Cleveland's Ukrainian Museum-Archives preserves the Ukrainian experience

by Taras Szmagala Jr.

CLEVELAND - Prof. Leonid Bachynsky stood outside St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, studying an abandoned coal bin. The year was 1952, and the church no longer had a need for the run-down facility. But to Prof. Bachynsky, the space was perfect - perfect for storing his voluminous collection of books, periodicals, artifacts and other documents that chronicled key events and personalities in Ukraine's long struggle to preserve its culture and obtain independence.

Such was the birth of the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in Cleveland. The UMA grew rapidly. Before long, like-minded men and women joined Prof. Bachynsky in adding to the UMA's collection. Not long thereafter, the collection was moved to a century-old wood-frame house located on the north side of Lincoln Park in Tremont. This site, at the center of Cleveland's Ukrainian American community, remains the home of the UMA today.

From those humble beginnings, the UMA has matured into a vibrant organization with an impressive collection of documents and artifacts, a professional board of directors, a full-time curator and a broad base of financial support. In short, Cleveland's Ukrainian Museum-Archives is a community success story - the UMA has transformed itself from a mere warehouse for documents and artifacts into one of the leading ethnic museum/archives in the city, if not the nation.

The collection

As visitors walk through the old UMA facility, they cannot help but be struck by the pure volume of the museum's collection. More accurately, they cannot help noticing the archival collection. Because while the UMA has its share of embroidery, pysanky and the like, the real strength of the UMA lies in its incredible collection of documents.

Statistics tell part of the story: the UMA has amassed a collection of over 20,000 books, more than 1,000 separate magazine and newspaper titles (the UMA has an entire set of some of these titled), tens of thousands of postcards, pictures, stamps and the like, and thousands of tapes and records containing tens of thousands of minutes of recorded music.

But the more interesting part of the story is told by the documents themselves - documents that paint a vivid picture of Ukrainian immigration. These stories are expressed through the written observations and experiences recorded by thousands of individual immigrants who braved political upheaval and economic uncertainty to build a community and a new life in a foreign land.

Each document has a story to tell: a ledger showing payments to widows of members local branches of the Ukrainian National Association who were killed in the steel mills, a picture of the local Ukrainian band dated 1913, a set of Ukrainian-language newspapers published in Shanghai more than 60 years ago - the list is seemingly endless.

The UMA's collection has attracted the attention of a number of scholars, many of whom have used portions of the collection in their work. In addition, the UMA has established working relationships with a number of institutions that have expressed interest in the UMA's work, including the Library of Congress, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Public Library, the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Slavic studies department of The Ohio State University, the National University at Ostroh Academy and the Lviv Academy of Art.

Rebirth of an institution

The history of Cleveland's Ukrainian Museum-Archives has not been without its challenges, however. In the late 1970s and throughout much of the 1980s, the UMA mirrored the neglect of the Tremont neighborhood. As Ukrainian Americans fled the inner-city to the suburbs, the UMA also fell into a period of relative stagnation.

Under the leadership of Andrew Fedynsky, who had just returned to his hometown after serving on the Washington staff of Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar (D-Ohio), a new generation of Ukrainian Americans assumed responsibility for the UMA in the late 1980s. Soon, the UMA was arranging exhibits, sponsoring events and taking a more active role in both the Tremont and Ukrainian American communities. Volunteers such as Ihor Kowalysko and Daria Sopka spent countless hours laboring in the UMA's attic and basement, sorting and organizing thousands of letters, newspapers, books and other items.

The torch had been passed to the next generation, and things were happening.

As the 1990s progressed, it became apparent to Mr. Fedynsky that things were good, but they could be better. "We had an incredibly dedicated volunteer staff," Mr Fedynsky recalled, "but I dreamed of the day that the UMA would operate as a full-fledged museum/archive, with a professional board of directors and a full-time curator." To do that, Mr. Fedynsky recognized, the UMA needed two things: to improve its governance and to raise money.

By 1998, Mr. Fedynsky had managed to recruit a young and diverse board of directors. During this time, he focused his efforts on publicizing the UMA and its collection beyond the borders of the Ukrainian American community. In one particularly notable success, Mr. Fedynsky convinced the Ukrainian government to nominate the UMA as a Pilot Project participant through the U.S.-Ukraine Joint Commission on Cultural Preservation.

Benefactors and the strategic plan

As the new millennium arrived, the UMA was still operating primarily through the volunteer efforts of Mr. Fedynsky and the board he recruited. Hiring a full-time curator seemed more of a dream than a realistic goal. For, despite its successes, the UMA was caught in a classic Catch-22: it costs money to employ a full-time staff, but it takes a staff to raise money. Where to begin? The answer came from three unlikely - and completely different - sources: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Cleveland Foundation and Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2001, with the encouragement and support of long-time UMA friend Marcy Kaptur, Democratic congresswoman of Ohio, the UMA obtained a $200,000 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This HUD grant, which was earmarked for facility improvement, was the first major breakthrough in the UMA's fund-raising efforts. This was followed by support from the Ukrainian Heritage Foundation in Chicago and the George W. Codrington Charitable Foundation.

Two years later, the Cleveland Foundation awarded $20,000 earmarked for the preparation of a five-year strategic plan for the UMA. The goal of this grant was to enable the museum/archive to develop a comprehensive and robust governance structure and budget to guide its activities in the coming years. To assist in formulating this plan, the UMA engaged the services of Janice Purdy, an archival specialist then employed as the vice-president of development with Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The UMA board, under Ms. Purdy's direction, developed a comprehensive strategic plan over the course of 10 months of work. This plan has enabled the UMA to prioritize its activities and to bring a degree of focus to the governance of the museum/archive that volunteer organizations often lack.

The new building

"Oh my," most visitors exclaim when touring the archives for the first time, "I can't believe what you have in here. But is it safe in this old wooden house? Shouldn't you move this collection to a fireproof facility?"

Anyone who has given a tour of the UMA to a first-time visitor has likely heard a similar comment. And it's a valid concern.

As a result, the UMA's first priority upon receiving the HUD grant was to plan and construct a temperature-controlled, fire-resistant archival facility. This facility, which will be completed this summer at a cost of approximately $500,000, was financed in part through the HUD grant, and in larger measure through the generosity of the Ukrainian American community.

Individual donations, along with a $50,000 gift from the Cleveland Selfreliance Federal Credit Union, have enabled the UMA to exceed its Phase I fund-raising goals. In fact, the UMA's initial fund-raising efforts met with such success that Phase II of the UMA's facility capital campaign is already in the planning stages.

A few months ago the UMA learned that it was the recipient of another HUD grant, this time in the amount of $250,000. This grant was made possible through the efforts of Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), who is a longtime friend of Cleveland's Ukrainian American community and supporter of the UMA. These funds will be applied to further facility and capital improvements to ensure that the UMA's collection is adequately preserved and protected.

The future

The UMA is setting lofty goals for its future. No longer content with merely preserving a great collection, it's determined to become a world-class facility with professional operations - a destination of choice for scholars and laymen alike.

This spring, the UMA took a large step toward realizing that goal when it hired its first full-time curator. Dan Dmytrykiw assumed his new role this spring, and has begun working on the transition of the UMA's collection from the old facility to the new building. Further, he has coordinated a significant upgrade to the museum's website (accessible at www.umacleveland.org), with the intent of eventually making the UMA's archival collection accessible via the Internet. Mr. Dmytrykiw is also expanding the UMA's programming to appeal to visitors both within and outside of the Ukrainian American community.

Other activities also are ongoing. Most significantly, the UMA has recently launched an oral history project, in which older Ukrainian American immigrants are invited to share their life experiences for recording. The UMA is also seeking to strengthen its relationships with the Cleveland Public Library. Further professional collaborations with a number of top-notch institutions are in the works.

The UMA has a specific defined mission: "To preserve and share Ukrainian culture and the immigrant experience." Over the past 54 years, the UMA has been able to do just that. Through its extensive archival collection, the UMA is able to provide a unique view of Ukrainian culture that is both powerful and vibrant. And the UMA's collection also illustrates the immigrant experience generally - countless books and newspapers testify to the challenges, opportunities and aspirations of the new American immigrant.

What started as a personal collection stored in an abandoned coal bin has grown into a formidable and important archive that bears witness to Ukrainian history and culture. Through the continued and generous spiritual and financial support of the Ukrainian American community, Cleveland's Ukrainian Museum-Archives intends to continue preserving and sharing Ukrainian culture and the immigrant experience for many years to come.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 3, 2006, No. 36, Vol. LXXIV

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