Towards the Source. on the Importance of Archives in the Practice of Contemporary Humanities

Abstract The article focuses on the importance of archival research, especially conducted in Polish and emigration institutions, and its impact on the quality of literary studies. What are the effects of a literary scholar’s work in the archive when it is carried out diligently? Undoubtedly, thanks to the archival foundation obtained through in-depth thematic queries, there is a real chance of reaching not only lesser-known cultural phenomena (including literary ones), previously insufficiently described or entirely new, but also arriving at real (not merely presumed) findings based on difficult-to-challenge evidence, ego-documents, and artifacts. Frequently, such findings contradict well-established and firmly circulated stereotypes of cultural reception. Moreover, source collections enable the creative development of the case-study technique, with the assumption that specific cases and contextual discussions of issues or themes contribute to building a more comprehensive account of research findings, leading to a panoramic view and perhaps even synthesis. No critical biography or monograph can be fully valuable – that is, grounded in a solid source-based and genetic reflection – if the researcher does not draw on authorial or institutional collections of ego-documents, autographs, and other accompanying iconographic materials.