Janusz Gołaski, Krystyna Górska-Gołaska, Małgorzata Rutkiewicz-Hanczewska, Małgorzata Brzezińska-Klusek, Anna Mirończuk, Jacek Drahal - Monographic Series No 19
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Historic Polish names in the Wałeckie Lakeland
Originally Slavic place names in the Wałeckie Lakeland, as a result of German colonization and the Prussian occupation in 1772 were largely Germanized. The efforts undertaken after 1945 to restore Polish names havenot been fully successful. Therefore, a project arose to restore the old Polish names as a monument of language. The organization of the project undertook the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography (IGiK) Warsaw with Dr. Christian Zschieschanga of Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentrum Geschichte Und Kultur Ostmitteleuropas at the University of Leipzig. It was assumed that:
– the term „place name” means the name of an object permanently bound to the surface of the Earth,
– studied are the names that have Slavic root, and which objects can be placed on topographic maps.
The tasks of gathering source materials, placement of names objects on the map and finding the proper historic shape of the names made interdisciplinary team consisting of dr Krystyna Górska-Gołaska – historian and archivist, dr hab. Małgorzata Rutkiewicz-Hanczewska - linguist and prof. dr Janusz Gołaski – topographer and cartographer, project manager.
The other tasks as the development of a database and creation of a map „Historic Polish names in the Wałeckie Lakeland” made a team from the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography in Warsaw under the direction of cartographer Małgorzata Brzezińska-Klusek.
In the following actions the boundaries of the test area were set, basic cartographic materials were collected and indicated the institutions which store interesting for us historic sources in Poland and Germany.
Dr hab. Margaret Rutkiewicz-Hanczewska enrolled in the test area approx. 1800 names currently used by the local population. Dr Krystyna Górska-Gołaska, next to the names taken from the „Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Poznań voivodeship in the Middle Ages”, has collected from archival sources the Polish historic names dating from thirteenth to the late eighteenth centuries and created an index of records containing the names of approx. 1,700 positions. Prof. Janusz Gołaski collected the names from topographic maps dating from the end of the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Research has identifi ed approx. 470 objects of historic names which were marked on 35 sheets of 1:25 000 base map, covering the test area of approx. 2520 km2. At the same time in the lists annexed to the map the additional data of these objects were collected.
These materials were the basis for determining the correct position of the object fi rst, and then - under the leadership of dr Małgorzata Rutkiewicz-Hanczewska -historical spelling of names. A total of 454 historical names were collected, including 104 names of places and 350 uninhabited object names. These historic name because of lack of access to sources could not be the basis for restoring Polish names after 1945. This applies particularly to the many uninhabited object names.
On the basis of the above materials the team from the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography in Warsaw under the direction of Małgorzata Brzezińska-Klusek developed a spatio-temporal database of the Wałeckie Lakeland place names and associated objects in GIS environment. The system was based on vector data of VMap Level 2 covering the test area with level of detail adequate for 1:50 000 scale map. The VMap contains vector data and encoded information about objects enabling the creation of digital maps. One sheet of Vmap comprises two maps at scale 1:50 000 in PUWG 1992 projection. The map layers are grouped into thematic groups: boundaries, environment, topography, hydrography, industry, physiography, transportation, vegetation. On the basis of these data the geometrization of archival scans of 1:25 000 maps was done and digital maps with historical names at scale 1:50 000 were made.
The team from the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography has also developed the concept of the presentation of historic names on the contemporary analogue map. According to this concept the modern map serves as a background on which appear the historic names and related objects. The distinction of these two levels of information was achieved by brightening the background, styling of letterings and symbols and the introduction of a brown color for historic names and objects. According to the prepared concept the sheets of a map titled „Historic Polish names in the Wałeckie Lakeland” were test-printed. Dissemination of maps began by sending pilot copies to the Public Libraries of cities and municipalities of the Wałeckie Lakeland, as the best prepared environment to receive such messages.