Polish Poster Collection at the Rochester Institute of Technology

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York State, has digitized over 440 Polish cultural posters that are held in its Archives & Special Collections. The RIT's Archives holds approximately 600 such posters which were donated by Joanne Szabla, an RIT faculty member of art history. Of these, nearly nearly two-thirds have been digitized through grant funding. The Polish Poster Collection's individual images are accessible via the RIT's online catalogue, Einstein, by simply doing a "Subject" search using the terms, "Polish Posters". Each poster is catalogued separately, and therefore contains an individual catalogue record. In addition, each catalogue record contains 3 separate links, that allows one to view the poster as: a thumb nail image; a screen size image; and a high resolution image.

RIT's Polish Poster Collection consists of posters that showcase Polish tourism, cultural events and institutions. Some of the images include the art work of such notable Polish artists as Waldemar
Swierzy and Henryk Tomaszewski.

17th Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture

Photo courtesy of Dr. Oksana Zabuzhko

On Thursday, November 19, 2009, the 17th Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture took place at the U of M Archives & Special Collections (330 Elizabeth Dafoe Library). This year's guest speaker was the celebrated Ukrainian writer, critic and public figure, Dr. Oksana Zabuzhko. Dr. Zabuzho's lecture was titled, "The Death of Don Juan: Modernism, Feminism, Nationalism - Rethinking Ukrainian Literature". She spoke on the theme of the Don Juan legend, and how the renowned Ukrainian writer Lesia Ukrainka, reworked this legend in her best known drama, Kaminnyi hospodar = The Stone Master, so as to make the central character a woman, Donna Anna, rather than the traditional male figure of Don Juan. Dr. Zabuzhko also spoke on how this traditon of the Ukrainian heroine reverberates throughout Ukrainian history and culture, and how it eventually paved the way for Ukraine gaining her independence in 1991.

Members of the university and external communities attended this special event. Following the lecture, a reception was held, allowing those attending the lecture to meet and speak with Dr. Zabuzhko. In addtion, she kindly autographed several of her books that are held in the Elizabeth Dafoe's Slavic Collection.

Wielkopolska Digital Library = Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa

Wielkopolska Digital Library = Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa is an initiative of both academic and public libraries of Poznań, Poland, to digitize hundreds of archival documents, manuscripts, literary works, educational material (including course notes and handbooks), and musical scores and notes. It is the largest such digitized consortium in Poland, -- offering a wealth of rare and modern publications devoted to Polish Studies.

The Wiekopolska Digital Library's interface is available in Polish, English, French, German and Czech. In addition, the collection can be searched by author, keyword, format, date, publisher, etc. All of the digitized material can be downloaded free of charge.

2009 AAASS Conference in Boston

The 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) Conference will take place in Boston, Massachusetts, from November 12-15, 2009. AAASS is a non-profit, non-political organization, dedicated to the advancement of scholarly research about the former Soviet Union (including Eusrasia), and Central and Eastern Europe.

The annual conference brings together the leading international scholars in the areas of Slavic Studies, Baltic Studies, Central Asian Studies, Caucasus Studies, Balkan Studies, and Germanic Studies. As part of the conference, there are special sessions dedicated to Slavic librarians, archivists and curators, -- allowing for the exchange of information about collection development, research opportunities, and new scholarly resources. The conference provides an excellent opportunity to those vendors specializing in Slavic Studies, to meet with faculty and subject bibliographers.

Msgr. Dr. Alexander Baran Memorial Event

Msgr. Dr. Alexander Baran Memorial Event

Photos by Mr. Bob Talbot, U of M Photographer

On Friday, September 18, 2009, the U of M Archives & Special Collections hosted a special event to honour the memory of one of its donors, Msgr. Dr. Alexander Baran.

The official portion of the event consisted of a few of Monsignor Baran’s colleagues and friends sharing some personal thoughts and memories of the man, -- followed by a reception in the Archives. Speaking at the event were: Dr. Oleh Gerus representing the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Canada, UVAN (Ukrains’ka Vil’na Akademiia Nauk u Kanadi), and also a longtime friend and colleague of Msgr. Baran, of the University of Manitoba’s Department of History; Dr. John Wortley, Professor Emertus, Department of History, and longtime friend and colleague; Dr. Christine Butteril, Dean of Studies, St. Paul’s College, University of Manitoba, a college with which Monsignor Baran had had a long affiliation with; Dr. Roman Yereniuk, Acting Director of the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies, University of Manitoba, a colleague of Msgr. Baran both at the University of Manitoba, and UVAN; and Ms. Irene Gajecky, whose family had been friends of Monsignor Baran, for many many years, and whose tireless assistance with his archives has been of invaluable help.

The U of M Archives & Special Collection is honoured to be the recipient of the Alexander Baran fonds. This archival collection is a treasure trove of information for any researcher or scholar interested in Transcarpathian history and culture, as well as the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church both here in Canada and Ukraine. His archives spans his entire life: from his childhood; to his life as a seminarian and a priest; and his many years as a scholar and faculty member with the University of Manitoba's Department of History. There are dozens of photographs which serve as a chronology of his life, and pages upon pages of textual records focusing on his scholarly research, and the the many national and international cultural, academic and religious organizations that he was associated with through the years, including serving as president of UVAN, as well as president of Oseredok, the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre here in Winnipeg. His archival collection has been processed, and an inventory of his whole collection is available online to assist local, national and international researchers.

The Prairie Immigration Experience Website

The Prairie Immigration Experience website is a collection of nearly 15,000 digitized archival documents, including diaries, correspondence, photographs, and audio and video recordings from the holdings of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, the University of Saskatchewan Archives, and the archives of Oseredok, the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre. These archival records detail the experiences of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants of varied nationalities and ethnicities, who came to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Brett Lougheed, the Digital Archivist of the U of M Archives & Special Collections, was the person who helped coordinate this important project, and ensured that many of the U of M’s ethnically related collections (including those comprising the Archives of the Ukrainian Canadian Experience) appeared on this site.