carvings, an old-fashioned coffee grinder, Polish dolls, and Wozniak’s mother’s curling iron from 1920.

“This has brought a lot of tears and joy,” Wozniak said, adding her infant baptismal gown and bonnet are on display.

The exhibit also features several photos of unnamed people. They are hoping visitors can help identify them.

As Belczyk went through her family archives, she shed tears as she thought about her brothers, who all served in the Polish Army.

“We only spoke Polish so, when they want [sic] to war and wanted to give their confession, they had to do it in Polish,” she said. “The priest said that would be fine.”

Jozwiak and Belczyk still speak fluent Polish, but use it very rarely these days.

There was a time, though, when the nuns at the St. Hyacinth School taught them in their native language.

“We really learned to speak English by playing in the neighborhoods,” Belczyk said.

Babinski, who is married to Leonard Babinski, recalls the days when her mother-in-law, the late Mary Babinski, served as a mid-wife, delivering more than 3,000 babies in Monessen.

“She even delivered me and both of my children,” Babinski said.

Although Janol is a third-generation Polish American, she has tracked down relatives still living in Poland.

All of the women agree they would love to visit Poland some day but, for now, they are happy to show off their heritage at the museum.

For more information about the Monessen Heritage Museum, call (724) 684-8460.