Commission on Biography

The Biography Commission was brought into being on 1 June 2021 by a decision of the Board of Faculty II (History and Philosophy) of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. It aims to consolidate the community of researchers working on biography and life writing understood in broad terms as a genre in the field of the history of historiography.
The editors of the Dictionary of Polish Biography and their associates are responsible for establishing the Biography Commission. The appearance of this monumental work of Polish historiography, which occurred in 1935, was thanks to PAU.
Indeed, its editorial board remains to this day in the PAU building at ul. Sławkowska 17 in Kraków, which has become something of a mecca for biography and life writing pursued as an academic discipline.  

Tasks of the Biography Commission
1. To conduct open didactic and scientific meetings on life writing and biography in its broadest sense, including in the fields of historical biography, encyclopaedic and dictionary biography, genealogy, and the theory of biographical research and its place in the discipline of history. The commission is also committed to developing and improving research tools and methods, including in the area of genealogy).
2. To organise meetings of the members of the Biography Commission that serve to develop a scholarly discussion on the needs and challenges of contemporary historical biography and life writing and to promote the research potential of these disciplines in the context of contemporary historiography (e.g. micro-history, her-story, life history, oral history, psychohistory, and genealogy).
3. To organise open discussion panels (interdisciplinary) in connection with newly-published biographical work and with biographical projects that are in progress. To present complex biographical issues.
4. To discuss entries in the Dictionary of Polish Biography. To act as a forum in which shortcomings, omissions, and over-representation (e.g. in respect of Kraków or Galicia) in biographies can be expressed.
5. To organise conferences on topics such as the history of families, and biography and life writing, as sub-disciplines of history that act as a forum for discussion and an opinion-forming platform for practitioners and researchers.
6.To forge links with international centres and institutes of biography and life writing.
7. To initiate research into biography capable of laying solid foundations for full research projects.
8. To organise biography and life writing workshops that are also open to non-professionals (perhaps within the framework of a summer school).

Commission Members