Founded in 1886 in Lwów by Ksawery Liske as a local society, its scientific journal became the Kwartalnik Historyczny, which was first published in 1887.

[1] In 1939, PTH had 12 branches: Brest, Grodno, Katowice, Kielce, Kraków, Lublin, Lvov, Łódź, Poznań, Przemyśl, Warsaw, and Vilnius.

[1] After World War II, the society was moved to Kraków on January 8, 1947, and to Warsaw on September 28 of that year.

[1] In 1952 PTH had 14 branches: Białystok, Gdańsk, Katowice, Kielce, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Olsztyn, Poznań, Przemyśl, Toruń, Szczecin, Warsaw, and Wrocław.

They are held, on average, every 5 years and are aimed at presenting and summarizing the achievements of Polish historical sciences, as well as setting goals for the future.