Browse Special Collections

The list below offers an overview of HURI's archival and manuscript collections. If you're looking for something particular, use the Search box with keywords to identify useful collections.

For annotated descriptions of all the Ukrainian archival collections at Harvard University libraries consult A Guide to Ukrainian Special Collections at Harvard University prepared by Ksenya Kiebuzinksi. Bibliographic records for all archival collections could be found in HOLLIS. Finding aids and digital images of selected archival collections could be found in HOLLIS for Archival Discovery.

Kotys Family Chronicle

bookThe collection consists of a chronicle of the Kotys family written by Myroslav Kotys in 1984. The chronicle traces the ancestry of the Kotys family from circa 1800 to the 1980s. The family originally came from the Carpathian foothills of the Lemko region, near the present-day village of Dalova, Sianik county, Poland. The memoirs include a narrative text tracing the family history, as well as the history of their ancestral home, baptismal certificates, photographs, and photocopies from secondary sources.
Scope: 1984
Size: 1 volume

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Kozak Papers

The papers consist of letters and photographs sent to Bohdan Kozak by Bishop Myroslav Ripetskyi of Chrzanowo, Suwalki voivodeship, Poland. Myroslav Ripetskyi was ordained to the priesthood in 1913. He was appointed pastor to the parish of St. John the Baptist in Lisky in 1921, where he remained until June 1947, when he was deported along with the rest of the Ukrainian population to northeastern Poland. There he organized a chapel in Chrzanowo and was until 1957 the only priest to celebrate mass in the Ukrainian Catholic rite in Warmia diocese. He was mitered by Cardinal I. Slipyi in 1966. Besides his pastoral duties, Ripetskyi contributed articles to Nova zoria, Pravda, and Ukrainskyi beskyd, and published books on Ukrainian church, secular, and cultural history. The letters are general in nature, describing some of the events and publications that occupied Bishop Ripetskyi's time. The photographs show several significant events that took place at Bishop Ripetskyi's Ukrainian Catholic chapel in Chrzanowo.
Scope: 1928, 1961, 1967-1974
Size: 2 folders

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Krawciw Papers

Bohdan KrawciwBohdan Krawciw (1904-1975) was a poet, journalist, and literary critic. Prior to immigrating to the United States in 1949, he edited the Galician nationalist periodicals Visti, Holos natsiï, and Holos, as well as the literary journals Dazhboh and Obriï. He continued his editorial and journalistic work in the United States, working for the newspapers Ameryka and Svoboda, the Plast journal Molode zhyttia, the journal Suchasnist’, and the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Besides publishing his poetry in periodicals and in individual collections, Kravtsiv also edited literary anthologies, published works of literary criticism, and compiled an extensive bibliography of Ukrainian émigré literature. The papers are comprised primarily of editorial files kept by Krawciw in his work for the newspapers and journals in the United States. The majority of the files contain newspaper clippings, with some correspondence and photographs, regarding artists and literary figures. There is also a considerable amount of material on Ukrainian press and community organizations. Included in the collection are also notes for Krawciw’s work on a bio-bibliographical survey of modern Ukrainian literature.
Scope: 1915-1976
Size: 81 linear ft., 83 boxes

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Kulchytskyi Papers

ID documentIevhen Kulchytskyi's involvement with Plast in both Europe and in North America spanned over 50 years. He also contributed articles to the journals Molode zhyttia, Plastovyi lystok, Seniorska vatra, Svoboda, Novyi shliakh, and Ukraïns'ke slovo. The Kulchytskyi Papers are comprised of three series: personal files (1922-1970) including certificates, identity cards and diplomas; publications (1920-1982), mostly periodicals published by the Plast Ukrainian Youth Association , and a small collection of books published by the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America or by other national scouting groups; and a third series, which includes Plast correspondence (1946-1972), especially between Kulchytskyi , Oleksander Tysovskyi and Severyn Levytskyi, and other documentary material, including statutes, financial and legal documents.
Scope: 1920-1982
Size: 10 linear ft., 13 boxes

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Kuzelia Papers

publication coverZenon Kuzelia was an ethnographer, lexicographer, bibliographer, journalist, and community figure. From 1920 he lived in Berlin, where he edited several newspapers and books of the publishing houses Ukrainske Slovo and Ukrainska Nakladnia. Kuzelia was a member of the Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Berlin, and a lecturer at Berlin University. After the Second World War he headed the Ukrainian Students' Aid Commission, was the coeditor of the Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva, and served as president of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. The Kuzelia papers primarily consist of correspondence during the period when he lived in Berlin from 1920 to 1945. There is some additional correspondence from 1919 to 1920 when he was editing the newspaper Shliakh published in Salzwedel, Germany. Besides correspondence the papers contain letters of protest, reports, and an article by Viktor Petrov.
Scope: 1919-1942
Size: 5 linear in., 2 boxes

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Lebed Papers

Mykola LebedMykola Lebed (1910-1998) is an important figure for Ukrainian history, particularly for the period from the 1930s to the 1970s when he was closely involved in the leadership of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UVHR), and the Prolog Research Corporation. The Lebed Papers are comprised of personal documents, correspondence, government documents, photographs, newspaper clippings, and publications that pertain to his involvement in various Ukrainian political and civic organizations.
Scope: 1930-1995
Size: 20 linear ft., 41 boxes

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Lesawyer (Joseph) Papers

Ukrainian-Americans Veterans patchJoseph Lesawyer served as president of Young Ukraine and the Ukrainian National Home in Brooklyn. He was elected treasurer of the Ukrainian Youth League of North America in 1940, and he was a member of the Ukrainian University Society of New York. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1941 and served until 1946. After the war Lesawyer returned to his career as a real estate broker. He continued to be active in Ukrainian American professional life serving as vice-president (1950-1954) and president (1961-1978) of the Ukrainian National Association, and vice-president (1961-1978) of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. He also served as president (1971-1973) of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians. The papers consist of some correspondence and photographs with the bulk of the collection containing fliers, brochures, minutes, and anniversary booklets for the numerous Ukrainian American organizations.
Size: 18 linear ft.

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Lesawyer (Mary) Papers

Mary (Wallick-Polyniak) LesawyerMary (Wallick-Polyniak) Lesawyer (Lysohir) (1917-2004) was an opera singer affiliated with the New York City Opera. Her operatic and singing career spanned two decades and took her to various venues in North and South America and Europe. Mary Lesawyer also performed in numerous Ukrainian American community functions. She worked together with such Ukrainian composers as M. Haivoronskyi, O. Koshyts, M. Fomenko and others. Lesawyer was also known for her active involvement in numerous community endeavors at her husband's side, longtime president of the Ukrainian National Association, Joseph Lesawyer. The papers contain correspondence, documents, photographs, concert and opera programs, articles and reviews, relating to Lesawyer's career with the New York City Opera and her concert performances for Ukrainian-American communities throughout the United States.
Scope: 1933-1976
Size: 3 linear ft., 4 boxes

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Lissiuk Papers

Kalenik Lissiuk (Lysiuk) (1889-1980) was a military leader, businessman, philatelist, publisher and patron. During the First World War he served in the Russian army, and during the revolutionary period in the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic. Lissiuk immigrated to the United States in 1923 and became an active member of the Ukrainian-American community, and a benefactor of many Ukrainian cultural and educational organizations. He founded the Ukrainian National Museum in Ontario, California, and he presided over the Ukrainian-American Foundation. The papers contain various documents, correspondence, an autograph book, and photographs. His collection of autographs includes signatures from various Ukrainian military and political figures. The correspondence includes letters from the Republican National Committee, The John Birch Society, and the Congress of Freedom.
Scope: 1909-1973
Size: 17 linear in., 2 boxes

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Lysko Papers

Zinovii Lysko (1895-1969) was a composer, musicologist, and folklorist. He taught at the Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical Institute in Prague, the Kharkiv Conservatory, the Lysenko Higher Institute of Music, and the Lviv Conservatory. Lysko also was an editor-in-chief of the journal Ukraïnska muzyka , a member of the Union of Ukrainian Professional Musicians, and assistant director of the Music Commission of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. After the Second World War, Lysko lived in Germany where he organized a music school at the Mittenwald DP camp. In 1960 Lysko immigrated to the United States where he directed and taught at the Ukrainian Music Institute of America. Lysko composed orchestral, chamber, piano, and choral works, as well as arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs, and wrote reference works, textbooks, bio-historical studies, and articles on folk music. The papers contain biographical material, correspondence, music, writings, and photographs.
Scope: 1913-1981
Size: 3 linear ft., 3 boxes

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Lysko Papers

Zinovii LyskoZinovii Lysko (1895-1969) was a composer, musicologist, and folklorist. He taught at the Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical Institute in Prague, the Kharkiv Conservatory, the Lysenko Higher Institute of Music, and the Lviv Conservatory. Lysko also was an editor-in-chief of the journal Ukraïnska muzyka , a member of the Union of Ukrainian Professional Musicians, and assistant director of the Music Commission of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. After the Second World War, Lysko lived in Germany where he organized a music school at the Mittenwald DP camp. In 1960 Lysko immigrated to the United States where he directed and taught at the Ukrainian Music Institute of America. Lysko composed orchestral, chamber, piano, and choral works, as well as arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs, and wrote reference works, textbooks, bio-historical studies, and articles on folk music. The papers contain biographical material, correspondence, music, writings, and photographs.
Scope: 1913-1981
Size: 3 linear ft., 3 boxes

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Moroz Papers

crowd of peoplePetro Moroz immigrated to the United States in 1929, becoming an active member of the Ukrainian community. He served as president of Branch 238, Ukrainian National Association; head of the Fundraising Committee for St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church; co-founder and secretary of the Boston Branch, Ukrainian Congress Committee; and member of the Zaporozka Sich Society. The papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, financial records, programs, and photographs. Overall the collection is useful for studying the Ukrainian community in the Boston area, particularly the development of its Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Scope: 1904-1967
Size: 6 linear in., 1 box

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Morozov Collection

Kostiantyn MorozovKostiantyn Morozov was the first Minister of Defense of Ukraine in 1991-1993. He graduated from the Kharkiv Higher Military Aviation School, Gagarin Air Force Academy, and the General Staff Academy. Morozov has commanded an air regiment, an air division, and an air army. He was made a Colonel General in 1991. The Morozov collection is comprised of taped interviews, transcripts, and photographs used towards the publication of his memoir Above and Beyond: From Soviet General to Ukrainian State Builder (2000).
Scope: 1991-1996
Size: 13 linear in., 3 boxes

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Nestorovych Papers

Volodymyr NestorovychVolodymyr Nestorovych (1895-1980) graduated from the Higher School of International Trade in Vienna. In the 1930s he taught economics and bookkeeping at the Ridna Shkola commerce school and the business gymnasium in Lviv. In addition, he contributed articles to various Ukrainian newspapers and edited the journal Torhovlia i promysl. In 1948 Nestorovych served as a bookkeeper for the World's YMCA-YWCA British zone headquarters in Germany. He moved to the United States in 1950 where he was active in Ukrainian credit unions, served as president of the Literary-Artistic Club in Detroit, and was a member of the editorial board of Nash svit. He wrote several books, including the autobiographical novel Sertse i burevii, and a history of businessmen in Western Ukraine entitled Ukraïns'ki kuptsi i promyslovtsi v Zakhidnii Ukraïni, 1920-1945. The papers include biographical material, personal documents, correspondence, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, and a scrapbook.
Scope: 1948-1979
Size: 1 linear ft., 3 boxes

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Permanent Conference on Ukrainian Studies Records

typed documentThe Permanent Conference on Ukrainian Studies (PCUS) was established on October 25, 1975, following the reorganization of the Council of Academic Advisers to Ukrainian Studies at Harvard University. This organization arranged annual conferences held at Harvard University on topics from a number of disciplines, including history, linguistics, literature, and social sciences, among scholars of Ukrainian studies from the United States and Canada. The inaugural conference took place on May 29-30, 1976, and the final one on May 29-31, 1981. PCUS published a newsletter Visti Postiinoi Konferentsii Ukrains'kykh Studii. Records include correspondence, programs, lists of conference participants, articles, and newsletters.
Scope: 1975-1981
Size: 5 linear in., 1 box

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Peters Papers

Nestor Makhno book coverVictor Peters is a professor emeritus of Moorhead State College in Minnesota, where he taught history for many years. Of German-Mennonite background, he comes from the same area in Ukraine where Makhno carried out his anarchism. Peters studied Russian and Soviet history at the University of Manitoba and the University of Göttingen. He has also published books on the Hutterite Brethren, Mennonites, and Low German literature. The papers consist of correspondence, articles, and reviews related to Victor Peters research for his book Nestor Makhno: The Life of an Anarchist (Winnipeg: Echo Books, 1970). The book traces the career of Nestor Makhno and the history of his anarchist movement in the Ukrainian revolutionary ferment of 1917-21. The correspondence reflects eyewitness reports that the author solicited from Ukrainians, German Mennonite colonists, and others who either knew Makno personally or who witnessed his insurgent activities.
Scope: 1966-1973
Size: 7.5 linear in., 1 box

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Photographic Resources in the Special Collections of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute

countrysidePhotographic resources in the Special Collections of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute have grown steadily over the years. Images, often accompanying collections of personal papers or occasionally given as separate gifts, now number close to 6,000 and include a wide range of subjects pertaining to Ukrainian history. These photographic resources have been consulted as a source for illustrations of various publications. They provide visual documentation of various people, places, and events important to Ukrainian history, including portraits of historical, literary, political, and religious figures; and pictures of Ukrainian cities, towns, and countryside, as well as places in the countries of Europe and North America where Ukrainian émigrés settled. Some of the photographs in the Institute's collections provide images from specific time periods of Ukrainian history; others provide images, pertaining to Ukrainian literature and music. The summaries describing the themes and significant features of the library's holdings at the collection level as well as item-level inventories are available upon request.

Various collections

Po Radianskii Ukraini Photographs

city at nightPo Radianskii Ukraini was a periodical of photographs documenting Soviet Ukraine. It was published in Kyiv beginning circa 1960 by the Ukrainian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (Ukrainske tovarystvo druzhby ta kulturnoho zviazku z zarubizhnymy krainamy). This organization served as a major source of propaganda for Soviet policy. The photographs were taken throughout Ukraine in and near cities such as Uzhhorod, Kyiv, Sumy, Poltava, Lviv, Odessa, Kharkiv, and Donetsk. They include images of major industrial and technical projects, idyllic rural and cultural scenes, monuments, and portraits of individuals important to Soviet history.
Scope: 1970-1973
Size: 162 images

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Podufalyi Papers

Antin Ivanovych PodufalyiAntin Ivanovych Podufalyi was born on August 3, 1896 in Komarivtsi, Mohyliv county, Podilla gubernia. He studied electro-technology at the Kyiv Politechnical Institute. Podufalyi served the Ukrainian National Republic as an engineer for the 2nd Division of the Sich Riflemen Regiment and as an ensign in the Ivan Mazepa Cavalry Regiment. He immigrated to France circa 1923-1924. The papers are comprised of certificates issued by the Ukrainian National Republic, Poland and France to Podufalyi. They provide general biographical information regarding his birth, education, and military service.
Scope: 1920-1923.
Size: 6 documents, 1 photograph

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Ponedilok Papers

drawing of manMykola Ponedilok (1922-1976) studied philology at Odesa University until the beginning of the Second World War, after which he immigrated to the United States. His literary career began in 1947 with translations of German, English, and French plays into Ukrainian for Volodymyr Blavatskyi’s Ensemble of Ukrainian Actors, and for Iosyp Hirniak’s and Olimpiia Dobrovolska’s Theater-Studio. Besides his translations, Ponedilok wrote three plays about life under the Soviet regime. He is better known for his humorous novellas, short stories, and sketches about Ukrainian émigré life, as well as his nostalgic reminiscences about the Ukraine of his youth. Ponedilok was a founding member of the Slovo Association of Ukrainian Writers in Exile and a member of the Ukrainian Literary-Artistic Club in New York. The papers are mostly comprised of correspondence to Mykola Ponedilok, the majority of which pertain to his public appearances, publications, and professional as well as personal relationships with editors, journalists, and literary scholars. There is, however, one folder of correspondence dating from his time as a displaced person in Germany (1947-1948). The papers also include articles, book reviews, manuscripts, photographs, program announcements, and radio program transcripts.
Scope: 1947-1975
Size: 4 linear ft., 4 boxes

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