Polish Ethnological Society (PES) [Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze] was established on the 9th February, 1895 in Lviv as Ethnological Society [Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze]. The name was
changed in 1947. This article presents the most important facts from the history of PES (the beginnings, twenty years of interwar period, times after the Second World War) as well as organizational structure (branches and sections) and various activities (publishing, library, archives, Center for Ethnographic Documentation and Information [Ośrodek Dokumentacji i Informacji Etnograficznej], Polish Ethnographic Atlas [Polski Atlas Etnograficzny], Kolberg´s Center [Pracownia Kolbergowska], Opening Education Center [Pracownia Edukacji Otwierającej] and others). International cooperation was also described, including Czech threads. A crucial moment in the functioning of the Society was the change of borders in Central Europe after the Second World War. Lviv was left outside Poland and the head office was moved first to Lublin, then to Poznan. Since 1953 it has been located in Wroclaw.