25 Years of The J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture Series

                     Dr. Jaroslav B. Rudnyckyj (1910 -1995)
            Winnipeg Tribune Personality Newsclippings Index,
                           Winnipeg Tribune fonds, A81-12

             Poster of the First Lecture with Serhiy Holovaty

          Poster of the Second Lecture with Chrystia Freeland

          Poster of the Thirteenth Lecture with Andrei Kurkov

On March 8, 2018, the J.B. Rudnyckyj Lecture Series presented its 25th talk, with guest speaker, Andreas Umland.  The roots of the lecture series go back to June 1992, when the late Dr. Jaroslav B. Rudnyckyj established the J.B. Rudnyckyj Endowment Fund. The newly created fund was to facilitate the growth and promotion of the Slavic Collection (Elizabeth Dafoe Library), by way of new acquisitions, as well as the preservation, maintenance and growth of the Slavic portion of the U of M Archives & Special Colelctions. In addition, the funds was to sponsor an annual lecture series, that would bring to the University of Manitoba, an internationally acknowledged scholar, to speak on a topic of interest to those pursuing Eastern European and/ or Slavic Studies.

The very first J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture took place on November 3, 1994 with guest speaker, Serhiy Holovaty, independent Ukraine's first Minister of  Justice.  Since that time, the lecture committee has invited numerous esteemed scholars and personalities to come speak  at the University of Manitoba. Some of the past Rudnyckyj Lecture guest speakers include: Chrystia Freeland, former deputy editor of the Financial Times and current Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs; noted Canadian journalist, Victor Malarek; former Minister of Environmental Protection, and Ukraine's former ambassador to Canada, Yuri Scherbak; contemporary Ukrainian writer and activist, Oksana Zabuzhko; acclaimed Ukrainian writer and novelist, Andrei Kurkov; prominent author and historian; Timothy Snyder;  and the Mykhailo Hrushevsky professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard University, Serhii Plokhy.

Jaroslav Bohdan Rudnyckyj was born in 1910 in Peremyshl, Galicia. He studied at the University of L’viv, where he obtained his M.A. in 1934, and his Ph.D  in 1937,  having specialized in Slavic philology and the onomastics (geographical place names) of eastern Europe. To continue these and other studies abroad, he left his homeland in 1937, staying for a short time in Berlin, Rome, and Paris, before lecturing in Slavic philology at the Ukrainian Free University in Prague. In 1949, shortly after his immigration to Canada, he was appointed chairman of the newly created Department of Slavic Studies at the University of Manitoba, a position he held until 1976. He also served as a professor with the Ukrainian Free University  in Munich (1943-1980).

The 24th Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture with Bohdan Krawchenko

 Poster for the Lecture Event (designed by Solomiya Shavala)

Dr. Krawchenko's talk at the U of M Archives & Special Collections 

The 24th Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture took place on Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections. The guest lecturer for the event was, Dr. Bohdan Krawchenko.  Dr.  Krawchenko began his talk, titled, Global (Dis) Order and Ukraine,  with providing an overview of the recent global, economic, political, and social changes. He spoke about the rise of nationalist and populist forces in the United States and in Europe, and how these forces challenge the established liberal and democratic values. In addition, the rise of an aggressive Russia,with a nationalist agenda, also poses a challenge and threat to the western democracies. Krawchenko successfully tied this in to the current situation in Ukraine, and how Ukrainian society has adapted and emerged with a vision on how to overcome many of the challenges currently facing it. After years of having Russia as its largest trading partner, the war, has forced Ukraine to become more competative in the global market, and seek new trade partners and opportunities . In the end this will be beneficial to Ukraine, and recent statistics have shown this to be true.

Bohdan Krawchenko is the director of the University of Central Asia (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)  a bold educational initiative focused on the mountain communities of Central Asia and Afghanistan. While working in Ukraine, he directed the first institution to train civil servants and headed the Soros Foundation’s regional program on local governance. Dr. Krawchenko is also the former director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.
 
The well-received lecture had around 100 members of the university and external communities in attendance. The talk was sponsored by the U of M Archives & Special Collections, the Slavic Collection (Elizabeth Dafoe Library), and the Department of German and Slavic Studies. Following the lecture, Bohdan Krawchenko continued to answer questions at the reception that followed his talk.

The Ukrainian National Home Association Fonds

 

The Ukainian National Home Choir, Winnipeg, MB, 1929 (With conductor, Yevhen Turula, shown seated second row, centre). The Ukrainian National Home of Winnipeg Photograph Collection, PC 331. U of M Archives & Special Collections.

Ukrainian School. Ridna Shkola. Ukrainian National Home, Winnipeg, MB, 1916 (Yuriy Genyk is the teacher shown standing in the top row, centre). The Ukrainian National Home of Winnipeg Photograph Collection, PC 331. U of M Archives & Special Collections.

The Ukrainian National Home Association (‘Ukrains’kyi  Narodnyi  Dim’) was founded in Winnipeg in 1913, after discussions that had begun as early as 1905. The Association in Winnipeg was the foundation for the movement which established a network of Ukrainian National Home Associations throughout Western Canada.  The Ukrainian National Home Association was a secular organization designed to support the cultural and educational needs of Ukrainian Canadians, regardless of their religious or political views or affiliations.  The building, located at the corner of McGregor Street and Burrows Avenue, eventually housed an auditorium for dramatic and musical presentations and concerts, meeting rooms, a library, a banquet hall,  a Ukrainian school (ridna shkola), and lodgings.  In later years, the Association funded and housed Ukrainian language courses sponsored by the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies at the University of Manitoba, during the tenure of Dr. Natalia Aponiuk as Director of the Centre and a long-time member of the board of directors of the Association. In the spring of 2011, the membership of the Ukrainian National Home, at the suggestion of the chair, Dr. Natalia Aponiuk,  voted to  to donate their archives and library holdings to the University. 

In May of that year, the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections acquired the Ukrainian National Home fonds, consisting of the organization’s textual records, photographs, rare books and artefacts.  In addition, the Elizabeth Dafoe Library’s Slavic Collection was gifted the remainder of the library, which chronicled nearly one hundred years of Ukrainian Canadian history.  One other important decision was made during the spring meeting, the association created an archival fund and a scholarship at the University of Manitoba. The Ukrainian National Home fonds, are available to view at the U of M Archives & Special Collections.