Stories from Storage

Not even the biggest museums can put all of their collections on display at once. The UHEC's currently very limited gallery space makes this challenge even more extreme. The situation is even worse for archives, which can easily have millions of individual documents in their repository.

In "Stories from Storage", we show how individual museum items or archival documents held by the UHEC can illuminate the history, culture, art, and religious beliefs of Ukrainians in Ukraine and the diaspora. New content is being added on a continuing basis, so please check back.

 

Displaying 41 - 50 of 50
The Holodomor letters

Two letters sent to an Ukrainian exile in 1933 provide a first-hand account of the artificial famine in Kuban'.

Posted: November 21, 2012
Multi-purpose village house

We in the West have gotten used to the idea that farmhouses are physically separate from the "barn", where livestock and grain are kept. This was not the case for traditional village houses in Ukraine.

Posted: October 5, 2012
Fearsome Easter egg birds

The birds on this pysanka (Ukrainian decorated Easter egg) are strong and serious animals, not "tweety-birds" or baby chicks. They have no-nonsense beaks and big claws. In fact, they're almost scary-looking.

Posted: April 8, 2012
Prehistoric Ukrainian sausage?

What can we learn about the prehistory of the residents of present-day Ukraine from a scholarly analysis of the Ukrainian word for "sausage"? Not much, probably, but that didn't stop one person from trying...

Posted: March 13, 2012
A would-be monarch's son's letter

The UkrHEC archives have a letter written by Danylo Skoropads'kyi (son of Het'man Pavlo Skoropads'kyi) in 1946 offering his contacts with high-level individuals in the Church of England to assist the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church to obtain help for Ukrainian refugees, particularly students.

Posted: February 23, 2012
Heorhii Narbut - artist and illustrator

Narbut played a major role in the independent Ukrainian nation of 1917-1920: he designed the new country's stamps and paper money, as well as this hand-lettered certificate.

Posted: January 23, 2012
Theophany in the DP camps

January 19th is the Eastern Christian feast day of the Theophany (according to the Julian Calender). In Ukraine, it was traditionally celebrated by a procession from the church to a river or stream, where a hole would be cut through the ice and the water would be blessed. Wherever they were in the world, Ukrainians tried to maintain this tradition, even in the extreme conditions of the post-WWII refugee camps.

Posted: January 19, 2012
Hryhory Kytasty's bandura

Instrument made in 1930s Kyiv and owned by the notable Ukrainian musician.

Posted: January 17, 2012
Synagogue in Iaryshiv

In honor of the High Holy Days, here are some photographs (likely from the 1920s) of the synagogue in Yaryshiv, Ukraine.

Posted: October 6, 2011
Ostroh Bible

Today in 1580 the earliest Slavonic Bible printed with movable type was published in the Ukrainian city of Ostroh. Our rare book collection has an Ostroh Bible from the 1581 edition bound in brown leather carved with elaborate floral motifs.

Posted: July 12, 2011

Pages