Ukrainian recorded sound archives

The Ukrainian History and Education Center Archives contain numerous audio recordings, including

  • LP phonograph recordings of Ukrainian music and recordings by Ukrainian performers published in the USSR and the West. This collection spans all genres and covers the entire 20th century.
  • Early 20th century 78 rpm shellac discs of Ukrainian music and recordings by Ukrainian performers published in Europe and the United States. This includes extremely rare pressings of Ukrainian opera singers such as Solomiia Krushel'nyts'ka and Modest Mentsinskyi, as well as popular recordings issued by Columbia, Victor, and other American labels.
  • Reel-to-reel and cassette recordings made from the 1950s to the early 21st century. Many of these are likely unique, and include live event recordings (speeches, concerts, church services, literary readings, etc.), radio programming of the Voice of America and Radio Liberty, interviews, and other materials.

These recordings were acquired primarily through donations of the collections of Stefan Maksymjuk and Mykola Francuzenko, as well as audio materials in other, primarily paper-based, collections.

Given that the expected lifetime of magnetic tape is about 50 years, the UHEC has launched a major "emergency digitization" initiative in order to migrate the reel-to-reel and cassette recordings to modern media. This project is ongoing, and is being done concurrently with the processing of the source collections as a whole. This is somewhat contrary to standard archival practice, but it makes sense given the idiosyncrasies of these particular collections. Until such time as full finding aids are available, we are providing the following spreadsheets with details on some of the UHEC's audio accessions. Some of this material is already digitized. If it is not, then we may be able to provide on-demand digitization of selected tapes or discs.

Selected digitized items from the UHEC's audio holdings are also available online below.

Stay tuned for some major improvements coming soon!

Thanks to an ongoing collaboration with Dnipro National University, many of these audio recordings now have detailed time-coded annotations and descriptions. You will soon be able to search these descriptions, and immediately jump to the relevant spot in the recording, as well as do searching and faceted browsing.

Speech by Mykola Rudenko at the U.S. State Department

Speech by Mykola Rudenko at the State Department commemoration of the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Date created: 
1988-12-08

Speeches at the 15th Anniversary of ODUM

Recording of speeches made at the "Zustrich" ("Gathering") of members of the ODUM Ukrainian Democratic Youth Organization in 1965 on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the organization's founding.

Запис промов на ОДУМ-івській Зустрічі в 1965-му році з нагоди 15-и ліття заснування ОДУМ-у. Говорить Микола Степаненко та інші невідомі промовці.

Date created: 
1965

Speeches by Levko Lukianenko and Viacheslav Chornovil

Live recording of a Ukrainian American community event in Washington DC.

Invocation by Fr. Podhurets', introduction of Levko Lukianenko by N. Kormeliuk, speech by Lukianenko, introduction of Viacheslav Chornovil by B. Futei, speech by Chornovil, followed by questions and answers.

Date created: 
1991-04-29

Sviatoslav Karavans'kyi and Nina Strokata-Karavans'ka arrival and press conference

Welcoming reception of Soviet dissidents Sviatoslav and Nina Karavans'kyi by members of the Washington, DC Ukrainian American community upon their arrival in the United States at Dulles Airport on December 11, 1979. This is followed by a press conference given by them at the National Press Club on December 12, 1979. Члени української громади Вашінгтону вітають Святослава і Ніни Караванських в аеропорту Даллес 11 грудня 1979 г. Далі, прес-конференції Караванських в Національному Прес-Клубі (National Press Club) 12 грудня 1979 року.
Date created: 
1979-12

Ukrainian High Mass - National Shrine

Live recording of a Ukrainian Catholic pontifical (hierarchical) Divine Liturgy celebrated by Bishop Joseph Schmondiuk at the National Shrine in Washington, DC. The responses are sung by the combined forces of the Dumka Choir of New York City, and the parish choirs of Bayonne, Elizabeth, and Newark, NJ, all conducted by Ivan Zadorozhnyi.

Запис архиєрейської служби Божої яку правив єп. Йосиф Шмондюк у Націоналні Святині у Вашінгтоні. Співає Хор Думка (Нью Йорк) разом з хорами парафій Бейонн, Елізабет, та Ньюарк, шт. Нью Джерзі під керівництвом Івана Задорожного.

Date created: 
1961-01-22

Valentyn Moroz at the National Press Club

National Public Radio broadcast of the appearance of Valentyn Moroz at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Introduction, reading of prepared statement in English, followed by questions and answers.

Date created: 
1979-05-18

Victor Stern speech

Recording of an event organized by "Human Rights Research, Inc." in Washington, DC at which Victor Stern (Viktor Shtern), son of the Soviet physician and dissident Dr. Mikhail Stern speaks about his father's imprisonment, the situation in Soviet Ukraine, and Ukrainian-Jewish relations. After the speech, he takes questions from the audience.

Date created: 
1976-05-25

Vira Vovk-Selians'ka іnterview

Topics covered include the difficulties of translating Ukrainian poetry into Portuguese, general literary topics, and readings of her own original poetry and her Portuguese translation of the prologue to Ivan Franko's poem "Moisei".

Інтерв'ю Миколи Француженка з письменницею Вірою Вовк-Селянською. Теми—складнощі перекладу українську поезію на португальську мову, загальні літератрурні питання. Вовк читає свої вірші та пролог "Мойсея" (Франка) у свойому перекладі на португальську.

Vladimir Bukovsky at George Washington University

Speech by Vladimir Bukovsky with simultaneous English translation, followed by questions and answers.

Date created: 
1977-03-01

Voice of America coverage of the arrival of the Pliushch family in the U.S.

Off-the-air recordings and dubs of original Voice of America coverage of the arrival of the Pliushch family in the United States.

  1. "Pliushch in the U.S.A" (1976-03-27)
  2. "Pliushch in Manhattan Center" (1976-03-28)
  3. "Pliushch in New York" (1976-03-29)
  4. "Pliushch in Congress" (1976-03-30)
  5. "Pliushch testimony in Congress" (1976-03-31)
Date created: 
1976-03

Voice of America program: "Ukrainian Easter Matins"

Live broadcast on the Ukrainian service of the Voice of America of the Pascal Matins from St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Los Angeles. Principal celebrant is Fr. Stephen Hallick-Holutiak with co-celebrants Fr. Teofil Buzenko and Fr. Lev Porendovs'kyi. The "Oleksandr Koshyts'" parish choir directed by Gregory Hallick-Holutiak sings the hymns and responses.

Date created: 
1985-04-14

Pages