Highlights from the UNA's 110-year history (11/14/04)

Highlights from the UNA's 110-year history

A special yearlong feature focusing on the history of the Ukrainian National Association.

In 1978 the Ukrainian National Association for the third time in its history took its convention to Pittsburgh. The 29th Convention was held on May 22-27, 1978, and a souvenir journal (a.k.a. convention book) was released for the occasion.

In that journal, the UNA took a look at Pittsburgh and what it has to offer, and

especially at the city's Ukrainian community. Also included was a look back at previous UNA conventions held in what was once known as the "Steel City," and more recently as the "Renaissance City of America."

UNA conventions took place in Pittsburgh for the first time in 1900 and then again in 1946. Forty-one delegates took part in the Sixth Convention at a time when the fraternal organization had 3,067 members and assets of just over $10,000. Forty-six years later, the UNA's 21st Convention was attended by 385 delegates, plus 20 supreme officers. It was reported that by the end of 1945 the UNA had grown to 45,720 members (both adults and juveniles) and $7.79 million in assets.

The 21st Convention was historic as it was the first to take place after the end of World War II. The 1978 souvenir journal notes: "The [1946] convention dispatched a memorandum to President Harry S. Truman, apprising him of the Ukrainian American community's concern for their brothers and sisters in Ukraine, as well as those who found themselves scattered across West Germany and Austria after the Holocaust."

Indeed, as the journal also notes, "after the war, the UNA became strongly involved in bringing Ukrainian refugees from Europe into the U.S. and Canada."

Source: "Down Memory Lane: UNA's Two Previous Conventions in Pittsburgh," Ukrainian National Association Souvenir Journal of the 29th Convention (1978). The border used for this special feature is reproduced from a UNA membership certificate dated 1942.

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