Wlodek Batog (University of Warsaw professor and conference organizer), Penny Messinger, and Phillip Payne
Dr. Penny Messinger, associate professor of history, presented historical research from her book manuscript during the 21st Professor Andrzej Bartnicki Forum for the Advanced Studies of the United States “America and the World: A Reciprocal History of Influence and Exchange” at the University of Warsaw June 26-28.
Messinger, a historian, embarked on a research project in 2012 with Dr. Andrew Wise, professor emeritus of history. The book, which is currently untitled, focuses on Anna Reinstein, a physician, and her husband, Boris Reinstein, a professional revolutionary, and the work they did in the 1890s to organize Polish immigrant workers in Buffalo through the socialist labor party.
“The story is incredibly dramatic,” said Messinger. She noted that when Anna and Boris came to Buffalo, they were political radicals. “Boris was convicted of bomb making and served time in a Paris prison. Anna decided to migrate to the U.S. to start her medical practice while her husband was serving his sentence. He migrated to Buffalo after he finished his term,” Messinger added. “The Buffalo area has a number of Reinstein names like libraries and Reinstein Woods. That’s the same family,” she said.
Display of artifacts related to the Reinsteins at the Cheektowaga Historical Museum
Western New York has the second largest Polish diasporic community in the U.S. behind Chicago. Messinger spent countless hours in the Cheektowaga Library culling through various artifacts, including correspondence, books, newspapers, and medical records from the archives of Anna’s medical practice. Messinger described her experiences teaching in Poland and learning about the country, noting that, “Polish history is very complicated, but it’s also so much at the center of 19th and 20th century world history. It offers a lot of different points of connection to today,” she said.
Messinger is co-authoring another historical research book—Explanatory Footnotes: A Guide to the American History Wars for Educators and Citizens—with her husband, Phillip G. Payne, a fellow historian. The book is expected to be published later this fall.