Kino - The Polish Cinema Journal

The University of Manitoba Libraries has purchased a subscription to the the Polish Cinema periodical titled, Kino. It is housed in the Slavic Collection under the call number Slav PN 1993 K475 , -- with the most current year shelved in the Slavic Collection's Current Periodical section.

This monthy periodical published in Warsaw by Wydawnictwo Czasopism RSW "Prasa-Książka-Ruch", covers current Polish cinema, as well as commentaries on films produced internationally. Kino will support the Polish Civilization course that is taught through the U of M's Department of German & Slavic Studies.

Ukrainian Literary Avant-Garde Periodical Collection

Cover of issue #1(1924) of Hart Almanakh (Kharkiv, Ukraine)

The University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections' Rare Book Room holds the Ukrainian Literary Avant-garde Periodical Collection. The collection includes such titles as Nova heneratsiia (The New Generation), Chervonyi shliakh (The Red Pathway), Krytyka (Criticism), Pluh (The Plough) and Hart (Tempering). All were published in Ukraine between the mid-1910s to the 1930s. A significant number of literary journals appeared in print during the 1920s – a time of great excitement and experimentation in the Arts. Ukraine as well as the other Soviet republics at the time were undergoing a national re-awakening of its language, literature, and culture. 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. Among the literary figures that were most closely associated with these publications include: Ivan Dniprovs’kyi., Volodymyr Sosiura, Pavlo Tychyna, Mykola Kulish and Mykola Khvyl’ovyi.

This unique collection of journals in their original paper/print format is available to faculty, students and researchers.

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.