Commemorative photography of members of the Volunteer Fire Guard (Ochotnicza Straż Ogniowa, OSO) in Zwoleń, 1904

The photo from 1904 presents members of the Society of the Volunteer Fire Guard (Towarzystwo Ochotniczej Straży Ogniowej, TOSO) established in 1899. Probably, most of the people we see on this photograph belonged to the original composition of the Society.

Not every person is identified, but for sure there are representatives of the first Board of TOSO (third row, from left): head – Stanisław Matulewicz, president – Iwan Szabelski, father Aleksander Bąkowski – member, dr Jan Pawłowski – member, head of amatour theater connected with the Society, deputy heads – Otto Bremer and Konstanty Wasilenko.

The photography was taken by Adela Żychowicz (1863-1916), owner of the photographic studio in New Alexandria (Puławy). It might be that this photo is one of the first works of Adela Żychowicz, because of the fact that she opened her atelier in 1904. Other pieces of her art were presented at exhibition organized by the Central Agricultural Library, branch in Puławy in 2014.

If you could help with identifying people on this photography, contact us: muzeum@zwolen.pl