Sources to the history of Ukrainian journalism in the Manuscripts Department of Ossolinski National Institute

Abstract

The article identifies and describes the main groups of non-catalogued documents from Manuscripts Department of Ossolinski National Institute in Wroclaw, enabling the study of unknown pages of Ukrainian journalism history. The revealed documents made it possible to clarify new aspects of editors’, publishers’, journalists’ activity, to find out the unknown periodicals, as well as to enrich their «biographies» with new information. They are, in particular, the copies of Ukrainian newspapers, magazines and bulletins published in Austria, Poland, Germany in 1919–1921, editions issued in displaced persons’ camps, and early unknown handwritten student’s magazine «Vіstnyk» (1890) and its Polish language supplement «Dodatek do Vіstnyka». The author characterizes archival materials of Ukrainian newspapers’ editorial boards, such as of «Ukrainska Trybyna», «Ridnyi Krai», «Zyz», «Litopys Chervonoii Kalyny», «Ukraiinski Visti» and others. Mostly, they include authorized texts with editor’s marks, letters to correspondents and their answers, evidences about contributors, ways of forming the periodicals’ content, cooperation with polish journalists, as well as with editorial boards of other periodicals, both Ukrainian and foreign. The article stated the significance of different documents of the Ministry of Press and Propaganda of Ukrainian Peoples Republic’s Government as a historic source, especially those issued during so called Tarniv period. That is regulative and normative documents, reports, official correspondence by minister O. Kovalevskyi, heads and referents of Department of Press and Department of Propaganda V. Ostrovskyi, K. Vrotnovskyi-Syvoshapka, F. Krushynskyi, N. Hnatiuk and others. The author examines personal documents, which highlight the biographies of both prominent and little-known journalists, publishers, other persons closely cooperated with press. Private correspondence by F. Dudko, M. Yeremiiiv, O. Kovalevskyi, P. Kovzhun, M. Tverdokhlib, V. Pisniachevskyi, F. Khyzhniak, M. Yatskiv was especially emphasized, since besides private troubles, contains important discussions on media publishing, valuable information about periodicals they were working for and their reflections on the importance of journalism in general. Key words: history of Ukrainian Journalism, periodicals’ editorial boards, private correspondence, journalists, publishers.