Traces of memory | workshop with Michał Zawada | Warstwy
About the event
What can you discover about your family by looking through the archives? Where can you look for information about your ancestors, and how can you access documents from several decades ago?
We invite you to a workshop with Michał Zawada, a specialist from the State Archives in Lublin, who will show you step by step how to use the available sources to learn, for example, about the history of your grandparents or great-grandparents. We will also learn how to search for information about the births, marriages and deaths of our ancestors. We will see if there is a chance of finding archival photos of our family or the place where they lived.
About the instructor
Michał Zawada – a pedagogue, archivist and data protection officer by profession. A long-standing employee of the State Archives in Lublin, and since 2019, the head of the archival collection preservation department. He participated in numerous digitisation projects, including the Multiannual Government Project Culture+ from 2011 to 2015. In recent years, he has conducted training courses on the digitisation of archival materials at the National Digital Archives. He has spoken and continues to speak as a speaker at conferences on the digitalisation of archives.
Details
When: 14 November 2026 (Saturday), 11.00-13.00
Where: Workshops of Culture in Lublin, Grodzka 5a, medialab, 1st floor
For: adults
Registration: via the online form
Free of charge, places are limited
Accessibility
- Polish Sign Language (PJM) interpretation is available if requested in advance. Translator: Jolanta Gromada.
- The event takes place on the second floor. There is no lift.
- Let us know about your individual accessibility needs using the online form when registering.
- Read the basic accessibility information about the Workshops of Culture.
- Find out how to get there – watch the video.
About the ‘Warstwy – Dzieciństwo’ project
The project addresses the issue of the childhood of our ancestors, but also our own, presenting this topic both in terms of family memory and the memory of local communities, and emphasising the value of building home collections that document the past.
By taking part in the workshops, we will learn how to search for information about the lives of previous generations (including in state archives), how to preserve memorabilia and how to collect stories that we can still access. We will see how important and interesting it is to create our own family archives, how creatively the collected materials can be used, and what values can be discovered by immersing ourselves in folk games or songs. We will also have the opportunity to learn about old photographic techniques and to take a commemorative portrait.
Programme
- 4 October 2026 | Object – memory – how to describe keepsakes – a workshop with Aleksandra Karmelita
- 9 October 2026 | Carved wooden sticks – Lubartów pick-up sticks game – a workshop with Staszek and Rafał Sadownik
- 17 October 2026 | Lullabies – a workshop with Agata Harz
- 24 October 2026 | Patchwork of memories – a workshop with Jagoda Valkov
- 6 November 2026 | Carpe diem – a family visit to a photography studio – a workshop with Liudmyla and Roman Krawczenko
- 7 November 2026 | Carpe diem – a family visit to a photography studio – a workshop with Liudmyla and Roman Krawczenko
- 14 November 2026 | Traces of memory – a workshop with Michał Zawada
Co-financed by the Museum of Polish History as part of the Patriotism of Tomorrow programme.