Summary

The article endeavours to analyse calendars published in Cracow for the people: "Landlord" (1896-
1913), "The Pole" (1903-1913), "The Polish Mariański Calendar" (1903-1913) and "The Home
Country Calendar" (1909-1914). Calendars for the people played a key role in the conveyance of
various information to the rural community, especially in the second half of the XIX century, after the
granting of property rights to peasants, during the period of educational development in the rural areas
as well as at the outset of the XX century. For many readers among the masses they often constituted
the only form of contact with the written word,the only source of practical information and knowledge
of the world. Therefore, its role in the upliftment of education in the rural areas, the dissemination of
knowledge about polish history, the question of independence and patriotism cannot be overestimated.
At the turn of the XIX and XX centuries they also constituted one of the means of promoting reading
in the rural areas.