Mykola Bytynskyi's Letters to Ivan Rudychiv (1949) as a Source for the History of Public, Political, Social and Cultural Life of Ukrainian Emigration in Europe

The aim of the publication is to update the source information of the famous Ukrainian public and political fi gure, heraldist, and artist Mykola Bytynsky’s (1893–1972) letters addressed to Ivan Rudychiv and discovered during the arrangement of the archival collection in the Symon Petliura Ukrainian Library in Paris. The research methodology includes consistent application of the principles of historicism, objectivity, comprehensive study of historical sources, systemic and interdisciplinary approaches. Analytical and comprehensive study of letters involves the identifi cation and analysis of different aspects of source information, it allows not only to establish important facts of the author’s biography, but also expands our knowledge about the scientifi c and cultural activities of the Ukrainian emigration. The application of the comparative studies method made it possible to critically analyze and correlate information obtained from the documents of Ukrainian and foreign archives. Scientifi c novelty. M. Bytynsky’s letters are autographs created during the artist’s stay in the camps of displaced persons in Germany. Published for the fi rst time, they have signifi cant historical and informational value. Letters contain information about the artist’s life during the postwar years as well as characterize his participation in the founding of the Ukrainian Ancestry Institution and in the resumption of the Ukrainian Military Historical Society’s activity. The letters provide important information about the fate of M. Bytynsky’s personal archives and works during the Second World War, in particular, «The album of the Ukrainian Army uniforms of the Ukrainian War of Independence», on which the artist worked for a long time at the request of the Symon Petliura Ukrainian Library. Conclusions. Publication of M. Bytynsky’s letters considerably deepen historical knowledge about the life, scientifi c and organizational activity of the Ukrainian political emigration during the interwar period in Europe as well as in the Displaced Persons camps in Germany in the postwar years. Updated source information will be important for studying of M. Bytynsky’s biography as well as for researching the Ukrainian heraldry, symbols, uniformology, reconstruction archival, museum and library collections of foreign Ucrainica. References: Bytynsky, M. (1947). Znamena ukrainskykh hetmaniv (z 16 mal.) [Banners of Ukrainian hetmans (with 16 drawings)]. Rid ta Znameno, 4, 11–13. [in Ukrainian]. Bytynsky, M. (1947). Ukrainski derzhavno-natsionalni vidznaky [Ukrainian state and national awards]. Rid ta Znameno, 1, 7–10. [in Ukrainian]. Bytynsky, M. (1947). Pravylnyk dlia budovy ukrainskykh rodovykh znamen [Rules for the construction of Ukrainian family flags]. Rid ta Znameno, 1, 19–23. [in Ukrainian]. Bytynsky, M. (1975). Suzirya lytsariv: Zibrani tvory [Constellations of the Knights: Collected Works]. Toronto: Nakladom Nadii Bytynskoi. [in Ukrainian]. Horbach, Yu. (2008). Mykola Bytynsky ta yoho lysty do Ivana Ohiyenka (mytropolyta Ilariona) [Mykola Bytynsky and his letters to Ivan Ohienko (Metropolitan Ilarion)]. Naukovi zapysky Instytutu ukrainskoi arkheohrafii ta dzereloznavstva im. M. S. Hrushevskoho, 16, 462–473. [in Ukrainian]. Hrechylo, A. (2019). Pershyi sichovyi Petra Doroshenka polk: vidznaky ta prapor [Petro Doroshenko’s first Sich regiment: honors and flag]. Collections, 12, 14–18. [in Ukrainian]. Dmytrienko, M. F. & Yas, O. V. (1997). Chasopys « Rid ta Znameno » i yoho vnesok u rozvytok ukrainskoi emihratsiynoi istoriohrafii [The journal “Rid and Znameno” and its contribution to the development of Ukrainian emigration historiography]. Bibliotechnyi visnyk, 1, 32–37. [in Ukrainian]. Josypyszyn, Ya. & Paliienko, M. (2019). Ukrainska biblioteka imeni Symona Petliury yak mistse natsionalnoi pamyati (do 140-richchya vid dnya narodzhennya Symona Petliury ta 90-richchya vidkryttya biblioteky) [Symon Petliura Ukrainian Library as a place of national memory (to the 140th anniversary of the birth of Symon Petliura and the 90th anniversary of the library opening)]. Arkhivy Ukrainy, 2, 7–26. [in Ukrainian]. Kisil, Z. R. (2001). Ukrainske voienno-istorychne tovarystvo (1920–1939) [Ukrainian Military Historical Society (1920–1939)]. Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal, 2, 100–112. [in Ukrainian]. Kucheryk, O. (2006). Mykola Bytynsky – heraldyst, istoryk, mytets [Mykola Bytynsky – heraldist, historian, artist]. Ukrainskyi arkheohrafichnyi schorichnyk, 10(11), 398–419. [in Ukrainian]. Kucheryk, O. (2007). Mykola Bytynsky – heraldyst, istoryk, poet [Mykola Bytynsky: heraldist, artist, poet]. Naukovi zapysky Natsionalnoho universytetu “Ostrozka akademiya”. Istorychni nauky, 9, 237–251. [in Ukrainian]. Lukyanchenko, S. V. (2018). Stvorennya ta diyalnist Ukrainskoho voienno-istorychnoho instytutu [Creation and activity of the Ukrainian Military-Historical Institute]. Vijskovo-istorychnyi visnyk, 29. 34–47. [in Ukrainian]. Mazepa, O. (2015). Ukrainski heraldychni ta henealohichi instytutsii DP-periodu [Ukrainian heraldic and genealogical institutions of the DP-period]. Naukovi zapysky Natsionalnoho universytetu “Ostrozka akademiya”. Istorychni nauky, 23, 103–108. [in Ukrainian]. Matrosov, Ya. M. (2013). Ivan Rudychiv: vid Poltavy do Paryzha: documentalno-istorychni narysy [Ivan Rudychiv: from Poltava to Paris: documentary-historical essays]. Dnipropetrovsk. [in Ukrainian]. Matrosov, Ya. M. (2013). Biohrafiya Ivana Opanasovycha Rydychiva – polityka, publicysta, tvortsya Ukrainskoi biblioteky-muzeju imeni S. Petliury v Paryzhi [Biography of Ivan Opanasovich Rudychiv – politician, publicist, creator of the S. Petliura Ukrainian Library-Museum in Paris]. Ukrainska biohrafistyka, 10, 212–240. [in Ukrainian]. Mytsyk, Yu. (2007). Lysty M. Bytynskoho do mytropolyta Ilariona (Ohienka) za materialamy kanadskych arkhivoskhovyshch [M. Bytynsky’s letters to Metropolitan Hilarion (Ogienko) on the materials of Canadian archives]. Naukovi zapysky. Nacionalnyj universytet «Kyevo-Mohylianska akademia». Istorychni nauky, 41, 83–87. [in Ukrainian]. Mushynka, M. (2007). Dmytro Antonovych i Muzej vyzvolnoyi borotby Ukrainy u Prazi [Dmytro Antonovych and the Museum of Liberation Struggle of Ukraine in Prague]. Narodna tvorchist ta etnohrafia, 6, 116–124. [in Ukrainian]. Paliienko, M. H. (2010). Arkhivna dialnist Arkadia Zhyvotka u Chehoslovachchyni [Arkadiy Zhyvotko’s archival activity in Czechoslovakia]. Studii z arkhivnoyi spravy ta dokumentoznavstva, 18, 190–197. [in Ukrainian]. Paliienko, M. (2008). Arkhivni centry ukrainskoyi emihraciyi (stvorennya, funkcionuvannya, dolya dokumentalnyh kolekcij) [Archival centers of the Ukrainian emigration (foundation, functioning, fate of document collections)]. Kyiv: Tempora. [in Ukrainian]. Paliienko, M. (2005). «Buv virnyj Petlyuri, ye i zalyshayusya…» (diyalnist Ivana Rudycheva na posadi dyrektora Ukrainskoyi biblioteky imeni Symona Petlyury u Paryzhi) [«I was, am and remain faithful to Petliura...» (Ivan Rudychiv’s activity as a chief librarian of the Symon Petliura Ukrainian Library in Paris]. Studii z arkhivnoyi spravy ta dokumentoznavstva, 13, 192–198. [in Ukrainian]. Pelenska, O. (2005). Ukrainskyj portret na tli Prahy: Ukrainske mystecke seredovyshhe v mizhvoyennij Chekho-Slovachchyni [Ukrainian portrait in the background of Prague: Ukrainian art world in the interwar Czecho-Slovakia]. Nyu-Jork–Praha. [in Ukrainian]. Podobed, O. A. (2018). Kulturne zhyttia ta povsyakdennya peremishhenyh osib i bizhenciv z Ukrainy u Zahidnij Nimechchyni u druhij polovyni 1940-h rokiv [Cultural and everyday life of displaced persons and refugees from Ukraine in West Germany in the second half of the 1940s] (Candidate’s thesis). Cherkasy. [in Ukrainian]. Pustovit, T. & Nakonechna, L. (1996). Ivan Rudychiv – pershyj dyrektor Ukrainskoyi biblioteky imeni S. Petlyury v Paryzhi [Ivan Rudychiv – the first chief librarian of the Symon Petlura Ukrainian Library in Paris]. Abstract of Papers‘95: Teoretychni ta orhanizacijni problemy formuvannya repertuaru ukrainskoyi knyhy ta periodyky: Dopovidi ta povidomlennia Mizhnarodnoi naukovoi konferentsii 25-26 serpnia 1995 r. (pp. 375–382). Lviv. [in Ukrainian]. Savchuk, Yu. K. & Shpylova, L. M. (2003). Bytynsky Mykola. In Encyklopedia istorii Ukrainy [Bytynsky Mykola. In Encyclopedia of the history of Ukraine] (Vol. 1, p. 255). Kyiv. [in Ukrainian]. Yas, O. V. (2012). Rid ta znameno. In Encyklopedia istorii Ukrainy [Rid ta znameno (Ancestry and banners). In Encyclopedia of the history of Ukraine] (Vol. 9, p. 218). Kyiv: Naukova dumka. [in Ukrainian].  

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.