On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of agricultural museology in Polish lands, the National Museum of Agriculture and Food Industry in Szreniawa, Poland, hosted the international conference, “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow of Agricultural Museology,” 18-19 September in Szreniawa, Poland.

The conference recognized the establishment of the Museum of Industry and Agriculture in Warsaw on 5 June 1875, during the period of the Russian partition. The institution played a pivotal role as a scientific and educational center, including Polish intellectuals and conveying practical education in industry and agriculture to the public. The museum operated until 1951. The National Museum of Agriculture and Food Industry in Szreniawa, founded in 1964, continues the mission of the previous museum.

The program included the international conference, the opening of a temporary exhibition dedicated to Polish agricultural and industrial display history, a study visit and an outdoor educational and cultural event.

Fifty-nine people attended the two-day conference. They included representatives of state, university, and private museums, university faculty, and independent researchers. Representatives of institutions that are the successors of the Museum of Industry and Agriculture in Warsaw participated in the conference. These included the National Museum of Agriculture and the Agri-Food Industry in Szreniawa, the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum of Technology in Warsaw, and the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.

Seven people represented European museums: Edouard de Laubrie/ Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations in Marseille, France; Barbara Sosič/ Slovene Ethnographic Museum, Lublana, Slovene; Tamás Dobszay/ Hungarian Agricultural Museum, Budapest, Hungary; Pavel Douša/National Museum of Agriculture in Prague; Jenny Cousins, David Thomson, Lisa Harris/Food Museum, Stowmarket, England. A post-conference publication is in preparation.