Elżbieta Ciechanowska

Elżbieta Ciechanowska (18 November 1875, Bochnia – 29 April 1948, Kraków), pen names E.C., E.C. Dulska, E. Cedulska, was a Polish women's rights and labor activist, musician and poet.

Life Born in Bochnia, Ciechanowska moved to Kraków in 1883. She graduated from Kraków conservatory as the best student in harmony class of professor Władysław Żeleński, who called her "Bach" to praise her talent. In years 1894–1903 she kept a diary. Described as a shy and modest person, she decided to not pursue a piano or music teaching career and became a postal clerk.

When the association obtained a plot at 4 Sołtyka Street in 1913, and decided to build its first housing unit, Ciechanowska was part of the first board of the housing coop (with Władysława Habicht and Zofia Kołpy). In 1914 the house was ready, and Ciechanowska lived there with Władysława Habicht. Their relationship has been compared to Boston marriages and read in an LGBT context nowadays, though some, most notably the modern Władysława Habicht Postal Clerk Housing Cooperative, dispute this characterization.

As a writer, she published a drama, Antrakt (lit. Entracte) in 1928; a poetry anthology, Wiersze niemodne (lit. Unfashionable Poems) in 1935; and Kilka prostych uwag o Wyspiańskim (Few Simple Notes About Wyspiański) in 1938. Ciechanowska died on 29 April 1948 in Kraków and was buried at Rakowicki Cemetery.