A Guide to the Archival and Manuscript Collection of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S., New York City

Research Report No. 30 A GUIDE TO THE ARCHIVAL AND MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION OF THE UKRAINIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES IN THE U.S., NEW YORK CITY A Detailed Inventory Yury Boshyk Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies University of Alberta Edmonton 1988 Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies University of Alberta Occasional Research Reports Publication of this work is made possible in part by a grant from the Stephania Bukachevska-Pastushenko Archival Endowment Fund. The Institute publishes research reports periodically. Copies may be ordered from the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 352 Athabasca Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E8. The name of the publication series and the substantive material in each issue (unless otherwise noted) are copyrighted by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. PRINTED IN CANADA Occasional Research Reports A GUDE TO THE ARCHIVAL AND MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION OF THE UKRAINIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES IN THE U.S., NEW YORK CITY A Detailed Inventory Yury Boshyk Project Supervisor Research Report No. 30 — 1988 Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta Dr . Yury Boshyk Project Supervisor for The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Research Assistants Marta Dyczok Roman Waschuk Andrij Wynnyckyj Technical Assistants Anna Luczka Oksana Smerechuk Lubomyr Szuch In Cooperation with the Staff of The Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S. Dr. William Omelchenko Secretary General and Director of the Museum-Archives Halyna Efremov Dima Komilewska Uliana Liubovych Oksana Radysh Introduction The Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the United States, New York City, houses the most comprehensive and important archival and manuscript collection on Ukrainians outside Ukraine. For this reason, and as part of the Ukrainian "archives project" initiated by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), both this institution and the Ukrainian Academy agreed to cooperate to catalogue this collection, in order to provide scholars and researchers with a detailed description of the Academy's valuable primary source materials. Over the summer months, from 1985 to 1987, the staff of the Academy and its Director of Archives, Dr. William Omelchenko, worked to prepare this guide with research assistants from Canada. Direct funding was provided by the CIUS over this period. The history of the Ukrainian Academy in the diaspora is well documented, but the beginnings of the archival and manuscript collection after World War II, catalogued in this guide, were very difficult and somewhat modest. 1 The Academy was given a mandate by the Museum of the Ukrainian Liberation Struggle in Prague to collect archival and published materials for the future archives of a Free Ukraine. Very soon afterward, the Soviet authorities closed the Prague archive and shipped its invaluable collection to the Soviet Union. Efforts by Ukrainians in Canada and the United States to save this collection were too late, and were hampered by a lack of appreciation of its historical and cultural significance. Thus, members of the Ukrainian Academy, themselves recent political exiles and refugees, began their work under difficult circumstances in the postwar ruin of occupied Germany. Housed in "Displaced Persons" (DP) camps that were no more than former army barracks, with an uncertain political and economic future, these dedicated individuals developed a network of educational and scholarly communities in almost all of the larger Ukrainian DP camps throughout Germany and Austria. Although the primary emphasis was on the production and collection of published materials, archives were not neglected. The first items, acquired in May 1945, were early twentieth-century Ukrainian calendars from Winterberg ( Sudetenland) , and handwritten manuscripts of the poet Iurii Chorny. They were housed under a staircase in a housing block of the DP camp at Augsburg (Somme Kaserne), in a box that had once contained American food supplies. During this period the Academy was successful in creating a centralized archival network. Each center or branch in the camps was to maintain careful camp records and collect seven copies of each publication: one was to remain in the local archive, while six were to be sent to the central archives in Augsburg to be redistributed to the other archives in the n . network. As we have mentioned, the purpose of collecting on such a scale and in such a methodical manner was to maintain a careful record of this era for future deposit in archival repositories and libraries in a Free, that is, non-Soviet, Ukraine. It should be kept in mind that at this time, in the immediate postwar era, a common assumption and hope existed that all would soon return home to a free society. Although this sense of certainty soon passed, these DP archival centres continued to collect materials. Augsburg, the centre of the Academy library and archives, not only acted as the central "clearing house" but was also responsible for collecting materials that were destined for deposit in Kiev. Other centres collected for Lviv (Karlsfeld, later Berchtesgaden—Library of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, directed by Volodymyr Doroshenko); Kharkiv (the British Zone — the Shevchenko Museum, Leonid Bachynsky); and Prague ( Ashchaf f enburg , directed by Arkadii Zhyvotko) . The Ukrainian Free University (UFU) in Munich and the Vatican archive also received materials. The system proved highly efficient, since, in five years, the Academy managed to collect ninety percent of the publications produced in the DP camps in the American zone of Germany and many important archival collections. The collection grew to fill a room, then two, and was later housed in two halls in the DP camp in Ulm. Owing to the emigration of many Ukrainians overseas, the collection was prepared for shipment in 1949, and the transfer to New York was achieved in 1952 with the aid of the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC). The system became much more decentralized. The "Kharkiv Collection" was moved to Winnipeg and incorporated into the Museum of the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center (Oseredok). The "Prague Collection" was eventually incorporated into the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in Cleveland, while the "Lviv Collection" found a home in Philadelphia, and was partially transferred to the Shevchenko Scientific Society ( NTSh ) in New York. The "University Collection" remained at the UFU in Munich. In time, the Ukrainian Academy archives came to occupy premises in New York more in keeping with their ever- expanding size. At first the archives were housed in some rooms of a building owned by Myron Surmach, then on the premises of the organization "Samopomich" . Finally, in 1961, a building that had been a public library on 100th Street West was purchased, and this became the Academy's permanent home Today the archives, or Museum-Archives, are organized in three sections: Publications, Documents and Manuscripts, and in . (Museum) Artifacts. The Documents and Manuscripts section contains materials of various writers, personal correspondence of literary, cultural, and political figures, and that of other leading Ukrainians. It includes collections of documents of many institutions and community organizations, including those of the DP camps. Much credit for the Academy's acquisitions and cataloguing program should be given to the late Dr. Volodymyr Miiakovsky, director of the Museum-Archives and a president of the Academy. The section of Artifacts, which only became an official section in 1962, contains artwork, folk crafts, postcards, photographs, maps, stamps, and posters. The organization of this guide and inventory follows a standard format for each of the alphabetical entries. Where possible we have provided background information on the collection and the individual's (or organization's) history, usually detailed in the category referred to as "prosopographic data". There are three parts to this work: the Manuscript Collection; Map Collection; and the Sound Archives Besides cataloguing the Academy's collection, the researchers on this project also prepared an inventory of materials relating to Ukraine and Ukrainians in repositories in the New York City area, including Connecticut, New Jersey and Philadelphia. This second volume is still in manuscript form and copies are housed with the CIUS in Edmonton and with the Manuscript Division (Ethnic Section), National Archives of Canada, Ottawa. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the cooperation and assistance extended by Dr. William Omlechenko and the Academy staff. Professor George Y. Shevelov, Professor Yaroslav Bilinsky, Mrs. Olha Kuzmovych, Ms. Darka Horodecka, and many others in New York. The Directors of the CIUS, first Dr. Manoly Lupul and then Dr. Bohdan Krawchenko, were most supportive. Funds to prepare the final draft of the manuscript were provided through the generous assistance of the Stephania Bukachevska-Pastushenko Archival Fellowship Fund, administered by the CIUS. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the dedication and commitment to the project shown by the research assistants. Their task was difficult, but I believe that they found the assignment as rewarding and intellectualy gratifying as it was for me. We were all motivated by the hope that the Academy's outstanding collection would become a source of creative research for many years to come. Dr. Yury Boshyk Adjunct Professor, York University Toronto, 1988 Note 1. For the

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