The collection was donated to the Archives of the National Commission of "Solidarity" in 1997 upon the death of the collector - Aleksandra Dąbrowska-Petersen, in accordance with her wish. The authors of the clippings remain uknown and impossible to track individually. Some of the press articles were simple news agencys' reports, other consisted of more deepened political analysis.
The collection of press clippings in Polish, English, Danish, and German. The materials are related to, i.a. strikes in the August of 1980 and the registration of the "Solidarity" Trade Union, the events in Bydgoszcz in 1981, the first National Assembly of the "Solidarity" Trade Union Delegates in Gdańsk, and the visit of Lech Wałęsa to France in 1981. They document the reactions of foreign press to the introduction of martial law in Poland, Wałęsa’s peace Nobel Prize (1983), the assassination of father Jerzy Popiełuszko (e.g. the snippets mention the protests of Polish emigrants in Denmark after the killing), as well as the Polish Round Table Agreement, and the parliamentary and presidential elections (1989-1990).
It is an interesting collection illustrating the coverage of the phenomenon of "Solidarity" in Western media, and may be useful for political comparative studies on the reception of this social movement.
