About the project

The Roman Ingarden Digital Archive consists of the provision of Internet access to typologically and materially elaborated archival materials concerning the hitherto unknown academic work of the eminent Polish humanist and his correspondence with representatives of culture and learning of the twentieth century from Poland and abroad.

The Roman Ingarden Digital Archive was created thanks to the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland within the framework of the DIALOG research projects in the years: 1) 2017-2018 under the title ‘The Electronic Archive of Roman Ingarden: Unknown Correspondence and Academic Work of the Outstanding Polish Humanist,’ and 2) 2019-2020 under the title ‘The Roman Ingarden Digital Archive. Roman Ingarden’s epistolary legacy as a testimony to the development of Polish philosophy and its relationships with world humanities in the 20th century.’

The main purpose of the Archive is to restore the correspondence and previously unpublished research papers by Roman Ingarden to Polish and Western culture and science, through introducing these papers for the first time into the worldwide circulation of academic literature. While Ingarden’s philosophical legacy is already part of the world’s store of learning, the philosopher’s prolific correspondence has heretofore been made available to Polish and foreign readers only to a very limited extent.

The Archive is the result of intensive, long-term research, archiving, documentation, and substantive efforts, consisting, inter alia, of finding, gathering, elaborating, translating, and digitising Ingarden’s correspondence. This project has not yet been fully completed. Systematic and continuous expansion of the Archive is planned.

The approaching fiftieth anniversary of Ingarden’s death, which falls in 2020, is of paramount importance for the initiation of new studies of the philosopher’s heretofore unknown legacy and for the launch of the Archive. It is our hope that the project we have developed will serve to popularise and internationalise the thoughts of the eminent Polish humanist, to enhance recognition of his achievements, to open up new research perspectives on his activities, and to honour his contribution to the philosophy, culture, and learning of Poland and the world.

The preparation, launch, and operation of The Roman Ingarden Digital Archive would not be possible without the support and co-operation we have received from the main heirs of Roman Witold Ingarden, represented by prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Ingarden, for which we offer, on behalf of the Polish academic community, our cordial thanks.