The text describes the collections of the branch of the Society of Friends of Science, founded in Vilnius in 1906. Its aim was to collect Polish historical memorabilia. The collections are divided into the departments of pre-historic archaeology, numismatics and medals, ethnography, natural history, art, history and customs, Mickiewicz, and a collection of memorabilia of E. Orzeszkowa (Source: "Ziemia. Tygodnik Krajoznawczy Ilustrowany", Warsaw 1912, no. 20, pp. 4-6, no. 41, pp. 6-8, after: the Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa).

A modernised reading of the text.

Polish collections
Collections of the Society of Friends of Science in Vilnius.

When Polish society in Lithuania gained a little more freedom in 1906, thoughts began in Vilnius about creating an institution for scientific work, which had completely ceased here after the storm of 1863.
In October 1906, a group of people founded the Society of the Friends of Science in Vilnius, drafted a law and got it approved.
Among other things, the Society set itself the task of saving historical mementos, archaeological artefacts and works of art scattered around the country from extinction, as well as collecting ethnographic and natural history collections.
Lithuanian houses and manor houses still contain many relics of the past, which sooner or later perish, either as a result of being taken abroad by traders, carelessness of their owners, incompetent storage or sometimes even bad will. Fire, damp, vermin, mice and thieves also wreak havoc.
It is therefore the duty of people of goodwill who understand the importance of such artefacts for science to save whatever can still be salvaged from destruction and damage. The Vilnius Society of the Friends of Science has taken on this duty in the hope that it will find help in our society. This hope was not disappointed.
The museum started with the collection of the late Ant. Zaborski, donated by his family. These collections, although gathered without a specific plan, nevertheless contained a number of valuable specimens, especially relating to archaeology, numismatics and ethnography.
In 1907, Count Józef Przeździecki donated a small house on the edge of town to the Society. Here, on the ground floor, a library, archive and reading room were set up, and in the staircase and in one room on the first floor - a museum, which soon began to receive gifts and deposits in such abundance that after just a few years there was no more room for them, and it was necessary to think of another, more spacious seat. Mr Hilary Łęski came to the Society's aid, donating 20,000 roubles for the construction of a new house, suitable for the Society's needs. Several other people followed in the footsteps of the generous donor and contributed several thousand more roubles. With this money, the Society bought a square and erected a spacious two-storey edifice on it, dedicating the ground floor to a library, archive, reading room, meeting room and chancellery, and several rooms upstairs to a museum. This year, the ground floor will be finished so that the library, which already contains more than 30,000 volumes, can be moved here. Unfortunately, the Society's funds have run out and the first floor remains unfinished. The museum will therefore have to remain in its present premises until better times, but will gain a few rooms by removing the library from here. As it stands, the museum already has tens of thousands of objects, which cannot be systematically arranged due to the cramped space. It is also now more of a museum specimen repository.
The Society's collections can be divided into nine sections as follows.
1. the department of prehistoric archaeology is undoubtedly the richest and completely organised by Mr Vandalin Shukievich, who has also compiled a detailed catalogue. This section has numerous and rare specimens from the ages of flint, honed stone, bronze and iron. There are extremely rare prehistoric querns, products from silver, clay, glass, amber, amulets, ornaments, weapons, textiles, and finally a collection of prehistoric skulls.
The department of numismatics and medals includes several thousand coins (150 of them gold) and about 600 medals. There are very rare Polish coins, starting from Mieczyslaw I, bracteates, Lithuanian cubic and bar coins. Of coins from other countries, the most interesting are Japanese and Korean openwork, enamelled, painted and porcelain coins. The collection of Chinese coins is beautiful, the oldest of which dates back to 2747 before the birth of Christ. There is a sicil, or machabean stater, in the collection, that is, silver from the time of Christ. In the collection of medals, there are a lot of valuable and rare specimens, such as coronation, wedding and other medals of Polish kings, gold donations and medals minted in honour of leaders, scholars, poets, writers and various commemorative medals.
The religious section is quite modest. A dozen or so old-fashioned chasubles, capes, stoles, burses (some from Slutsk girdles), a Uniate monstrance, some church vessels, a few Catholic and Orthodox paintings and pictures, and a collection of medals, medallions, crosses; this is almost all that this section has. There is also a marten from the 17th century, a Buddhist sculpture on alabaster, a Persian mosaic, a pair of images cast on jasper and pearl shell.
4 The ethnographic department is barely begun. It has a dozen Lithuanian, Samogitian, Belorussian folk costumes; a silk costume of a rich burlat and a kiriuk garment made of reindeer skin. There is a good collection of folk belts and lantels, i.e. carved boards for spinning wheels. In addition, there are wood carved and painted figures of saints from crosses and wayside shrines, eggs, Easter eggs, tools, household utensils and vessels. Particularly noteworthy are wooden carnival masks and the now extinct stringed musical instruments known as "kankle". There are also burnt clay products, some toys, photographs and watercolours of folk types (after the late Jan Karłowicz).
In the natural history section, the best collection is that of birds' eggs (over a thousand), collected by the eminent ornithologist Konstanty Tyzenhauz, whose collection also includes some 150 stuffed birds. Beautifully presented are twenty artistically stuffed domestic animals, such as elk, wild boar, wolf, beaver, lynx and others. The museum has a rich herbarium of Polish and Lithuanian flora, a collection of minerals and shells.
The art department is not as rich as it could be, although it has about 150 oil paintings, many drawings and a beautiful collection of prints; there are works by Czechowicz, Smuglewicz, Rustem, Szeresz, Wańkowicz, Alfred and Edward Romer, Smokowski, Majeranowski, Bogolubov, Shushkin, Orlovsky, Andriolli, Wyczółkowski, Ajchmi, Kotarbiński, Ruszczyc, Janecki, Stanislavski, Cichocki and others. This section has a very valuable and rare engraving by Durer, dating from 1504. There are almost no sculptures, with the exception of a bust of Moniuszko and a medallion of Chopin, made by Cz. Makowski, a bust of a Varsovian woman by Rob. Gersonówna, heads of peasants by Łuszczka and a beautiful head of Christ by M. Antokolski.
7 The history and customs section is quite rich and varied, but not yet in order. The armoury counts several tens of armours, chain mail, helmets, breastplates, firearms and incisive weapons, chequers, bows, arrows, cannon, crossbows, stone balls, etc. It is impossible to list even vaguely the number of weapons. It is impossible to list, even in a cursory manner, the specimens collected here: furniture, clocks, clothing, Polish belts, jewels, orders, Masonic insignia, beautiful rifles, shields, seals, diplomas, ceramics, porcelain, textiles, etc. The most noteworthy items here are a full Lithuanian lancer's uniform from 1812, a beautiful Turkish white silk tapestry embroidered with flowers, which was captured at Vienna, and a particularly splendid and costly horse headdress from Ossoliński's expedition to Rome in 1885. It is all gilded and lavishly decorated with yarrows, rubies, topazes and corals. In addition, there are wrought-iron treasure chests from the 17th century, commemorative plaques, monuments and so on. Also included in this section are souvenirs of famous people such as Queen Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, Prince J. Poniatowski, Niemcewicz, Klaczko, Syrokomla, Tomasz Zana and others, as well as a collection of autographs and letters of kings, leaders, scholars, writers and poets. The last folder holds 58 letters from T. Kościuszko to Józef Sierakowski.
8. in the Mickiewicz section, the poet's table and armchair from the Kaunas period stand out. In the showcase are spread his autographs and a namesake with a poem written by Mickiewicz himself, a portrait of the bard painted from nature on leather by Wańkowicz. On the wall and in portfolios are several dozen likenesses of the poet.
9 The collection of memorabilia of Eliza Orzeszkowa is extremely rich and valuable, as the great writer bequeathed her entire library and collection to the Vilnius Society of Friends of Science before her death. All the gifts she received during her two jubilees ended up here: addresses, albums, works of art, gold pens and jewels. In addition, there are Orzeszkowa's table and armchairs, a writing utensil, a portrait of her mother, her last knitting, manuscripts of several novels, letters and photographs, silver wreaths and 150 ribbons with inscriptions from the wreaths laid on the coffin of the late Mrs Orzeszkowa. Suffice it to say that the total number of objects is more than 300, and during the exhibition in Vilnius they filled the large hall of the 'Lutnia'.
This is the museum collection of the Vilnius Society of Friends of Science. If we consider that they were collected in less than five years, we can hope that in time the Vilnius museum will take a serious place among our institutions of this kind.