Glints of history (12/07/97)

Glints of history

The newly dedicated Ukrainian Cultural Research Center in Stamford encompasses the collections of the diocesan museum, library and archives, containing items that reflect Ukrainian history and culture over more than five centuries and from many countries. Below is just a small sample of some of the exhibits and information available, by no means comprehensively representative, of what was seen, or spoken about, during the opening day.

Handwritten original, in Latin, of the first census taken of Ukrainian-Ruthenian Greek-Catholic parishes in the U.S. Commissioned by the Vatican, the census was conducted in 1905, and used to support the request that a Greek-Catholic bishop be sent to the U.S. The census lists 500,000 faithful, with the two largest parishes located in Jersey City and Brooklyn, at 10,000 parishioners each.
One of the original copies of the "First Map of the Sovereign Ukrainian Republic" issued in 1918. Printed in Vienna, by the renowned firm of map publishers Freytag and Berndt, the map is meticulously bordered with a hand-drawn Ukrainian embroidery pattern, and all the information is in Ukrainian. Even the publisher's name, which had also appeared on earlier maps of Ukraine, but in Latin letters, was transcribed in Cyrillic, and handwritten.
An original copy from October 1919 of the Ukrainian-language newsletter, Ranna Zoria (The Morning Star), the "official organ of the Ukrainian Women's Alliance," a diaspora organization. On the front page of the issue appears an appeal in support of the Ukrainian Red Cross directed "to the Ukrainian Mission" to the attention of "Mr. J. Baczynski, 1960 Biltmore Street, Washington, D.C." Located on a hill, in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, the townhouse that housed the Ukrainian mission was within walking distance of several other embassies and missions, including Poland's, those of the three Baltic states and Hungary.
A fragment from the oldest Cyrillic Bible known to exist, which was printed by the firm S. Fiola in 1491 in Cracow.
A set of 18th century vestments from the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra.
An original map from 1777 of the Ottoman Empire, clearly depicting the vast expanses of southeastern, southern and southwestern Ukraine under the domination of the Turks.
An original pamphlet printed in 1896, authored by Mykhailo Pavlyk, a colleague of Ivan Franko and historian Mykhailo Drahomanov, titled "Narodnyi Rukh Avstro-Uhorskykh Rusyniv" (The National Movement of the Austro-Hungarian Rusyns). Since Austro-Hungarian authorities forbade the publication of this type of political literature, the Ruskyi Narodnyi Soyuz (as the Ukrainian National Association was originally called), then located in Shamokin, Pa., printed the pamphlet.

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