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.

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.

New Journal Subscription to Ukraina Moderna

The Slavic Collection has begun a new subscription to the interdisciplinary Ukrainian journal, Ukraina Moderna (Modern Ukraine). It is published semi-annually in Lviv, by Instytut istorychnykh doslidzhen' L'vivs'koho natsional'noho universitetu im. Ivana Franka = The Institute of Historical Studies, the Ivan Franko National University in Lviv. This important academic periodical began publication in 1996, under its editor, Dr. Iaroslav Hrytsak, professor of historical studies, Lviv University.

The most recent issues of this journal are located in the Current Periodical section of the Slavic Collection, Elizabeth Dafoe Library (U of M). Older issues of this journal will be shelved under the Call Number: Slav DK 508 A2 U47.

Polona: the National Digital Library, National Library of Poland

Polona, The National Digital Library = Cyfrowa Biblioteka Narodowa, is a digitization project created under the auspices of the National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa). The digitized material is from the holdings of the National Library, covering the history, literature and culture of Poland. The interface of Polona is for the most part available in both Polish and English, -- allowing for easier navigation thru the site for non-Polish speakers (although a working knowledge of Polish would be a benefit to the user).

The collections are categorized as follows: books; early printed books; ephemera; journals, manuscripts; and visual art.

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.

New Journal Devoted to the Holodomor

The first issue of the new academic journal titled, Holodomor Studies, has been released by Charles Schlacks Jr. Publishers (Idyllwild, CA ). This journal is the first English language periodical to focus solely on this tragic period in Ukrainian history, and will be published semi-annually. It is edited by Dr. Roman Serbyn, Professor Emeritus, Université du Québec à Montréal. Dr. Serbyn was last Fall's guest lecturer for the Annual J.B. Rudnyckyj Distinguished Lecture Series, here at the University of Manitoba.

The Elizabeth Dafoe Library has purchased a subscription to this new journal, which is housed in its Slavic Collection under the call number Slav DK 508.837 H6 , -- with the most current year shelved in the Slavic Collection's Current Periodical section.

Launch of the Electronic Library of Ukraine - ELibUkr

Earlier this year, the National University of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, the V. Karazin National University of Kharkiv, and the IU. Fedkovych National University of Chernivtsi, in collaboration with the Association “Informatio-Consortium” and faculty from the Center for Technology and Innovation Management (CTIM) at Northwestern University (USA), launched the Electronic Library of Ukraine (ELibUkr) = Elektronna Biblioteka Ukrainy. This important project is the first of its kind in Ukraine, which will allow faculty, students, researchers, and international users to have access to research publications of Ukrainian scholars through open-access electronic archives and journals.

U of M Slavic Collection Marks 60th Anniversary

Slavic Collection - Elizabeth Dafoe Library

The year 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Elizabeth Dafoe Library's Slavic Collection. For 60 years, the University of Manitoba Libraries has fostered a special relationship with the Slavic communities in Manitoba. The collection was established in 1949 to support the then newly created Department of Slavic Studies.

The Collection has grown to nearly 60,000 volumes of books, periodicals, newspapers, electronic resources, and microforms (both microfilm and microfiche formats), – all this from the original 2,000 volumes back in 1949. It comprises material in all fourteen Slavic languages, with the majority in the Ukrainian, Polish and Russian languages. These materials support courses and research not only in the Department of German & Slavic Studies, but also the interdisciplinary Central and East European Studies program, and the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies located in St. Andrew’s College.