The journal was established in 1981, under the auspices of the Houston chapter of the
Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, as
The Houston Sarmatian, obtaining its subsequent title in 1988. In 1999 a nonprofit public foundation, the Polish Institute of Houston, was formed as a cultural and educational institution with the chief purpose of continuing the journal's publication. The journal took its name from "
Sarmatia", a semi-legendary appellation for the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a multicultural state that, from the 16th to the 18th century, included most of Eastern Europe. ==Content==