Encyclopedia of Ukraine presented to Ukrainian community in Philadelphia (01/05/97)

Encyclopedia of Ukraine presented to Ukrainian community in Philadelphia

TORONTO - The Encyclopedia of Ukraine was presented to the Ukrainian community in Philadelphia on December 7. Although the Encyclopedia of Ukraine five-volume edition edited by Profs. Volodymyr Kubijovych and Danylo Husar Struk appeared in September 1993, this is only the second time that there has been a formal book launch in the United States. The New York community was introduced to the encyclopedia in the fall of 1995.

This second launch was sponsored by the Friends of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine Foundation, the Shevchenko Scientific Society, Philadelphia branch, and the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center in Jenkintown, Pa., where it was held.

Dr. Jaroslaw Zapilsky, president of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, greeted the public and introduced Prof. Oleksa Bilaniuk, member of the editorial board and the subject editor for physics of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, who chaired the evening.

Prof. Bilaniuk, a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NANU), made some introductory remarks about the importance of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, recognized Dr. Volodymyr Bandera, the editor of economics, and introduced the first speaker, Dr. Swiatoslaw Trofimenko, the subject editor for chemistry.

Dr. Trofimenko spoke briefly about the amount of intense work that went into producing the encyclopedia. He stressed its objectivity and importance in the world, and its very timely appearance when the whole world was in need of a reference work about the newly reborn Ukrainian state.

Prof. Bilaniuk then introduced the main speaker, the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Dr. Struk, who is a professor of Ukrainian literature at the University of Toronto, a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NANU) as well as the associate director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), and the director of the CIUS Toronto Publications Office, greeted all in attendance. He thanked Marta Sheprykevych and her committee for organizing the event, the Friends of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine and the Shevchenko Scientific Society for sponsoring it, and the center for hosting the launch.

He then asked that the video about the Encyclopedia of Ukraine's history and publication be shown. The video was professionally produced and first shown at the inaugural launch of the encyclopedia in Toronto in September 1993. It is a tribute to the late founder of the encyclopedia, Dr. Kubijovych, to his successor Dr. Struk and to the dedicated team of subject editors and in-house editors as well as the sponsoring bodies - CIUS, the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies (CFUS) - all of whom made the project possible.

After the video, Prof. Struk spoke about the Encyclopedia of Ukraine in the year 2000. He reported that the Encyclopedia of Ukraine as a reference work will be enhanced greatly as soon as the name index will be added. Work on the name index is almost complete and, if all goes according to plan, it should appear by 1998.

Prof. Struk spoke also about plans to do a second revised and corrected printing of the encyclopedia. This second printing would be done on a CD disk. The technology for such a printing is readily available. All that is needed is the extra funding to make this second printing a reality. Prof. Struk expressed hope that some benefactor will come forward to fund such a printing.

He then informed the audience of the ongoing work to produce a sixth volume of updates. Since the first two volumes appeared in 1984 and 1988, respectively, that is, before the regained independence of Ukraine, the two volumes have to be updated in terminology and to provide information about people who did not make it into these two volumes. As an example, he mentioned such important personages as the two presidents of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma. There are many other persons who must be added. Some major updates and corrections to existing entries have to be done to bring all five volumes up to date.

The index, the CD and the sixth additional volume are all scheduled to appear by the year 2000, making the Encyclopedia of Ukraine as current and as updated as possible, and retaining its importance as the foremost source in English on Ukraine.

Dr. Struk completed his talk by appealing for coordination among the various Ukrainian encyclopedic projects. He talked passionately about the fact that the Ukrainian community cannot afford to simultaneously support various encyclopedic projects, no matter how important all of them are. A means has to be found by which the human resources, the data banks and the financial resources can be pooled and shared so that all of the various projects can attain completion, he underlined.

He then appealed to the audience for support. He pointed out that one of the best ways to support the encyclopedia is to purchase it. He suggested also that people could make sure that their local libraries purchase the encyclopedia by asking for it. Several requests will produce a purchase.

Dr. Struk also drew everyone's attention to the collectors' edition of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. He explained that only 100 such sets, all leather-bound and individually packaged, were printed. Each of the collectors' sets has its own number and is hand-inscribed with the owner's name, thus making each set unique. What's also quite valuable is that the first volume of each collectors' set had been individually signed by the first editor-in-chief, Dr. Kubijovych. About half of these special sets have already been sold. Each set sells for $2,500 and provides a very good investment for bibliophiles and collectors of rare books.

Prof. Bilaniuk introduced the final speaker of the evening, Walter Baranetsky, the president of the Friends of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine Foundation. Mr. Baranetsky spoke about the relationship of the Entsyklopediya Ukrayinoznavstva to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine and once again reaffirmed that the latter, by being an adaptation of the former, is a direct descendant of the Ukrainian version. He touched upon the importance of financial support and expressed willingness to collect money for the completion of the projects outlined by Prof. Struk.

After the formal presentation, the participants were able to examine the whole "family" of Ukrainian encyclopedias from the Ukrainska Zahalna Entsyklopediya of 1935 through the five-volume Encyclopedia of Ukraine of 1993. The exhibit was prepared and displayed by Sophia Hewryk the help of the center's library. Participants were also able to purchase or order sets of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, as well as converse with the speakers while enjoying a glass of wine and partaking of a buffet prepared by the center's committee headed by Dzvinka Zacharczuk.

| Home Page |