Public History Writing
Public History Writing
Dr. Lubienecki has contributed regularly to the New York History Review and Western New York Heritage Magazine since 2013. These essays bring archival research to a broad audience, covering Catholic history, labor history, immigration, and the built environment of Western New York. All six pieces listed here have live URLs and can be read in full.
[Timon's Treasure: The Forgotten Reliquary of St. Joseph's Cathedral](/public-writing/timons-treasure)
Western New York Heritage Magazine, Winter 2017
Tells the story of a nineteenth-century reliquary at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Buffalo, gifted by Pope Pius IX to Bishop John Timon. Dr. Lubienecki discovered the reliquary through archival research during his tenure as cathedral archivist. The piece documents its history and its return to permanent display.
[Catholic Labor Education On The Great Lakes: Fr. John Boland and the Diocesan Labor College of Buffalo](/public-writing/labor-education-great-lakes)
New York History Review, January 16, 2015
Profiles Fr. John Boland and the labor college he founded in Buffalo, one of the most important Catholic labor education institutions in the Northeast. The Boland Center for the Study of Labor and Religion, which Dr. Lubienecki founded, is named in his honor.
[How the Piarists and the Docent Saved Frank Lloyd Wright's Graycliff](/public-writing/piarists-graycliff)
New York History Review, July 24, 2013
The story of how the Graycliff estate in Derby, New York, was rescued from neglect and restored through the combined efforts of the Piarist Fathers and a community of dedicated volunteers. Companion piece to his 2017 book on Graycliff.
[German-Prussian Immigrants on the Niagara Frontier](/public-writing/german-prussian-immigrants)
New York History Review, July 7, 2018
Traces a migration of approximately 1,600 Lutheran immigrants from Prussia to Niagara County, New York in 1843 and examines how they built community institutions in their new home.
[Cross and Flag: The Buffalo Eucharistic Congress of 1947](/public-writing/cross-and-flag)
New York History Review, August 27, 2020
Documents the 1947 Provincial Eucharistic Congress held in Buffalo, which drew 557,000 pilgrims. The essay places the event in the context of Cold War anti-communism and Catholic patriotism in postwar America.
[The Community of True Inspiration at Eben-Ezer](/public-writing/community-true-inspiration)
New York History Review, August 2024 (updated September 2025)
Reconstructs the history of a German Inspirationist religious community that settled near Buffalo in 1842 and relocated to Iowa a decade later, where they became the Amana Colonies.