This article was motivated by the centenary (2018) of the seminal sociological monograph Polish Peasant in Europe and America by Thomas and Znaniecki (1918). It shows that classics can be not only occasionally referenced but also read in-depth with the new contemporary concept of social remittances embedded in transnational ties. Reaching for the Polish Peasant in Europe and America aimed this analysis to revisit the preceding passages of migration history and to revitalise the preliminary knowledge about human moves and social change. The article is a reminder and a positioner of Thomas and Znaniecki’s monograph in their contemporary migration historical writings of Central Europe, not commonly referenced in international sociology. The methodology of the qualitative content analysis with retrospective mapping the flow of information in the illustrative cases of migrant families applied in this article, helped to analyse resistance and changes of norms, values, practices and social capital affected by international migration and bundled as social remittances.