Mazynski (Ethel M. and Marian J.) Papers, 1884-2002

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Summary

Title:
Ethel M. and Marian J. Mazynski papers
Dates:
1884-2002
Creators:
Mazynski, Ethel M., 1918-2009
Abstract:
Papers belonging to Ethel M. Mazynski and Marian (Marek) J. Mazynski, Polish-Americans who came to the United States after the Second World War and settled in South Pasadena, California.
Extent:
2.3 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Ethel M. and Marian J. Mazynski papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of the four-volume autobiography of Ethel Mary Mazynski and two shorter autobiographical manuscripts by her; two typescript diaries describing the Mazynskis' trip to the United States and their ensuing cross-country journey; assorted military, career, and family records; correspondence with Robert F. Karolevitz and Ross S. Fenn regarding the Kosciuszko Squadron and the book Flight of Eagles : The Story of the American Kos?iuszko Squadron in the Polish-Russian War 1919-1920 / Robert F. Karolevitz and Ross S. Fenn (Sioux Falls, S.D. : Brevet Press, 1974); and photographs and ephemera.

Biographical / historical:

Ethel Mary Callender Mazynski, was born in Gillingham, England, on April 15, 1918. After the early deaths of her parents, Ethel Mazynski was raised by her uncle, a dock worker, and his wife. She attended secretarial school in Portsmouth and worked as a secretary in Malta, where her family lived from late 1934 to 1937. She worked as a secretary in Blackpool during the Second World War and founded the Callender Secretarial Service in 1946. Marian (Marek) Jozef Mazynski, was born on September 7, 1913, in Lwow, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine). A Second Lieutenant serving with the Kosciuszko Squadron in the Polish Air Force, he was imprisoned in various Russian concentration camps during the early part of World War II. He was active in the Polish underground movement under the alias Stanislaw Gerwazowicz Kozlowski. Released by the Russians, he arrived in Britain in 1942 and served in the 303rd (Polish) Squadron of the Royal Air Force. After the war, he was commissioned in the Polish Resettlement Corps and helped to organize a branch of the Polish Air Force Association in Blackpool. After his discharge in 1949, he worked as a draftsman. Ethel and Marek met in Blackpool and married on April 13, 1949. They emigrated to the United States in 1955 and made their way across the country from New York to Los Angeles (partly by automobile) over the next year, stopping to work in Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco, and visiting several Polish Air Force Association chapters along the route. They both became United States citizens in 1961, and in 1964 they settled in South Pasadena, California. Marek worked for the Pasadena branch of the Bank of America. Marek died in 2002, and Ethel died in 2009.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Ethel M. Mazynski, August 2006.
Processing information:

Processed by Dixie M. Dillon in 2007. In June 2025, Brooke M. Black created a finding aid.

Arrangement:

Organized in two series: Series 1. Manuscripts and diaries, 1955-after 2001; Series: 2. Records, correspondence, ephemera, 1884-2002.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Brooke M. Black
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-09-16 09:58:07 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Ethel M. and Marian J. Mazynski papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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