POLISH WHITE EAGLE ASSOCIATION:

The Polish White Eagle Association (PWEA) was founded by 15 members of Holy Cross Parish, northeast Minneapolis, in October 1906 as a fraternal organization for people of Polish descent. Many Poles in the area belonged to fraternal organizations based in eastern states, and it seemed it was about time to establish a local organization. For its first twenty years the organization grew slowly, adding several groups of parishes in the city of Minneapolis. In August 1926 the organization was incorporated and began selling life insurance in the Roman Catholic and Slavic communities and began to add local groups in St. Paul and throughout Minnesota.

In 1941 the PWEA bought an office building and established a permanent headquarters at 1302 Second Avenue Northeast in Minneapolis. The building came with a large meeting hall, which served the organization's purposes well, and also generated income when it was rented out to other organizations. Every three years the PWEA holds a general convention where delegates from each member group elect the organization's officers, who serve until the next convention. By 1981 the organization had grown to around 3,300 members in eleven local groups with membership expanded to include all interested Christians. Local groups arrange their own activities and social events which over the years have included dinner/dances; trips to Las Vegas, Omaha, Winnipeg, and Chicago; and boat cruises on the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. Some groups have cribbage clubs and in the past the PWEA has had strong baseball and bowling teams. In recent years the PWEA also has offered college scholarships and home mortgage loans.

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The records of the PWEA include the original articles of organization, constitution, and bylaws from 1926; revised editions of the constitution and bylaws; convention minute books and programs; board of directors minute books; subject files; photographs; and financial records.

The constitution and bylaws contain revisions from 1956 to 1986, as well as some undated booklet versions. One of these booklets is in Polish. The convention minutes cover the conventions, held in three-year intervals, from 1935 through 1998. Some of the earlier convention proceedings are also in Polish. The board of directors minute books cover the years from 1933 through 1998 with the first five years or so written in Polish. Minutes from at least one local group (group three), 1933-1958, also appear. The subject files are arranged alphabetically by topic and include miscellaneous correspondence, 50th and 75th anniversary history booklets, a life insurance manual and rate tables, information on mortgage loans, newsletters (1979-1988), and photographs of social events primarily covering the years between 1978 and 1998. The financial records include the annual statements filed with the Minnesota Commissioner of Insurance, 1966-1993; audit reports, 1931-1990; and miscellaneous financial papers, 1966-2001. The oversize folder contains convention photographs from 1931 and 1945, a Pulaski Day certificate from 1987, and the official PWEA charter of incorporation from 1926.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Polish White Eagle Association Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,942

Processing Information:

Processed by: Richard W. Arpi, June 2006

Catalog ID number: 990061611120104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Polish Americans -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Friendly societies -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Insurance, fraternal -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Places:

Northeast community (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Types of Documents:

Audits.

Photographs.

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