Students of H. Czarniecka Junior High School in Lublin

The photograph was taken on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the H. Czarniecka Secondary School in Lublin. The jubilee was celebrated very solemnly. In 1937, a group of female graduates formed the Circle of Former Pupils, which convened a reunion and published a one-day publication on the history of the school since its foundation in 1904.

It was the first girls' school in Lublin. It was founded as an expression of concern for the education of young people in a patriotic spirit. It was a time when the values and memory of Poland were upheld in the fields of education, culture and art, realising the postulate of organic work.

Helena Czarniecka treated teaching as a service to the homeland. She was a demanding and somewhat strict person, but all her efforts were for the good of her pupils and resulted from her care for them. That is why many female graduates visited the school many years after their graduation. Crowds also attended the funeral of the founder in 1934.

In the 1930s, folk art, which was considered a mainstay of Polishness, was popularized. This served to develop patriotic attitudes among school children and deepen their knowledge of folk traditions of the region. The outfit in which the girls in the photo are posing, was considered a showpiece of the Lublin region. Contributing to the popularization of this costume was Janusz Świeży, ethnographer and painter, who for many years conducted research on the folk costumes of the Lublin region. He designed the costumes for a popular performance called Wesele Lubelskie (The Lublin Wedding), based on folk rituals. The performance, in which students from some of Lublin's schools participated, won great acclaim in Lublin and in Krakow, where it was staged on Kraków Days in 1937.