Highlights from the UNA's 110-year history

A special yearlong feature focusing on the history of the Ukrainian National Association.

Now that this column has completed an overview of all conventions of the Ukrainian National Association - from its first in Shamokin, Pa., in 1894 to its most recent, the 35th, held in Chicago in 2002 - it turns its attention to notable statements made in the past about various aspects of the UNA's multi-faceted activity.

This week, we begin with a subject close to our heart: The Ukrainian Weekly (which this year marks its 71st anniversary). The citation below is from the report of Svoboda Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dragan to the 24th UNA Convention in 1958.

"A report on this important publication of our organization cannot be made without mentioning at the outset that this year marks the 25th anniversary of its inception. The Ukrainian Weekly, established as a supplement of Svoboda at the time of the World's Fair in Chicago in 1933, largely through the efforts of the late Dr. Luke Myshuha [then editor-in-chief of Svoboda], has played a very important role both in our own organization and in the Ukrainian community, becoming the first regularly published organ of the American- and Canadian-born Ukrainian generation.

"A careful study of all the great hopes and plans connected with the publication of The Ukrainian Weekly reveals that these hopes have been realized to a large extent. that to the late Dr. Myshuha and to its editor, Stephen Shumeyko, The Weekly developed into a serious publication. It has played a very important role in the formation of American-Ukrainian opinion, as well as in the organization of our community."

Source: Report of Svoboda Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dragan at the 24th Convention of the UNA held in Cleveland on May 26-31, 1958. The border used for this special feature is reproduced from a UNA membership certificate dated 1942.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 17, 2004, No. 42, Vol. LXXII

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