ENThe article presents the characteristics and summary of the results of research conducted in the years 2013–2019 by an international team of historians at Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, as part of two scientifi c projects under the program of the National Program for the Development of Humanities. Their goal was to catalog and compile the handwritt en diaries and lett ers of Polish authors from the Western Krai in the 19th century, and to conduct research on the image of Polish exiles in Western Siberia in the second half of the 18th and in the 19th century in the eyes of Russians and the Siberian population. Source queries conducted in numerous domestic and foreign archival and library collections (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, France, England) allowed to catalog over 5,000 handwritt en and printed diaries and lett ers of Polish authors from the Western Krai and connected to this area. These studies drew att ention to the scale of the problem in terms of the availability of source documentation on the above topics and the possibility of obtaining it, and indicated the need to continue this research, paying particular att ention to the source and editorial aspects. Key words: Diaries, lett ers, 19th century, Western Krai, Siberia, exile, National Program for the Development of Humanities.