The gazetteer (Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich) was published between 1880 and 1902 under the direction of Filip Sulimierski. It is an excellent gazetteer for locating places in the areas of Poland, both present and past. Coverage includes all localities in the former Polish provinces of Russia, most localities in the former Austrian province of Galicia (now divided between Poland and the Ukraine), Belorussian provinces of the Russian Empire (now in the Republic of Belarus), and also contains significant localities in other Slavic and eastern European nations; Russia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. While the information is a bit less comprehensive, localities from the provinces of Poznan, West Prussia, East Prussia, Silesia, and Pomerania are also covered.

It is an extremely valuable gazetteer in that it indicates the parish for most of the villages. The parish is the most productive place to search for vital records.

Localities are listed alphabetically. Slownik Geograficzny follows the normal Polish alphabetical order except that the o and ó are alphabetized as one letter. Also other pairs (c,c~), (n,n~), (s,s~), and the group (z, z~, z|) are in some cases not alphabetized separately.

If there are several localities with the same name they are numbered. Places in the Kingdom of Poland are listed first, followed by places in Galicia, Ukraine, Byelorussia (Belarus), Prussia and other states. If the locality had a foreign name or alternate spelling it is indicated in italics after the entry. Some entries will refer you to another entry with the abbreviation ob. meaning "see".

Information related to LDS holdings of the Slownik Geograficzny can be found on LDS FamilySearch®.

Slownik Geograficzny Glossary of Unfamiliar Terms

Slownik Geograficzny Index of Translated Entries

Entries usually give the following information:

1. Description of the locality

2. District

(pow., powiat)

3. Community or Township

(gm., gmina)

4. Parish

_{(par., parafia) : This is usually the Roman Catholic parish (par. rz. kat.) unless otherwise specified.
Evangelical Lutheran (par. ew.)
Orthodox (par. prawosl.)
Greek-Catholic Uniate (par. gr. k.)
If the parish is not specified in the entry, refer to the entry for a locality noted as being nearby.}

5. Population figures, agricultural data, number of houses, distance from other localities and other information is given.

Glossary Of Terms And Abbreviations Used In The Slownik Geograficzny