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A history that connects across years.
A visit of donors from the USA
to the Polish History Museum.
On September 19, 2025, the Polish History Museum was visited by four donors from the United States: Dennis and Candy Warner and Donald and Kate Tyminski. It was the first trip to Poland for the grandchildren of Ewaryst Makowski — an emigrant from Greater Poland whose diaries, photographs, and documents enriched the Museum’s collection in 2022. Their visit became not only a museum event but also a family reunion — a day earlier, in the town of Pyzdry, they met for the first time with relatives from Poland, descendants of Ewaryst’s older brother.
Donation of the emigrant’s diaries
In 2022, Dennis Warner and Donald Tyminski, together with four other grandchildren of Ewaryst Makowski, donated an exceptional collection of family keepsakes to the Polish History Museum. The most important part of the donation consists of 41 volumes of Ewaryst Makowski’s diaries from the years 1938–1961. According to the family, he wrote about 70 volumes in total, but just over half have survived to this day.
In his diaries, Makowski recorded political reflections and comments on the situation at the fronts of World War II, and in later years — also family memories. He glued press clippings into the notebooks, turning them into an extraordinarily rich testimony of the era. In addition to the diaries, the donation also includes numerous family photographs — both from the United States and sent from Poland — as well as personal documents.
In his diaries, Makowski recorded political reflections and comments on the situation at the fronts of World War II, and in later years — also family memories. He glued press clippings into the notebooks, turning them into an extraordinarily rich testimony of the era. In addition to the diaries, the donation also includes numerous family photographs — both from the United States and sent from Poland — as well as personal documents.
From Pyzdry to Chicago — The Life of Ewaryst Makowski
Ewaryst Makowski was born in 1883 in Pyzdry, Greater Poland. In 1904, he married Rozalia Szmidt in Łódź and shortly afterward emigrated to the United States. According to preserved ship manifests, he arrived at Ellis Island in October 1904, and in January 1905 his wife joined him.
The decision to emigrate may have been influenced both by economic factors and by the threat of conscription into the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War. In America, the Makowski family eventually settled in Chicago, where Ewaryst ran a tailor shop and was actively involved in the Polish community. They had six children, four of whom — all daughters — reached adulthood.
Two of Ewaryst’s older brothers — Aleksander Jan and Bolesław — volunteered for the Polish Army in France (the so-called Blue Army of General Józef Haller) during World War I. Ewaryst remained in the United States, unwilling to leave his family. After the war, Aleksander Jan temporarily settled in Poland but eventually returned to the USA, and from 1929 he lived permanently again in his hometown of Pyzdry.
The decision to emigrate may have been influenced both by economic factors and by the threat of conscription into the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War. In America, the Makowski family eventually settled in Chicago, where Ewaryst ran a tailor shop and was actively involved in the Polish community. They had six children, four of whom — all daughters — reached adulthood.
Two of Ewaryst’s older brothers — Aleksander Jan and Bolesław — volunteered for the Polish Army in France (the so-called Blue Army of General Józef Haller) during World War I. Ewaryst remained in the United States, unwilling to leave his family. After the war, Aleksander Jan temporarily settled in Poland but eventually returned to the USA, and from 1929 he lived permanently again in his hometown of Pyzdry.
A Family Reunion After Many Years
On September 17 and 18, in Pyzdry, an emotional reunion took place between the two branches of the family — the descendants of Ewaryst living in the United States and the descendants of his brother Aleksander Jan, who live in Poland today. This meeting was made possible thanks to the initiative of the Polish History Museum which helped establish contact between the relatives.
A day later, on September 19, the donors visited the Polish History Museum, where they could see how their donation had found its place in the collection and how it contributes to research on the history of emigration.
The visit of the Warner and Tyminski families shows that a museum is not just an institution that collects and processes artifacts — it is also a space for encounters and the rebuilding of family ties. The donation of Ewaryst Makowski’s memorabilia opened a new chapter — not only for Polish studies on emigration but also for the family itself, which, after more than a hundred years, found one another again.
A day later, on September 19, the donors visited the Polish History Museum, where they could see how their donation had found its place in the collection and how it contributes to research on the history of emigration.
The visit of the Warner and Tyminski families shows that a museum is not just an institution that collects and processes artifacts — it is also a space for encounters and the rebuilding of family ties. The donation of Ewaryst Makowski’s memorabilia opened a new chapter — not only for Polish studies on emigration but also for the family itself, which, after more than a hundred years, found one another again.
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