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).

Historical Encyclopedia of Siberia = Istoricheskaia Entsiklopediia Sibiri

Cover of Volume 1 of the Historical Encyclopedia of Siberia (Istoricheskaia Entsiklopediia Sibiri)

The Historical Encyclopedia of Siberia (Novosibirsk: Izdatel'skii dom "Istoricheskoe nasledie Sibiri, 2010) is the first such encyclopedia covering the histiography of Siberia from ancient to modern times. This important resource covers the region in its entirety, and looks at its  economics, demographics and its historical development over the centuries.

The idea of creating an encyclopedia devoted to Siberia goes back to the early 1930s, but such a project did not materialize until after the fall of the Soviet Union, -- with the completed work published in 2010. The encyclopedia consist of 3-volumes with individual entries arranged in alphabetical order. There are over 4000 articles, reflecting well-known indiviuals, geography, events, etc., -- with about half of them being biographical  sketches of individuals born and/ or associated with Siberia. Accompanying the text are various illustrations, inlcuding: photographs, maps and diagrams. In total, over 400 academics were consulted from over 50 universities or academic institutions, stretching from St. Petersburg in the west, to Vladivostok in the far-east.

 The Historical Encyclopedia of Siberia is available in the Elizabeth Dafoe Library's  Slavic Collection (Call# " Slav DK 761 I885 2010.

The 22nd Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Lecture - Dr. Serhii Plokhy

 

Dr. Serhii Plokhy in the foyer of the
U of M Archives & Special Collections March 20, 2015

 Advertisement for the 2015 J.B. Rudnyckyj Lecture

The 22nd Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture took place on Friday, March 20, 2015, in the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections. The guest lecturer for the event was, Dr. Serhii Plokhy, the Mykhailo Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History (Department of History, Harvard University), and the Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.  His lecture titled, The Empire Strikes Back: The Fall of the USSR and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, discussed the current situation in Ukraine, in the context of the USSR’s breakup in 1991 (based on Serhii Plokhy’s recent book, The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union).

The well-received lecture had over 150 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, Dr. Plokhy continued to answer questions at the reception that followed his talk, and signed copies of his book,  The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union, that were made available courtesy of the University of Manitoba Fort Garry  Bookstore.


Dr. Plokhy has written extensively on the histories of the Russian Empire, the former Soviet Union,  and Ukraine.  Some of his other books include: The Cossack Myth: History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires (2012); Yalta: The Price of Peace (2010); The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Pre-modern identities in Russia, Ukraine & Belarus (2006); Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History (2005); and The Cossack and Religion in Early Modern Ukraine (2001).

Russian Pamphlet Collection

Raszkazy, anekdoty i stseny = Short stories, anecdotes and scenes from plays (Moscow, 1916) 

The Slavic Collection of the Elizabeth Dafoe Library holds a unique collection of small-sized Russian language publications, that were printed mainly in Russia at the turn of the twentieth-century.  These small imprints consist of Russian folk tales, song books, historical epics, etc..  Many of the publications from this collection contain colourful title covers that are reminiscent of the genre of this period.  The collection was donated to the Slavic Collection in 2010 by Professor Basil Rotoff.

This Russian Pamphlet Collection is available in the Slavic Collection's closed stack (inside room 234 Dafoe - The Slavic Collection Office).  Please ask the Slavic staff for assistance.

New Book on the Russian Empire in Colour

Front cover of Nostalgia. The Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II

 One of the restored photos by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, 

showing Georgian tea workers near Chavka, ca. 1910

Starting in 1909 until 1915, chemist and pioneer photographer, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, photographed the various peoples and places that comprised the vast Russian Empire. Using a method involving colour-sensitive glass plates and 3-coloured filters (blue, green and red), Prokudiin-Gorskii was able to capture the diverse nations, folklore and landscapes in colour. With the support of Tsar Nicholas II, the Transportation Ministry provided him with a specially equipped railway car, in order to accomplish this unique project.

Of the nearly 2000 photographs taken, 300 of them were meticulously restored by the Library of Congress, which had purchased the collection back in 1948 (Four years after the death of Prokudin-Gorskii). The restored images are showcased in the book, Nostalgia. The Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II (by the German Publishing House, Gestalten). It is available in the Slavic Collection's Reference area, under the call number,  Slav Ref DK 262 P76 2012, -- with a circulating copy, held in St. Paul's Library (Fort Garry Campus,University of Manitoba).

Natsional'nyi Atlas Rossii = The National Atlas of Russia

National Atlas of Russia = Natsional'nyi Atlas Rossii

The new National Atlas of Russia = Natsional'nyi Atlas Rossii is published by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, and the Federal Agency of Geodesy and Cartography, This is the first major such work since the breakup of the Soviet Union. It consist of 4 volumes: Volume 1: The National Atlas; Volume 2: Nature and Ecology; Volume 3: Populations an Economics; and Volume 4:  History and Culture.  Volume 1 provides information on the general geographic characteristics of the Russian Federation and its regions. --, focusing on the individual political and administrative units of the country. Although Volume 1 provides a historical overview of Russia, Volume 4 provides a more detailed historical account of various periods, with accompanying maps.


 The  National Atlas of  Russia is held in the Atlas Section in the Elizabeth Dafoe Library's Reference Room, under the call number G 2140 F44 2004 t. 1-4.

Izvestiia Digital Archives

Front page of the December 25, 2012 issue of Izvestiia

The University of Manitoba Libraries (UML) has purchased the digital archives database of Izvestiia, the Kremlin’s official newspaper. The paper is available online, from 1917 to 2010, and contains both full-image and text scans of the original newspaper. In addition, the UML, has purchased an online subscription to the newspaper, for the subsequent years, beginning with 2011. The Izvestiia Digital Archive chronicles  Soviet society from revolutionary times to the U.S.S.R.'s break, -- and to the present day Post-Soviet Russia.


East View Information Services' Izvestiia Digital Archives contains over 25,000 continuous issues. With approximately 300,000 photographs and other graphics, and nearly 1,000,000 articles. The Izvestiia Database may be accessed through, the U of M online catalogue, by doing a "journal title" search using the term 'Izvestiia', or through the online Database A-Z link, under the letter "I". Free access is available to current faculty, students, and staff of the University of Manitoba.

Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie (NLO)

 

Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie, issue 115 (2012)

Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie (NLO) [ New Literary Review], is a core journal of theory and history of literature, criticism and bibliography. It is published bi-monthly, and contains articles, reviews, interviews, and essays about Soviet and post-Soviet literary life. One will find discussions by Western and Russian theoreticians, on current and historical trends in Russian literature.

The most recent issues of NLO are displayed on the Slavic Collection’s Current Periodical Shelf, while the older issues are available in the Slavic Collection's main stacks, under the call # Slav PG 2900 N675. In addition, NLO is available electronically to faculty, students, and staff of the University of Manitoba.

History of Modern Russian and Ukrainian Art, 1907-1930 Microfiche Collection

Teatral’noi stroi (A.H. Petryts'kyi) . Kharkiv, 1929

The History of Modern Russian and Ukrainian Art, 1907-1930, is a collection of 106 rare books and serials spanning the years 1907-1930, -- reproduced on microfiche by IDC Publishers in the Netherlands. The collection consists of monographs, critical literature, and art periodicals. Included in the collection are early twentieth century art journals such as Tvorchestvo(Creation), Radians’ke mystestvo (Soviet Art), and Rabis (Art Workers). The collection contains written articles of such notable artists as, Wassily Kadinsky, Pavel Filonov, Kazimir Malevich and Anatolii Petrytsky, -- as well as books by well-known art critics such as Iakov Tugendkhol’d, Erikh Gollerback and Nikolai Punin.

Ukraine, Russia and the other republics of the former USSR underwent a national re-awakening of their languages, literatures, and cultures during the 1920s. The theatre, the fine arts, and the various literary movements looked westward to developing their crafts, -- as a result new publications expounding this new experimental era began being published. Many of the publications produced were often of short print runs, making them scarce from the moment they become available to its readers. With the introduction of Socialist Realism as the only acceptable form of art beginning in the early 1930s, those publications focusing on modernism and the avant-garde were banned, and removed from museums and libraries.

This collection is available to faculty, students and researchers on the main floor of the Elizabeth Dafoe Library’s Microforms area (Call number: N 6988 H57 2000 MFiche Box 1-4). For further assistance, please contact the staff of the Slavic Collection.

20th Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture, with Dr. Timothy Snyder.

Dr. Timothy Snyder speaking at the University of Manitoba

The 20th Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture took place on Thursday, March 29, 2012, in the Moot Court, Robson Hall (Faculty of Law). The guest lecturer for the event was, Dr. Timothy Snyder, a Professor of History at Yale University, and New York Times bestselling author, with his book, Bloodlands: Europe Bewteen Hitler and Stalin. His lecture also titled, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, reflected upon his research on the history of mass murders in central and eastern Europe between 1933 – 1945. His lecture took the mass murders out of isolation and examined them beyond the traditional historical understanding of their causes.

The lecture was very well attended, and included both members of the university and external communities. The lecture was sponsored not only by the U of M Archives & Special Collections, the Slavic Collection (Elizabeth Dafoe Library), and the Department of German and Slavic Studies, but by the Consul General of the Republic of Poland (Toronto), and the Canadian Polish Congress (Manitoba Branch). Without the generous support of the latter 2 sponsors, the event would not have been possible.

The Russian Artistic Literary Journal, Smena

Smena, issue 12 (2011)

The University has recently purchased a subscription to the Russian artistic-literary journal, Smena, focusing on social, historical. literary, and economic issues of Russia. This monthy independent journal contains interviews, commentaries, articles, - as well as original literary works of poetry and prose.

The most recent issues are displayed on the Slavic Collection’s Current Periodical Shelf, while the older issues are available in the Slavic Collection's main stacks, under the call # Slav Per 057 S638

18th Annual Rudnyckyj Lecture

Dr. Jochem Helbeck at the entrance of the

U of M's Archives & Special Collections

The 18th Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture took place on Friday, March 4, 2011, in the U of M Archives & Special Collections. The guest lecturer for the event was, Dr. Jochem Hellbeck, a Professor of History at Rutgers University.

Dr. Hellbeck's talk centered around his partly historical, partly artistic project, in which he was deeply involved over the past year. He (together with Emma Dodge Hanson, a photographer from Saratoga Springs, NY) traveled to Russia and Germany in November 2009, to visit about twenty of the last surviving veterans of the battle of Stalingrad in their homes. Over the course of several weeks of interviews and picture-taking he was able to generate a large number of personal portraits and testimony. This unique project demonstrated the workings of two different memory cultures: the haunting shadows of loss and defeat on the German side, and the culture of national pride and sacrifice in Russia.

The lecture was well attended, and included both members of the university and external communities

Coming Soon to the UML Electronic Resources...

The University of Manitoba Libraries has purchased a subscription to the Russian Social Sciences and Humanities Online Database from Eastview Information Services. This database contains some 80 plus core journals in Russian Studies, including: Druzhba narodov; Novyi mir; Gosudarstvo i pravo; and Isskustvo kino. All articles are available in full-text format, allowing students, faculty and researchers instantaneous access to the articles of these journals.

This interdiscipinary database contains periodicals covering a wide area in Russian Studies - literary studies; socio-economic issues, ethnic relations; political science, linguistics, psychology, etc. This important resource will be up and running on the UML's Articles & Database page within the next month.

The Russian journal -- Russkii iazyk za rubezhom

The University of Manitoba Libraries subscribes to the Russian journal, Russkii iazyk za rubezhom = The Russian language abroad, which discusses Russian language pedagogy, including its teaching to non-Russian speakers. This quarterly journal is published by the Lomonsov Moscow State University, and the Pushkin State Institute of the Russian Language. It is a great resource for those teaching the Russian language at various levels, -- often containing articles by faculty and language instructors, that discuss instructional methods that have proved successful in their own work and research.

The most recent issues are displayed on the Slavic Collection’s Current Periodical Shelf, while the older issues are available in the Slavic Collection's main stacks, under call # PG 2065 A1 R964

New Journal Subscription to Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema

The University of Manitoba Libraries has purchased a subscription (in electronic format) to the journal, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema. This new journal subscription will benefit those students, faculty and researchers in Slavic Studies and/ or Film Studies. The purchase of this subscription is made possible through the J.B. Rydnyckyj Endowment Fund.

Published by Intellect Ltd.(UK), Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, looks at Pre-Soviet, Soviet and Post-Soviet Film. This refereed journal is published 3 times annually in English, -- whose aim is to study the historical aspects of Russian film, as well as focus on the various personalities (past and present) that comprise the world of Russian cinema, including: individual actors, directors, and producers. In addition, there will articles analyzing archival film documents, and a book review section on recent publications on Russian cinema.

Russian Archives Online

Russian Archives Online (RAO) is a digital project of Archives Media Project (AMP), -- a joint venture of Abamedia, and the Russian non-profit Film and Computer World (KIKOM), in cooperation with the Russian State Film and Photo Archives at Krasnogorsk (RGAKFD). AMP is currently creating a digital catalogue of the Krasnogorsk Archives' holdings for the year 1938, focusing on its film and photograph collection. Additional galleries within this site include: Yuri Gagarin: His Life in Photos; Soviet Propaganda Posters; the Romanov Album; and Sergei Eisenstein. One may also view various videos, including: A Look Inside the Krasnogorsk Archives; Soviet Women's Athletic Awards Ceremony; the Soviet Olympic Hockey Team; and the First Soviet Woman in Space.

A recent project completed by RAO is The Khrushchev Years, which was jointly created by Abamedia and the University of Texas at Austin, -- with funding made available through the Carnegie Foundation in New York. The multimudia project, The Khrushchev Years, is currently available in Russian, but will soon be completely translated into English.

Digitized Collection of Russian Civil War Posters from the New York Public Library.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) has digitized 2 separate collections containing posters from the Russian Civil War, titled, Posters of the Russian Civil War, 1918-1922. The first collection was donated by Harold Manchester Flemming, a one-time Christian Science Monitor correspondent; and the other by Paul S. Hall and Dorothy F. Hall, containing both Russian and Ukrainian posters from this era. An additional donation of posters to the NYPL will be digitized in the near future, and uploaded to the site.

The total digitized collection contains 213 posters, placards, and broadsides, comprising one of the largest such collections in North America.

The On-line Collection of the National Library of Russia, in St. Petersburg.

Established in 1795 by Tsarina Catherine the Great, the National Library of Russia , in St. Petersburg (Rossiiskaia natsional'naia biblioteka, Sankt Peterburg) is one of the largest libraries in the world, containing over 34.5 million monographs, journals, newspapers, microforms, etc. Since 1810 it has served as a depository library, receiving a copy of every publication issued in Russia.

The national library is digitizing many of its collections, and placing them online. Some of the digitized material, include: the Churakov Collection of over 55, 000 post cards, depicting scenes of St. Petersburg dating from between the late 1890s -1941; the Zabludov Psalter, printed by Ivan Fedorov in 1570; the first Russian printed newspaper Vedomosti (established in 1702) ; and the Exploration and Settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East digital library.