The text mentions the 'aged scholarly institution' and summarises the expansion of the collection through 1936, with donations including 2,500 manuscripts and the Stecki and Kościa Zbirohowski family archives. The prints department was also enlarged by duplicates sent by the library of the School of Foreign Trade. It was noted that 2,600 works in 3,500 volumes were added to the collection, which adds up to a total library stock of 199,000 works in 297,000 volumes. In addition to this, a collection of gouaches from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, drawings by Polish post-Pathedral painters and, among other things, a collection of silver tokens minted in Germany to commemorate the most valuable victories on Polish battlefields in the Great War were sent to the Lubomirski Museum, which was merged with the Institute (Source: "Wschód", Lviv 1937, no. 38, p. 10, after: Jagiellonian Digital Library).

A modernised reading of the text

The Ossoliński National Institute in Lviv in 1936.

Lviv's venerable scientific institution, faithful to its more than a century-old tradition, continues its extensive work for the benefit of Polish culture, enjoying the constant support and generous donations of the public. Last year was marked by a truly magnanimous gift of a collection of 2,500 manuscripts by the renowned scholar and collector Aleksander Czołowski. In addition to this, the Ossoliński Institute received the Stecki and Kościa Zbirohowski family archives. To the floral collection of the legacy of the great scholars and historians of Lviv: Sołtykiewicz, Szajnocha, Schmitt, Kubala, Balzer, Ptaśnik and others, came the papers of the late Professor Stanisław Zakrzewski, president of the Historical Society, and the meticulously compiled and catalogued manuscript legacy of the late Dr Wojciech Kętrzyński, director of the Ossolineum.

Noteworthy among the literary acquisitions is the correspondence of Stanisław Brzozowski from the papers of the late Dr. Rafał Buber. In total, nearly 2,800 new manuscripts arrived. The prints section, in addition to an influx of works from the legal deposit (especially the Plan), author donations and exchanges with foreign institutions, was augmented by the library of the Higher School of Foreign Trade with its doubles. In the catalogued collection, 2676 works in 3544 volumes have been added, so that in total the library has 109,143 works in 297,461 volumes (in addition to the uncatalogued approximately 100,000 volumes). In the Study Room, 8027 people used 14,941 works in 25,263 volumes and 2526 manuscripts.

5058 works in 6030 volumes were lent to 3,567 people. A presentation of the Polish book for children and young people in its historical development took place last spring. To the Museum of the XX. Lubomirski Museum, which, as is well known, is connected with the Ossolińskis, came in 1936. 1936: an interesting collection of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century gouaches depicting Neapolitan types and folk costumes, a large collection of French lithographs from the first half of the nineteenth century, a batch of collections and drawings by some of the most eminent Polish painters of the post-Matejko era, a significant number of specimens of contemporary Polish prints and a collection of 42 silver tokens minted in Germany to commemorate the most glorious victories on Polish battlefields in the Great War; a death mask of Wincenty Pol, a sculpture by Barącz depicting Władysław Łozińska, a portrait sculpture by Kazimierz Obłędowski, portrait watercolours painted by Al. Rejchan, J. Kossak, F. Tepa and M. Łozański, in addition a number of Polish coins, banknotes and medals, specimens of artistic industry (furniture, belts, weapons, etc.).

An oil portrait of Y. Mayakovsky by Artur Grottger was received as a deposit. The main financial basis of the Ossolińskis' Institute, apart from the depleted income from foundation property and urban real estate, is its publishing house, which publishes scientific works and school textbooks in its own printing workshops. This department thrives on the goodwill of the school authorities and the general public, in understanding of the cultural mission of the Institute. The publishing house distributed 46,000 school and reading books (value 2431), 370 numismatic books, 207 photographs and 85 new works in 143 volumes through the Polish Radio last year. In 1936, 871 people worked in the Scientific Department of the Museum, and 4523 people visited the Museum, 1693 of them free of charge.