The Visual History of Polish Chicago

Monday, November 9, 2026, 4:30pm, Social Sciences Tea Room (SSRB 201, 1126 E. 59th Street), University of Chicago

With this visual essay—combining screenings of newly collected archival films with live narration—Agata Zborowska explores the possibility of, and sketches a framework for, a new visual history of Polish Chicago. The talk draws on a collection she has been building since 2024, comprising oral history interviews and more than 2,100 amateur films and home movies preserved by over sixty individuals and families. By treating the practice of archiving as ethnographic fieldwork, it traces how diaporicity has manifested—or has not manifested—visually and develops the concept of diasporic (in)visibility. She invites the audience to reflect on what these overlooked and underestimated sources, amateur films and home movies, reveal about the history of Chicago Polonia and the ways generations of the Polish diaspora imagined themselves, negotiated belonging, staged visibility, and maintained ties to the homeland. At the same time, she will discuss how this distinctly Polish American case study can contribute to broader understandings of diasporic identity, visual culture, and the social life of images.

This event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, with the gracious support of the Maria Kuncewicz Fund for the Study of Polish Literature. More information: https://slavic.uchicago.edu/news-events/events/agata-zborowska-visual-history-polish-chicago

Cover still source: Antonina Blazonczyk Film Collection (preserved and digitized thanks to Not-So-Ordinary).