Roman B.J. Kwasniewski Photographs, 1897-1959,  (bulk 1920-1931)

Alternate Format

Alternate Format:

The Milwaukee Polonia digital collection is the primary access point for the collection. It includes all negatives, prints and not matched to negatives, lantern slides, and documents. A key to the descriptive elements in the metadata follows.

Field Name
Description
Date
The date on which the photograph was taken or developed. Many of the photographs are undated; others are dated only to the month and day, but not the year. However, in many cases the specific year of the image can be ascertained through the job number. See the Guide for Dating Photographs by Job Numbers.
Photographer's Note
The content of this field is ambiguous. It may refer to the name of either the customer or subject (name of the individual or group or description of the scene depicted in the photograph).
Address
The value of this element is ambiguous. It may refer to the address of either the customer or the location depicted in the image. Note: The City of Milwaukee changed street names and the street numbering system in 1930. The database contains the original street addresses prior to 1930. Therefore, it is important to check the date of the image to verify the address. The Milwaukee City Directories are helpful for verification.
Subject Term (Local)
Each image was assigned a topical heading code. See the Guide to Topic Headings elsewhere in this finding aid.
Job Number
Original customer order number assigned by Kwasniewski, sometimes ending with an "A" or "B." The significance of these last characters is unclear. Archivists assigned numbers beginning with "A" to unnumbered photographs (e.g., A08036).

Additionally, staff frequently added a suffix to job numbers to indicate the topical heading, or subdivision thereof, to which the photograph was assigned. This suffix consists of a hyphen followed by a number (e.g., -1). For example, job number 15913-1 is associated with topical heading 5E1, "Weddings—Bride"; 15913-2 with 5E2, "Weddings—Bride and groom"; and 15913-3 with 5E5, "Weddings—Other." There is no logical relationship between suffixes and topic heading codes.

The topic heading code does not always indicate a subdivision when one exists. For example, photographs 31390-1 and 31390-2 are both assigned to topic heading 5A, "Anniversaries." Photos associated with 31390-1 show couples, while those associated with 31390-2 show groups. A subdivision is clearly implied by the presence of a suffix, but in this case is not represented in the topic heading schema.
Quantity
The number of negatives associated with a job number.
Original Item Medium
The form of the photograph or photographs. Values are: "Safety film negatives," "Nitrate negatives," "Glass negatives," "Lantern slides," and "Photographic prints."
Original Item Size
Dimensions of the negatives and slides. Dimensions are not provided for prints.
Alternate Format
Indicates the availability of a photographic print that matches the negative.