Dear Readers of Glos Polek,

When you receive the May/June issue of Glos Polek, you will be holding in your hands something "new."

Well, to a degree it is new---a new format.

In reality, it is "old" because this was the format of the very first Glos Polek when the Polish Women's Alliance started to publish its own newspaper in 1902. The first editor was Frank Wolowski, husband of Lucja Wolowska, an early officer of the PWA. He was also editor of Chicago's Dziennik Narodowy. After ten months, the first effort to establish Glos Polek failed due to financial reasons. Dziennik Narodowy continued to print a special page devoted to the PWA on a regular basis under the editorship of Maria Iwanowska from 1903 to 1909 and Jadwiga Michalska from 1909 to 1910.

The Glos Polek reappeared as a weekly in 1910. The first issue was published on November 3, 1910, almost 98 years ago, and it has stayed in print ever since! It became a bimonthly in 1956 and a monthly in 1994. In 1951 the Glos Polek began to include an English language section.

For 98 years, the pages of the Glos Polek have recorded the history of the PWA. And along the way, those pages also told the story of the 20th century: the story of immigrant struggles in the new world; of women's fight for equal rights; of two world wars; of Poland's independence in 1918, followed by years of occupation under the Nazis and by decades of domination by the Soviets; and, finally, of Poland's freedom again in 1989. Through all of that, PWA members attended meetings, raised funds, taught Polish language and dance to generations of youngsters, held seminars and conferences, gave out scholarships and awards, and worked tirelessly to bring aid to those in need. They supported the Blue Army and started the Polish American Congress and sent aid packages and sold war bonds and helped build the American Czestochowa. They ran deb balls and bake sales and raffles. They worked hard-and then they wrote about it and sent their stories and photos to be printed in the Glos Polek.

Going forward, the Glos Polek will be published in a new format, six times a year. The English editor is Mary Piergies. The Polish editor is Lidia Rozmus. So while the format may be different, the mission of the Glos Polek remains the same: to record the history of the Polish Women's Alliance and its members for the next 100 years---and more!

I hope that this innovation will be positively accepted by our membership and will be enjoyed by all of our readers. I would like to invite all officers and members to submit news items and photos for the paper. On our part, we will make every effort to make it interesting, informative, and valuable to every member of the Polish Women's Alliance.

We pray to our Patroness, Our Lady of Czestochowa, for her blessings.

Virginia Sikora
National President

"To download a PDF of the new format of Glos Polek, CLICK HERE"