Ucrainica exhibit marks 25th anniversary of Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (04/05/98)

Ucrainica exhibit marks 25th anniversary
of Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute

by Ksenya Kiebuzinski

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University greeted guests on Thursday, March 12, in the elegant surroundings of the Houghton Library. Faculty, staff, students and guests gathered to raise a toast at the opening reception of the institute-sponsored exhibit of rare books and manuscripts, "Ucrainica at Harvard."

The exhibit celebrates the establishment of the Ukrainian Research Institute by the president and fellows of Harvard University 25 years ago on June 4, 1973. This is the first event in a yearlong anniversary that will officially begin with the 1998-1999 academic year, and will include conferences, cultural events and special seminars.

The evening's festivities began with a general viewing of the exhibits before proceeding to the formal program. Guests were welcomed first by Michael S. Flier, the Oleksandr Potebnja Professor of Ukrainian Philology. Prof. Flier stressed the importance of the Ukrainian library collection at Harvard University to the overall mission of the Ukrainian Research Institute. He emphasized that the scope of the Ukrainian collection, the largest outside Eastern Europe, could not have taken place without the hundreds, if not thousands, of generous gifts from individual donors and the many endowed book funds established by private individuals.

Prof. Flier then introduced Roger E. Stoddard, curator of rare books at Houghton Library. Mr. Stoddard reminisced fondly of the time when an obscure 1798 edition of a Ukrainian book published in St. Petersburg came to his attention via a book dealer located in Milwaukee. Before he knew it, Mr. Stoddard was being photographed with Ivan Kotliarevskyi's "Eneida" for the front page of The Ukrainian Weekly, as back in 1971 no other copy could be located, not even in Russia.

Roman Szporluk, director of the Ukrainian Research Institute, and George G. Grabowicz, the Dmytro Cyzevs'kyj Professor of Ukrainian Literature, continued the evening's program with remarks about the history of Ukrainian studies at Harvard University.

The Ukrainian studies program began with the appointment of a Committee on Ukrainian Studies in 1968. Ukrainian Studies came about through the initiative of students, members of the Federation of Ukrainian Student Organizations (SUSTA) in the United States. In 1957 they began a fund drive within the Ukrainian-American community under the guidance of Stepan Chemych, founder and president of the Ukrainian Studies Chair Fund, to raise an endowment to support not only three professorial chairs, but later a research institute, and a librarian for Ukrainian collections.

The Ukrainian Studies Fund, together with the tireless efforts of Omeljan Pritsak, the institute's founder and first director, and Ihor Sevcenko, the Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine History, had by 1973 successfully completed its fund-raising drive to endow the three chairs in Ukrainian studies, witnessed the public defense of the first thesis in Ukrainian studies, and moved into its present location at 1583 Massachusetts Avenue.

A further integral part of Ukrainian studies at Harvard University was the development of an adequate research collection of Ucrainica within the University Library. The Committee on Ukrainian Studies issued an appeal to private collectors either to donate or to help purchase library materials that would benefit research and instruction in Ukrainian studies. The appeal was answered enthusiastically by members of the Ukrainian American community who made their private collections available to the Harvard University Library either through gift or sale. Donors, through financial contributions, also made possible the purchase of library materials, such as the rare items of Ucrainica from the library of Sergei Diaghilev, the renowned ballet impresario, as well as their technical processing and preservation.

"Ucrainica at Harvard," the eighth exhibit of rare Ukrainian books and manuscripts held by the Houghton Library, celebrates the first 25 years of the Ukrainian Research Institute and recognizes the extraordinary contributions of library benefactors. The material spans 800 years of written literature on what historically became Ukrainian territory. While it is the most extensive exhibit yet to be held, it represents only a small fraction of the rare Ucrainica within the collections of the Harvard University Library.

The 55 items on display range from a late 12th century Slavonic Psalter (the oldest Slavic manuscript in the United States) written during the period of Kyivan Rus' to the futurist journal Nova Generatsiia published in Kharkiv during the late 1920s. The books and manuscripts comprise 16th- and 17th-century religious works, the first printed histories of Ukraine, Baroque and 19th-century literature, philology and linguistics, late 19th- and early 20th-century historiography, and modern Ukrainian theater.

Some of the more significant items exhibited include the earliest Ukrainian Cyrillic imprints, such as Ivan Fedorovych's "Bukvar" (1574), one of two known extant copies of the first Church Slavonic primer, and the Ostrih Bible (1580-1581) - the first full edition of the Bible to be printed in Church Slavonic. In 1573-1574, Fedorovych, a refugee from Muscovy, establish the first printing press on Ukrainian territory in Lviv, and later, in 1577-1579 helped establish the Ostrih printing press.

Another important printing press was established circa 1615 in Kyiv at the Monastery of the Caves Monastery (Pecherska Lavra). The press, the largest on Ukrainian territory through the middle of the 19th century, issued several hundred titles on a wide variety of subjects. Two of the four books on view from the Pecherska Lavra press are the Poluustav (1682), a Church Slavonic liturgy, and Innokentii Gizel's "Sinopsis" (1674), the first and most successful early printed history of Ukraine.

The beginning of belletristic production in vernacular Ukrainian is represented by first editions of works by Ivan Kotliarevskyi, Taras Shevchenko and Panteleimon Kulish, as well as others; while that of modern Ukrainian historiography is represented by the works of Mykhailo Drahomanov, Ivan Franko, Stepan Rudnytskyi and Mykhailo Hrushevskyi.

"Ucrainica at Harvard: The Ukrainian Research Institute's 25th Anniversary Exhibition" runs through May 22 at the Houghton Library, Harvard Yard. Library hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Inquiries may be addressed to Ksenya Kiebuzinski, the Petro Jacyk Bibliographer in Ukrainian Studies, by telephone, (617) 496-5891, or by e-mail, [email protected].