Co wiemy o Muzeum Branickich? Listy Jana Sztolcmana do Benedykta Dybowskiego ze zbiorów poznańskiego oddziału Archiwum PAN – interesujący przyczynek dla historii zbiorów przyrodniczych w Polsce

In 1887 Ksawery Branicki founded a zoological museum. The private institution was to protect Warsaw’s natural collections against possible confiscation by the Russian authorities during anti-Polish repressions. The museum existed for 32 years until it was passed to the Polish nation in 1919, and the National Museum of Natural History was created. Jan Sztolcman managed the Branicki Museum throughout its entire existence. This museum was one of the most important zoological collections in Europe, especially famous for its rich ornithological collections from South America and Asia. The article analyses available, today very fragmented, sources of knowledge about the history of the Branicki Museum, and also presents the hitherto unknown correspondence of Jan Sztolcman with Benedykt Dybowski on the exchange of specimens between the Branicki Museum and the Museum of the University of Lwow.