Polish Biographical Dictionary

Polski Słownik Biograficzny (PSB; Polish Biographical Dictionary) is a Polish-language biographical dictionary, comprising an alphabetically arranged compilation of authoritative biographies of some 25,000 notable Poles and of foreigners who have been active in Poland – famous as well as less well known persons, from Popiel, Piast Kołodziej and Mieszko I, at the dawn of Polish history, to persons who died in the year 2000. The Dictionary, published incrementally since 1935, is a work in progress. It currently covers entries from A to S and its completion is expected about 2030.

The PSB is, by its own assessment, "at present... one of the world's leading biographical publications." Outside Poland, it is available at the British Library, the Library of Congress, the Vatican Library, the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, the Getty Museum, and many other national and major research libraries.

As of August 2014, 48 volumes have been produced, with entries to "Sz". The latest installment, fascicle 200, the third of volume 49, covers entries "Szumański, Mieczysław – Szwencki, Fryderyk".

The Dictionary's current 47 volumes (well into "S") range in length from 480 to 830 pages, for a total of over 28,000. Some 8,000 individuals have contributed to the Dictionary. Most of its contents are available only in paper form.

Though not a comprehensive source on all notable Poles, the Dictionary is substantial and well-respected. Brock et al. write that the "'Polish Biographical Dictionary' is one of the major achievements of the humanities in 20th-century Poland. The entries reflect the multicultural and multiethnic composition of the pre-partition Polish state [...]. Therefore the dictionary is not 'a biographical dictionary of Poles,' but rather 'a Polish biographical dictionary,' including entries on prominent foreigners who lived in the country as well as representatives of national minorities."

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