A view of the park surrounding the buildings of Resursa Humanitas

view of the park surrounding the buildings of Resursa Humanitas (Humanitas society), now the park Planty. A postcard from the end of the nineteenth century. The collections of the Museum of Archeology and History in Elbląg.
The social clubs of Elbląg
The cultural and social landscape of the city was largely shaped by two social clubs (called resursas from the French word for resources). They were a form of socialization for members of the local elites. In 1789, the Freundschaftlich Kranzchengesellschaft was founded, which transformed into the Humanitas social club in 1810. It resided in a representative building surrounded by the beautiful park (today’s Planty). Inside were, among other things, a restaurant, ballrooms, a reading room and a music pavilion. From time to time, the Philharmonic Society of Elbląg, chaired by Henryk Nitschmann, held musical matinées in the Humanitas. The second social club in Elbląg was the Burgerressource, founded in 1850. It differed from the Humanitas in its more democratic character. A popular entertainment was dances, which took the form of balls during carnival. At the end of the nineteenth century, “plebeian balls” became fashionable in Elbląg: participants dressed up as representatives of the lower classes: laundresses, servants, cooks, stangrets and valets.