Turning the pages back... April 9, 1967 (04/09/00)

Turning the pages back...

April 9, 1967

Thirty-three years ago to the day, the Ukrainian Folk Art Museum was officially opened in New York City at the Ukrainian Institute of America. The museum was inaugurated "with the snip of a ribbon, [by] Mrs. Stephania Pushkar, president of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, and Mr. Theodore Dzus, president of the Ukrainian Institute of America."

As correspondent Marta Baczynsky wrote in The Weekly, "The affair at the Ukrainian Institute of America realized a dream long held by the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, to create a permanent exhibit of Ukrainian folk art in the United States. This dream was also shared by the late William Dzus, founder of the institute, with whose understanding and efforts the collection found a home."

In her speech before some 250 persons in attendance, Mrs. Pushkar underlined that the UNWLA feels "a responsibility to preserve our culture, which forms the basis of understanding of our nation." And she noted that the museum had a dual purpose: to provide an opportunity both for young Ukrainians to acquire knowledge of their heritage and for the world to appreciate the broad scope of Ukrainian creativity.

Mr. Dzus observed that is was "a great privilege" for him to bring to life the agreement for the museum made between his father and Helen Lotocky, honorary president of the UNWLA.

A preview of the museum was held two days prior to its official opening for specially invited guests: leaders of American and ethnic women's organizations, diplomats stationed in New York and their spouses. And a day before the preview a press conference at the museum was attended by the ethnic and New York press, including The New York Times, The New York Daily News and the New York World Journal Tribune, as well as the Voice of America.

The museum collection, which filled three rooms of the stately mansion, comprised examples of diverse Ukrainian folk arts, including pysanky, ceramics, folk costumes, tapestries, woodcarvings and embroidery.

The roots of the Ukrainian Folk Art Museum can be traced to an exhibit of folk art organized in 1926 by the one-year-old UNWLA at the Hotel Astor in New York. In 1933 the UNWLA collection was shown at the World's Fair in Chicago.

Source: "Ukrainian Folk Art Museum Opens in New York City" by Marta Baczynsky, The Ukrainian Weekly, April 15, 1967; "Ukrainian Folk Art Museum to be Opened in New York," The Ukrainian Weekly, April 1, 1967.

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