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Archival description
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CA BMUFA 0048 · Collection · 1993-1998

The collection consists of field materials collected by Jason Golinowski during his master studies at the Ukrainian Folklore program, University of Alberta, as well as essays on a wide range of Ukrainian folklore topics, such as Ukrainian crafts, rites of passage, folksongs, celebrations, personal narratives, and others.

Golinowski, Jason
CA BMUFA 0301 · Fonds · 1994 - 2014

The fonds consists of administrative records, minutes of board meetings, AGM meetings and their associated reports, financial records, and records associated with the various projects that the Friends supported and conducted. The fonds also includes promotional material, and various planning records and correspondence.

Friends of the Ukrainian Folklore Centre
CA BMUFA 0049 · Collection · 1995-2000

The collection consists of field materials collected by Sogu Hong during his courses at the Ukrainian Folklore program, University of Alberta, as well as essays on a wide range of Ukrainian folklore topics: Ukrainian folk songs, ethnic jokes; immigrant tombstones; calendar customs and family rites, such as Christmas, childbirth, weddings; folk arts and crafts; foodways, and others.

Hong, Sogu
CA BMUFA 0050 · Collection · 1996-2016

Gordon Gordey autobiographical reflection of a 40-year creative journey with The Ukrainian Shumka Dancers of Canada recounts his experiences creating his original artistic works with The Ukrainian Shumka Dancers of Canada. By documenting his dance concepts and librettos Gordey reveals his challenge to contribute original works to the canon of Ukrainian dance that is spiritually connected to generations of continuous cultural practice and resonates with 20th and 21st century audiences in Canada, Ukraine, Russia, and China. He speaks to evolving dance stories that embed themselves in viewer’s minds and become shared cultural touchstones in the evolution of our Canadian identity at home and abroad. Dance concepts and librettos for: Shumka’s Cinderella, Pathways to Hopak, Girl in the Red Dress TANGO, Vechornytsi (the multi-works in Life is a Cabaret), Eve of Kupalo - a Midsummer’s Night Mystery Masque and Voices of the Silenced are enhanced with photographs and video excerpts of the dances in performance.

This work was published in Ukrainian as a peer reviewed chapter in Collected Papers on Ukrainian Life in Western Canada, edited by V. Polkovsky and M. Soroka, Ostroh Academy National University Press, 2014, Vol. XLVII, Part Seven, pp. 242-275. All rights reserved. The English text was revised in 2016 for the deposit into the Archives. We have digital and physical access copies.

Gordey, Gordon
CA BMUFA 0028 · Collection · 1996-2002

This project was the core fieldwork collection phase of Jason Golinowski's master thesis.

A dozen or more dance competitions are organized in western Canada which include or focus exclusively on Ukrainian dance, with an estimated total of some 8000 entries per year in recent years. The number of competitions and competitors has risen significantly in the past five years. This increase in popularity raises numerous questions regarding the functioning of "ethnic" cultural activities in this country. Various theories explaining "ethnic persistence" and "ethnic revival" have been proposed. The present project is designed to develop an empirical base of data to test aspects of these conceptual models.

The project consists of asking competition organizers for competition programs and marks through their histories, information which is quite readily available to these committees. A detailed database of the competitors, their home group, instructors, their marks and placements, adjudicators, repertoire and other information will allow an analysis of behavior trends that will shed light into the functions of the competitions and the motivations of the various categories of participants.

This project is relatively self-contained and has been proposed as a Master's thesis by Jason Golinowski in the Ukrainian Folklore Program in the Department of Modern Languages and Comparative Studies. It is also connected to a larger study conducted by Dr. Andriy Nahachewsky, dealing with "new ethnicity" and Canadian Ukrainian dance.
(from Project proposal)

Bohdan Klid Collection
CA BMUFA 0312 · Collection · 1998-2012

The collection consists of two series: one contains materials developed by Dr. Bohdan Klid for the Ukrainian History and Culture course in 1999; and the second comprises material on contemporary popular music and politics in Ukraine, 2004-2012.

Klid, Bohdan
CA BMUFA 0224 · Collection · 1999-2005

The collection consists of assignments for various folklore classes at the University of Alberta including Ukrainian Material Culture (UKR-527), Ukrainian Folk Art and Performance (UKR-528), Rites of Passage (UKR-525), Ukrainian Calendar Customs (UKR-526), Ukrainian Folk Songs (UKR-522), Ukrainian Folk Prose (UKR-523), and Ukrainian Folklore in Canada (UKR-532).

The collection includes the following projects:

  • Poias for the Babies
  • Bunica's Funeral Dinner: The China
  • A Kuzhil' [Distaff] Among Flowers
  • "Yuriy Fedkowych Ukrainian Educational Society of Soda Lake" Proscenium Screen
  • Ukrainian Rites of Passage: Silence and Pregnancy
  • Iordan, Feast of the Epiphany
  • Katie and Christine: Their Kolomyiky
  • Wolves and Viagra: Katie and Metro
  • Literary Folkloristics and the Personal Narrative by Sandra Dolby Stahl: A Review of the Study
  • On Forgetting

Recollections of Ropchan (Rapchan) brothers, as well as indexes and transcripts of interviews conducted by Monica for her dissertation are also part of this collection.

Jensen, Monica
CA BMUFA 0117 · Collection · May - August, 2000

The collection consists of interviews conducted by Nadya Foty in Alberta and Saskatchewan with 21 individuals from the Ukrainian community. The goal of the interviews was to collect and preserve information about Ukrainian culture with a focus on rites of passage.
The respondents included: George Hill, Jack Kindrake, Eugene and Katherine Yereniuk, Fedir Moroz, William Piasecky, Anna Zuzak, Jenny Palamaruk, Josie Talpash, Mary Stokalko, Anna Papish, Mary Sochaski, Mary Sturby, Bella Dobni, George Wizniuk, N. Wizniuk, William Kissel, Rosie Kissel, .

Foty, Nadya
CA BMUFA 0271 · Collection · 2001-2021

The collection consists of articles about Ukrainian diaspora composers researched, written, and translated within the Ukrainian Diaspora Research Project conducted by the Ukraine Millennium Foundation.

The Composers of the Ukrainian Diaspora Research Project was initiated in 2001 when Pittsburgh musicologist Taras Filenko, PhD, approached Ukraine Millennium Foundation president Gordon (Bud) Conway, offering to research and author the project. The UMF Board supported the concept and received permission from the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission to use gaming funds to pay for the long-term project. The project was to include the biographies of approximately 40 composers living and working outside Ukraine. It was originally conceived as a book, but ultimately has become a compilation placed into the Bohdan Medwidsky Archives of the Kule Centre at the University of Alberta.

Phase One, completed in 2021, contains articles on 21 composers of the Ukrainian diaspora. Written primarily in Ukrainian, the files have been translated into English and edited by Lada Hornjatkevyc from 2008 to 2021.

In a letter dated from October 3, 2001, Dr. Filenko related the rationale of the project:

“One of the purposes of this project is to bring hitherto hidden composers into the spotlight of international music. I feel strongly that there will be many discoveries. For example, there were two brothers-composers in the Ukrainian musical milieu at the end of the 19th century. Their surname was Akimenko, one of them emigrated to France and the other remained in Ukraine and composed under the pen name Stepovy.

I recently learned that the brother in France, although living in poverty, composed music as well… This is just one of the many interesting realities on the journey into the unknown terrain of the resurrection of Ukrainian music.”

Many years later, in 2020, Dr. Filenko explained why the article on Vasyl Bezkorovayny was still incomplete. The archive was in his brother’s private home in Simferopil and had been inaccessible since the Russian takeover of Crimea. These stories reveal some of the challenges in compiling research on composers included in this project.

Because Ukrainian history includes centuries of foreign domination, a great number of composers and musicians left their homeland and took up residence in other countries. Australia, Canada, Italy, Czechia, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and other countries have benefitted from the talents of their nationals of Ukrainian heritage. The Ukraine Millennium foundation intends to fund research into the identification of these composers.

Phase One of the Composers of the Ukrainian Diaspora Project includes Fedir Akimenko, Virko Baley, Vasyl Bezkorovayny, Peter Deriashnyj, George Fiala, Mykola Fomenko, Michael Hayvoronsky, Andrij Hnatyschyn, Wadym Kipa, Alexander Koshetz, Marian Kouzan, Gary Kulesha, Larysa Kuzmenko, Hryhory Kytasty, Zenoby Lawryshyn, Zenowij Lysko, Yuriy Oliynyk, Roman Prydatkevytch, Ihor Sonevytsky, Stefania Turkewich-Lukianovych and Wasyl Wytwycky.

The Diaspora Composers Project was designed to develop through four stages, described by Dr. Filenko in 2002:

Stage 1. Initial (Preliminary)
Evaluation of the existing research related to the project. Gathering publicly available and published information on the subject. Further delineation of the sub-stages of the project. Definition of the most efficient way of gathering information.

Stage 2. Intermediate
Systematization of the material based upon historical, socio-political, geographical and cultural criteria.

Stage 3. Advanced
Selection of auxiliary sources for additional information. Reevaluation of the cultural context and the role of the particular individual in cultural development and his/her influence on the musical culture. Musicological analysis of the selected compositions, comparative analysis of the stylistic characteristics, etc.

Stage 4. Final Stage
Unification of the form of presentation, development of academic apparatus, such as indices, maps, music examples, photo materials, and possibly audio material. Style of footnotes, especially related to archival materials from different countries, list of illustrations and additional materials.

Future of the Project
Upon completion of the Composers of the Ukrainian Diaspora Project (Phase One), with files on 21 composers placed in the Bohdan Medwidsky Archives in 2021, UMF intends to continue to fund Phase Two of the project.

Ukraine Millennium Foundation
CA BMUFA 0060 · Collection · 2001-2005

The collection consists of fieldwork materials collected by Natalie Kononeko during her trips to numerous villages in Central Ukraine in 2001-2005. Interviews cover a wide range of folklore topics including ritual and belief, births, weddings, funerals, songs and stories, and more.

Kononenko, Natalie
Local Culture project
CA BMUFA 0003 · Collection · 2003-2005

The goal of the Local Culture and Diversity on the Prairies project was to document everyday life, ethno-cultural identity and regional variation among people of Ukrainian, French, German and English heritage. How did people from diverse backgrounds interact, adapt and become "prairie Canadians" in the first half of the twentieth century? What was the relationship between cultural inheritance and local community participation? How did they express their various identities on the local community level? The project was designed to generate a great deal of documentary information and primary resources for further research in many aspects of these people's lives.

The collection consists of some 800 hours of audio recordings documenting life in approximately 450 different locations on the Prairies and across Canada prior to 1939, as well as video recordings, photographs, documents, field notes and other material associated with the project.

Kule Folklore Centre
CA BMUFA 0058 · Collection · August 20, 2003

The collection consists of an interview conducted with Chester Myroslav Kuc by Andriy Nahachewsky and Larisa Sembaliuk Cheladyn on August 20, 2003. The interview focused primarily on Chester Kuc's life story, his youth and his parents' encouragement for him to be active. It also deals with his teaching dance and the founding of Shumka and Cheremosh, and dance in general. Some information about his house and his various other arts and crafts interests: embroidery, pysanky, etc. is included as well.

Nahachewsky, Andriy
CA BMUFA 0120 · Collection · 2006

The collection consists of photographs of Ukraine and its people taken by Myeong Lee in 2006 in Ukraine. The images depict calendar customs, rituals, and everyday life of Ukrainians.

Lee, Myeong Jae
CA BMUFA 0025 · Collection · 2006-2011

The collection consists of field research materials collected by Mariya Lesiv as part of her research during doctorate studies at the Ukrainian Folklore Program, University of Alberta, and a copy of her dissertation entitled "Modern Paganism between east and west: construction of an alternative national identity in Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora." 15 mini-DVs contain field video, 10 CDs - photographs, documenting rituals and interviews with Pagans in both Ukraine and North America.

Dissertation abstract:

Modern Ukrainian Paganism is a new religious movement that draws upon beliefs and practices from over a thousand years ago. It represents a mode of resistance to both the political oppression of Ukraine and the dominant position of Christianity in that country. Paganism spread among the urban Ukrainian intelligentsia in the North American diaspora after World War II, and developed actively in Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, while experiencing a great decline in the diaspora, it is rapidly growing in Ukraine, involving many different Pagan communities and thousands of believers.

Pagans draw on a variety of sources including both historical chronicles containing information about old Slavic mythology and contemporary rural folklore that is believed to maintain remnants of the old pagan worldview. Although many folkloric forms have been appropriated by the Christian church, contemporary Pagans consider these elements to have originated in pre-Christian times and reclaim them for their own needs.

This work is the first extended study of Ukrainian Paganism in its post-Soviet East European context and in the North American diaspora, simultaneously comparing it with Western Paganism. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation of rituals and interviews with Pagans in both Ukraine and North America, as well as on archival and published materials.

While focusing predominantly on the revival of pagan folklore within this movement, this thesis demonstrates how the imagined past has become important for constructing an alternative national identity in modern contexts of socio-political turmoil. The thesis suggests that this cultural revival often has little to do with historical reality, since there is limited primary information available. Like other revivals, it involves the construction of new cultural forms through creative interpretations of the ancestral past. Moreover, the obscurity of the past allows individualistic interpretations that result in many variations of similar forms. These forms are examined in their relationship to the concepts of nationalism, gender, charisma and power, religious syncretism, and aesthetics. This work is multidisciplinary in nature as it draws upon theoretical frameworks developed in fields of folkloristics, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies and art criticism. It contributes to the understanding of modern cultural processes that shape the national consciousness of people in various parts of the world.

Lesiv, Mariya
Collection · 2006

The collection consists of photos and video footage from the event of the re-naming and additional gift by Drs. Peter and Doris Kule held in the Timms Centre, University of Alberta on 6 September 2006. Recognizing the contribution Ukrainian folklore plays in the development and preservation of Ukrainian culture and heritage, the Kules made another substantial gift to the University of Alberta in September 2006. To honor the Kules’ vision to see the centre expand and grow as a leading entity, the centre was renamed the Peter and Doris Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore at a ceremony attended by several dignitaries including Dr. Indira Samarasekera, UofA President, and Dr. Daniel Woolf, Dean of Arts.

With this gift, the Kule Centre Endowment and the Kule Fellowship Endowment was established. Funds from the interest generated from these endowments is used for research projects, scholarships, publications and teaching. The Centre has been able to expand beyond Ukrainian Folklore to include Canadian Folklore studies, filling a much needed resource void in Western Canada.

Kule Folklore Centre
CA BMUFA 0063 · Collection · February 2007

The collection consists of video and audio recordings of an interview with Peter and Doris Kule conducted by Natalie Kononenko in 2007. This material was used for the Kules' biography that was included into the Champions of Philanthropy book edited by Natalie Kononenko and Serge Cipko.

Kononenko, Natalie
CA BMUFA 0089 · Collection · 2007-03-23

The collection consists of an interview conducted by Jeanne Ferguson with Dr. Bohdan Medwidsky. The Interview was recorded at the Ukrainian Folklore Centre at the University of Alberta.

Medwidsky, Bohdan