Volume I of Hrushevsky's history celebrated with book launch in Kyiv (10/04/98)

Volume I of Hrushevsky's history celebrated with book launch in Kyiv

KYIV - A book launch for the English translation of the first volume of Mykhailo Hrushevsky's "History of Ukraine-Rus'" was held at the Building of the Teacher, where Hrushevsky presided over the Central Rada in 1917-1918. The launch was organized by the Peter Jacyk Center for Ukrainian Historical Research, the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences Committee to Support Scholarship and Culture, and the Building of the Teacher.

Held on August 24, the launch was a celebration of Ukrainian independence, including concerts and a reception. Among those attending were members of the academy: Mykola Zhulynsky, Mykola Chumachenko, Pavlo Sokhan, Kostiantyn Sytnyk, Oleksii Onyshchenko, Petro Shpak, Liubomyr Pyrih and Serhii Riabchenko; deputies to the Verkhovna Rada: Viacheslav Chornovil and Les Taniuk. Also present were professors of the National University Kyiv Mohyla Academy and Kyiv University: Viacheslav Briukhovetsky, Petro Kononenko, Petro Kovalenko, Vitalii Strikha, Volodymyr Telniuk-Adamchuk; and numerous members of the Ukrainian intelligentsia of Kyiv.

Academician Iaroslav Yatskiv, head of the academy's Committee to Support Scholarship and Culture, opened the event with a discussion of the importance of Hrushevsky, Ukraine's first president, and the four Universals of the Central Rada for Ukrainian state-building. He saw the English translation as strengthening the international position of the renewed Ukrainian state. He then introduced the main speaker, Dr. Frank Sysyn, director of the Jacyk Center and editor-in-chief of the Hrushevsky Translation Project.

Dr. Sysyn said that although there had already been more than a dozen launches of Volume 1 in North America and Europe, the Kyiv launch was of paramount importance, as it was being held in the city and the very building where Hrushevsky lived and worked.

He discussed the great changes that have taken place in Ukrainian historical studies since Ukrainian independence. Ukraine has again become the center of research and writing on Ukrainian history, which requires a rethinking of what historians abroad should properly do. While they now have the opportunity to work in the archives and libraries of Ukraine, they should redouble their efforts to utilize archival materials abroad that are not always readily accessible to scholars in Ukraine.

Dr. Sysyn also emphasized the role of historians abroad in writing for a Western public and carrying on projects of translation of Ukrainian works into Western languages.

Dr. Sysyn outlined the reasons for translating Hrushevsky's "History of Ukraine-Rus'." He maintained that this classic and authoritative work should reach an international audience: it had been Hrushevsky's wish that his history appear in an international scholarly language and Ukrainian independence has greatly increased international interest in Ukraine, he added.

The generosity of donors in the Ukrainian community and the commitment of the University of Alberta to Ukrainian studies have made the project possible. The matching funds program of the Province of Alberta and the million-dollar donation of Mr. Jacyk of Toronto made it possible to establish a Center for Ukrainian Historical Research at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies in 1989. Individual donors, notably the five sponsors of volumes who have donated $100,000 each, as well as a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, have greatly aided the project. Six translators and a team of editors are working on the 10 volumes (11 books).

Turning to the volume being feted, Dr. Sysyn praised the excellent translation by Marta Skorupsky of New York, who rendered Hrushevsky's text fluently and accurately. He also lauded the consulting editor, Prof. Andrzej Poppe of Warsaw University, especially for assembling a bibliography of the 1,700 items of literature used by Hrushevsky. He expressed his special thanks to Petro and Ivanna Stelmach for sponsoring the volume, to CIUS Press for its superb publishing product, and to the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies for providing a publishing subsidy.

In conclusion, Dr. Sysyn discussed the dissemination of the volume and the positive reactions to date. He noted the special booklet on the volume, which includes a statement by President Leonid Kuchma. At the end of his talk he presented copies of the volume to representatives of Kyiv libraries, including Larysa Melnyk, director of the Building of the Teacher.

Scholars and political leaders who spoke on the importance of the translation included Vladyslav Verstiuk, Dr. Kononenko, Taras Hunczak, Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, Dr. Sokhan, Les Taniuk and Viacheslav Chornovil. The executive director of the Hrushevsky International Scholarly Foundation, Leonid Reshodko, stressed the great significance of the dissemination of Hrushevsky's legacy for the Ukrainian state and promised to secure support for the Hrushevsky Translation Project.

Dr. Sysyn expressed thanks for this offer and hope that the Ukrainian government would sponsor a volume. Those assembled also expressed their conviction that the Ukrainian government should erect a monument to Hrushevsky on European Square in Kyiv.

Before the launch, the orchestra of the Ukrainian Armed Forces greeted the public with a medley of marches and Ukrainian patriotic tunes. Afterwards a concert was held to celebrate the occasion. Participants included soloists Nina Matviienko and Taras Shtonda, actress Nila Kriukov, who read works by Lina Kostenko, the Levko Revutsky Male Chorus under the direction of Bohdan Antkiv and the Kyiv Camerata ensemble.

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