Oskar Kolberg
Henryk Oskar Kolberg (22 February 1814 – 3 June 1890) was a Polish ethnographer, folklorist, and composer active during the foreign Partitions of Poland. Life. Kolberg was born in Przysucha, the son of the German Julius(z) Kolberg, a professor of the Warsaw University, and Fryderyka "née" Mercoeur, Warsaw-born while being of French descendance. His family's acquaintances included Samuel Linde, Nicolas (Mikołaj) Chopin (father of Frédéric Chopin), and Kazimierz Brodziński. He is best known for his work titled "Lud" (re-published as "Dzieła Wszystkie"), a compilation of folk traditions from all the Polish regions. Between 1857–1890 he published  33 volumes, and after his death, a further 3 volumes were published. The compilation contains 12,000 folk songs, 1,250 folk tales, 670 fairy tales, 2,700 proverbs, 350 riddles, 15 folk spectacles and many other ethnographic documents. Kolberg also compiled some ethnographic information on neighboring regions. He died in Kraków.