Lviv Theological Academy library acquires samvydav and archive of diaspora conductor (05/05/02)

Lviv Theological Academy library acquires samvydav and archive of diaspora conductor

LVIV - The library of the Lviv Theological Academy recently acquired materials which make its collection of Ukrainian and Baltic samvydav from the 1980s one of the largest extant. Also, the personal archives of noted conductor Prof. Myroslav Antonovych, received last fall, will aid the further study of the history of Ukrainian church music and perhaps even encourage Ukrainians to study Dutch music. "With acquisitions of such great and varied significance," noted Library Director Ivan Herasym, "it's no surprise that both scholars and the general public turn to us with such frequency."

Samvydav publications

A private collection of 10 different samvydav titles from 1986 to 1990 were donated to the LTA library in 2001. The titles were printed in the Baltic States and smuggled back into Ukraine, carried in bags or backpacks by special couriers traveling by train in order to elude occasional police searches. Oleh Behen, the library's acquisitions director, noted that, "if a courier were caught with such forbidden materials, the punishment was at least a few days in prison."

The subject of the "newspapers," mostly just sheets of paper with printing - were daily occurrences in Ukrainian life; these samvydav materials were often filled with anti-Communist sentiment or other outlawed ideas and included anecdotes or jokes.

Lviv's Tovarystvo Leva was one of the groups that helped spread the forbidden literature. (Tovarystvo Leva is an ethnographic/cultural organization created in the late 1980s in protest against the Soviet system.) Included with the samvydav materials was a mimeograph that was used to make copies.

The donor was a Ukrainian citizen and courier who brought the materials into Ukraine from the Baltics and distributed the texts. In addition to the 10 different Ukrainian titles, the donor also collected Lithuanian and Estonian title. With Ukraine's independence some of the titles went on to become legal publications.

Archives of Myroslav Antonovych

In the fall of 2001, the library acquired the private archives of Prof. Myroslav Antonovych. Prof. Yurii Yasinovskyi, acting director of the Theological Academy's Institute of Liturgical Studies, traveled to Prof. Antonovych's residence in Utrecht, Holland in September and packed 40 boxes of materials.

Prof. Antonovych is a musicologist, conductor, composer, singer and researcher on Ukrainian church music and Franco-Flemish church music of the Renaissance. In 1946 and 1947 he was the music director in a displaced persons camp for Ukrainians in Germany. His celebrated Byzantine Choir was composed of Hollanders who sang Ukrainian music in the Ukrainian language. On March 1, Prof. Antonovych celebrated his 85th birthday.

The donation, a significant portion of the professor's library, included various materials on Ukrainian and Dutch church music: recordings and articles as well as autobiographical materials, his diploma work, personal photographs and other items. Prof. Antonovych corresponded with a number of Ukrainian bishops, and 20 letters from Patriarch Slipyj are included.

"This collection," Prof. Yasinovskyi says, "will be an indispensable aid to future researchers in the history of the music of the Ukrainian Church. I also hope that it will interest Ukrainians in studying Dutch music, because the 16th century music of the Dutch Baroque actually influenced the development of Ukrainian music."

Diaspora helps build up collection

Not surprisingly, the Ukrainian diaspora has helped the library build up its collection. Dr. Bohdan Chopyk, a retired professor of Slavic languages and literatures at Brigham Young University, donated his entire academic library to the LTA, over 40 boxes of books. Included was a substantial collection on Slavic studies, particularly books on Ukrainian and Russian literature, language, history and political science.

The books were shipped in two installments (in 2000 and 2001) free of charge, courtesy of the Massachusetts-based Sabre Foundation. The Sabre Foundation has forged a productive relationship with the academy's North American partner, the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation.

The largest donation from the Ukrainian diaspora came from the library of the late Father Demetrius Kowalchik, formerly of St. Procopius Abbey (Illinois). The Father Kowalchik's library consisted of 552 rare and historic books from the 19th century, published in tsarist Russia and Austrian-ruled Halychyna.

Father Borys Gudziak, rector of the Lviv Theological Academy, commented of his deceased friend: "Father Demetrius's liturgical library, generously bequeathed to the LTA by St. Procopius Abbey, will remain as another lasting legacy of Father Demetrius Kowalchik in Ukraine, a world to which he brought change as well as an unforgettable smile."

Probably the largest private donation from a non-Ukrainian source, 200 boxes came from the scholarly library of the Rev. Richard McCormick, professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. The academy was assisted in this acquisition by the Rev. Robert Taft, of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

Those interested in donating academic books and periodicals to the library of the Lviv Theological Academy should contact the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation, 2247 W. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60622; phone, (773) 235-8462; fax, (773) 235-8464; e-mail: ucef@ucef.org; website: www.ucef.org.

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