People's Libraries Society

A 1927 T.C.L. poster

People's Libraries Society (Polish: Towarzystwo Czytelni Ludowych, T.C.L.) was an educational society established in 1880 for the Prussian partition of Poland[1] (active in the regions of Greater Poland or the Grand Duchy of Poznan, Pomerania, West Prussia, Kashubia and Silesia). Its main goal was to promote education in Polish among the people, especially the lower classes, and to revert the Germanisation practices of the Prussian authorities. The society established a network of libraries, reading rooms and organized speeches. It was active till the outbreak of World War II in 1939, and it was dissolved in 1950.[2]

Famous members

• Władysław Niegolewski (1819–1885)[3] was a Polish liberal politician and member of parliament, insurgent in Greater Poland Uprising (1846), Greater Poland Uprising (1848) and January Uprising (1863), cofounder of the Central Economic Society (CTG) in 1861 and People's Libraries Society (TCL) in 1880.

References

1. "Towarzystwo Czytelni Ludowych, Encyklopedia PWN: źródło wiarygodnej i rzetelnej wiedzy". encyklopedia.pwn.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 14 November 2024.
2. "Społeczny wehikuł czasu: w obronie polskiego języka – Towarzystwo Czytelni Ludowych [foto]". ngo.pl (in Polish). 6 December 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
3. Kasparek, Danuta (1988). Jan Karol Sembrzycki, 1856-1919: Mazur na rozdrożu narodowym (in Polish). Pojezierze. p. 125. ISBN 978-83-7002-298-3. Retrieved 14 November 2024.