Thomas L. Hollowak, associate director for Special Collections, emeritus, in The University of Baltimore's Robert L. Bogomolny Library and the author of several books covering local history—including the history of the University—has published a new book about the experiences of Baltimore's Polish community reaching back to the late 1800s. The lives of these migrant workers, often unfolding on the farms and packinghouses that dotted the city, Maryland's Eastern Shore, Pennsylvania, and coastal Delaware, are examined in a way that only a handful of works have done before.
Picking, Packing, & Shucking: The Migrant Experience of Baltimore's Polish Community is focused on local Poles who worked on regional farms during the harvest months, picking strawberries, tomatoes, string beans and other crops. After the season ended, many returned to the city to work in the packinghouses that were typically related to the agriculture and seafood industries. Their skill as oyster shuckers led to Baltimore becoming the leading producer of canned oysters in the United States, with distribution around the world.
A depletion in the supply of oysters prompted many of the leading oyster packers to start canneries in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and the Gulf Coast. Since local laborers in those regions were reluctant or lacked the capabilities that were needed for the job, Baltimore's Polish workers were recruited to fill the void. They were provided transportation to and from the South, as well as housing. Over time, some Polish families decided to settle permanently in the South.
Hollowak, who grew up in Baltimore and still calls the city his home, says he was determined to write the book both as a way to honor the Polish people and to correct the record about them. Many accounts, he says, are "contradictory, fragmented, and disparaging," perhaps because the local Polish community had few opportunities to speak out about what outsiders had to say about them. Poles in Baltimore were, and are, a tightly knit group with strong traditions and a sense of pride about their lives spanning several generations.
"The book tells the story of Polish immigrants and their families over several generations and their contributions to the economic growth of America's industrial and agricultural economy between 1880 and 1950," Hollowak says. "The era saw the rise of the canning industry, which provided agricultural and seafood products year-round. By the end of the 19th century, Baltimore was the leading producer of canned oysters, tomatoes, and other agricultural goods.
"It's important to note that my focus on Baltimore's Polish immigrants does not negate the contributions of other nationalities—Czechs, Germans, and Italians, as well as African Americans—who at times labored alongside the Poles on the farms, packinghouses, and canneries. Instead, the purpose is to use the Polish perspective to tell a complex story. The book is taking these various strands to weave a tapestry of Baltimore's Polish migratory experience, one that is still remembered and celebrated each August with the Bean Pickers Dinner and Dance at the Polish Home Club in Fells Point."
Hollowak served in UBalt's Special Collections department for 22 years beginning in 1990. He joined what was then known as Langsdale Library after working as the Baltimore City Archivist and Records Management Officer and for the Peabody Library prior to that. With more than a dozen books to his credit, Hollowak has a lifelong affinity for history and a dedication to the preservation of those things—everything from newspapers, letters and business records, to film, video and photos—that breathe life into the past. UBalt, he says, is among the area's best sources for examining not only city history, but the life of the entire region.
There are many things about Baltimore, in particular, Hollowak says, that you can learn about by visiting Special Collections at the Bogomolny Library. But there is always more to discover, and with Picking, Packing, & Shucking, another path has been opened for those who want to understand the richness of the local Polish experience.
Learn more about Picking, Packing, & Shucking: The Migrant Experience of Baltimore's Polish Community.