„Czytelnia Niedzielna” (1856–1864) – wiodące pismo Aleksandry z Pogodinów Pietrowej

Abstract

The periodical „Czytelnia Niedzielna” was published in Warsaw in the years 1856–1864. Its initiator, publisher, and editor was a Russian woman, but a „Pole by convictions and language”, Aleksandra Petrov née Pogodin (1815–1883). Petrov was the daughter of a tsarist general and the wife of a high-ranking official of the tsarist administration, but she was remembered as a true friend of the Polish nation oppressed by the invaders, among whom she spent most of her life. She worked generously on many levels: charity, educational, political, publishing, editorial and journalistic. Until now, her editorial, publishing, and journalistic activities were ignored, although apart from „Czytelnia Niedzielna” she was involved in the creation of the underground „Strażnica” – an organ of the „Red party”, and „Wiadomości z Pola Bitwy” – the periodical of the National Government during the January Uprising. „Czytelnia Niedzielna” was a periodical with a catholic and folk profile, and Petrov initiated it following the idea of spreading education among peasants and the petty bourgeoisie.