The Leo Mol Fonds

Leo Mol receiving the Order of Canada from Governor General

Mme. Jeanne Sauvé, at Rideau Hall, Ottawa, 1989  (Leo Mol fonds, Mss 349, PC 308)

In the winter of 2011 the late  Dr. Margareth Mol , the widow of the internationally renowned artist and sculptor, Dr. Leo Mol, donated his archives to the University of Manitoba, Archives & Special Collections.  The collection consists  mainly of textual records, photographs and some artifacts . Included in the Leo Mol fonds, is a comprehensive collection of exhibition brochures  that chronicles Mol’s long and illustrious career.  There is a rich array of correspondence  between Mol and many well-known individuals, including: Cardinal   Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI); Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker; and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  In addition, the collection contains the many awards, accolades and medals Mol received over the years, both nationally and internationally. The Leo Mol Fonds consists of  3.65 m of textual records,  over 2,500 photographs and over 3,000 slides.

Leo Mol, was born Leonid Molodozhanyn,  in Polonne, Ukraine (Khmelnyts’ka oblast’). He studied sculpture at the Leningrad Academy of Arts. In 1945 he fled to Germany from the advancing Soviet army, and moved to The Hague.  In 1948, along with his wife, he emigrated to Canada, and settled in Winnipeg.  Mol started off as a ceramic  artist and then as a church painter, which included creating over 80 stained glass windows, including  those in Winnipeg’s main Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha. He is best known for his sculptures, many of which are displayed at the Leo Mol Sculpure Garden at  Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park. He is one of the very few sculptors to have been commissioned to create a statue of Ukraine’s national bard, Taras Shevchenko, for four separate cities: Washington D.C., Buenos Aires, St. Petersburg and Ottawa.

The Leo Mol Fonds, Mss 349,

PC 308 (A.11-15)

CZAS Polish Press Ltd. Newspaper Collection

 

Czas - Związkowiec, issue no 19 (2012)

Czas (the Times), is the oldest Polish language newspaper weekly in Canada. It was established in Winnipeg in 1914, -- and first published by a local Canadian firm owned and operated by the famous local Czech immigrant, Franciszek Dojacek. From its beginnings, Czas ensured that its Polish roots and content remained intact, as it was closely connected with members of the Polish Gymnastic Association Sokol.  It was through Sokol’s perseverance and guidance that facilitated the creation of the newspaper.   For nearly a century it has remained an invaluable resource of information to the Polish community in Canada – informing new immigrants of local andinternational events, and assisting them with the new challenges and adjustments they face in their new country.  Through the years Czas has http://libguides.lib.umanitoba.ca/slavicstudiesprovided a nonpartisan link between Polish-Canadians, and Polish communities beyond Canada’s borders -- allowing for the free dissemination of information about their ancestral home.

In the Fall of 2003 the executive board of Czas – Polish Press Ltd., agreed to find a permanent home for their collection of bound newspaper issues covering the period of 1915-2003. The Board approached the U of M Archives & Special Collections to house this unique and historical collection of Polish-Canadiana.  On January 2004 the executive board of Czas officially transferred the Czas newspaper collection from Czas – Polish Press Ltd., to the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.  This special collection is now available to faculty, students, researchers and the public at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collection, 331 Elizabeth Dafoe Library. Current issues of Czas are available for the public to view in the Slavic Collections’ newspaper area.

Ukraina - kozats'ka derzhava = Ukraine - a Kozak (Cossack) State

Ukraina kozats'ka derzhava (2007) is considered to be one of the best-known books to be published in Ukraine in recent memory. Consisting of 1215 pages devoted to the history of the Ukrainian kozaky, from the years 1500-1918 (accompanied by over 5,100 illustrations). This extensive and beautifully illustrated volume is edited by Volodymyr Nediak, and contains articles and photographs of famous individual kozaky, battles, artifacts, paintings and architecture. Published in Kyiv, Ukraine, in limited print.

Ukraina kozats'ka derzhava is held in the Rare Book Room of the University of Manitoba, Archives & Special Collection (330 Elizabeth Dafoe Library). Call# Slav RBR DK 508.55 N43 2007.

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.

Polish Amateur Theatre Pamphlet Collection

Chata za wsią, published in Chicago, 1909

The Elizabeth Dafoe Library's Slavic Collection's Polish Amateur Theatre Pamphlet Collection, consists of small format publications of plays written by Polish playwrights and published in Poland and in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. The plays were geared towards amateur theatre groups for the Polish community, and consisted of comedies, dramas, and plays about historical figures in Polish history. 

This collection is available in the Slavic Collection's closed stacks. Please ask the Slavic staff for assistance.

Entsyklopediia Suchasnoi Ukrainy = Encyclopedia of Contemporary Ukraine

 This valuable resource containing entrees related to modern Ukraine, is an ongoing project under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which publishes approximatley one volume a year. It is the first  large scale and exhaustive national encyclopedia produced in independent Ukraine. Among the entrees, are both personalities in Ukraine, and abroad, -- along with major figures in the Ukrainian diaspora. Included on the editorial board,  is the well-known writer, and former Ukrainian dissident, Ivan Dziuba. The first volume of Entsyklopediia Suchasnoi Ukrainy, was printed in 2001.

Entsyklopediia Suchasnoi Ukrainy is available in the Slavic Collection's Reference area, under the call number: Slav Ref AE 60 U4 E54