Dr. Robert Bohdan Klymasz was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1936. In 1957, he obtained a B.A. from the University of Toronto, and later studied at Charles University, Prague (1952), University of Manitoba (M.A., 1960), Harvard University (1960-1962), and Indiana University (Ph.D., 1971). He married Shirley Zaporozan in 1963, and they have two daughters, Andrea and Lara. In 1967, he joined the Canadian Museum of Civilization and served as its first programme director for Slavic and East European Studies. Throughout his career, he has held several prestigious positions, including the executive director of the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre (Oseredok) in Winnipeg, visiting associate professor in Folklore for Memorial University's Department of Folklore, visiting professor in Folklore and Slavic Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, and visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School.
In 1993, as a curator with the Museum of Civilization, Dr. Klymasz began a comprehensive study on community life in Gimli, Manitoba. Fieldwork on this project began in 1993 and continued on an annual basis every summer until the summer of 2001. The project, which became known as the Gimli Community Research Project (G.C.R.P.), was meant to offer insight on what makes the Town of Gimli a safe and prosperous town in which to live. The early work was low-key in nature, focusing on the town's life and culture, for example, attending meetings of the town's council, various public forums, proceedings of the local public law court, and meetings of the Board for the New Iceland Heritage Museum. Gradually, the fieldwork shifted to monitoring phenomena that gave Gimli its "dreamtown" quality. The final report was completed in 2002 and was entitled ""Dream Town": Art and the Celebration of Place in Gimli, Manitoba."
Upon his retirement in 2000, he was named Curator Emeritus with the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Dr. Klymasz is a renowned expert on Ukrainian Canadian folklore, having extensively written, published, and lectured on this subject. His publications include An Introduction to the Ukrainian-Canadian Folksong Cycle (1970), Ukrainian Folklore in Canada (1980), '??Svieto': Celebrating Ukrainian-Canadian Ritual in East Central Alberta Through the Generations (1992), and The Icon in Canada (1996). Dr. Klymasz also published many reviews of books and exhibitions in Canada's Ukrainian and Icelandic ethnic press. He continues to pursue his recent interests with grants from the University of Alberta (CIUS) and the University of Manitoba (CUCS).
In 2004, he delivered a paper at the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences in Winnipeg. Dr. Klymasz was awarded the Marius-Barbeau Prize by the Folklore Studies Association of Canada (Laval University) for his studies in Ukrainian Canadian Folklore. In 2005, he completed the Archival Research Project on Walter Klymkiw, the conductor of Koshetz Choir, titled "Playing around with Choir": the Correspondence and Papers of Walter P. Klymkiw. The manuscript is held at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections. Between 2006 and 2008, he completed several archival research projects including A priest, a maestro, a community: epistolary insights into the music culture of Winnipeg's Ukrainian community, 1936-1944 (2006-2007), Winnipeg Papers on Ukrainian Music (2008), Nuggets from the past: quotations on the Ukrainian experience in Canada (2007), Winnipeg Papers on Ukrainian Book Culture (2009), and Winnipeg Papers on Ukrainians and Aboriginals. In 2013 a Ukrainian translation of Klymasz's 1971 Indiana University PhD dissertation was published in Ukrainian, under the title, 'Ukrains'ka narodna kul'tura v kanads'kykh preriiakh' (Kyiv: Duliby, 2013) .
The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) is a leading centre of Ukrainian studies outside Ukraine. It is an integral part of the University of Alberta under the jurisdiction of the Vice-President (Research). Founded in 1976, following joint efforts by Ukrainian community leaders and academics, to provide an institutional home for Ukrainian scholarship in Canada, CIUS is dedicated to the development of Ukrainian studies in Canada and supports such studies internationally. In addition to its main office at the University of Alberta, CIUS maintains a branch office at the University of Toronto.
CIUS fulfills its mandate by organizing research and scholarship in Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Canadian studies: it publishes books and a scholarly journal; develops materials for Ukrainian-language education, mainly for western Canada's bilingual school program; organizes conferences, lectures, and a seminar series; and awards graduate and undergraduate scholarships, as well as research grants to scholars. CIUS also contributes to the cultural and educational development of community groups in Canada by providing specialists and resources for their activities. It fosters international links of mutual benefit to Canada and the world, especially with Ukraine, by initiating and managing major international endeavours, including Canada-Ukraine legislative and intergovernmental projects.
CIUS is financed in part from the operating budget of the University of Alberta. Other support comes from grants for specific projects and income earned from endowment funds.
To find out more about the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, please visit its website: https://uofa.ualberta.ca/arts/research/canadian-institute-ukrainian-studies
Sophia Kyforuk (nee Sophia Yakivna Porayko) was born on June 10, 1896, in the village of Tulova, Sniatyn Province, Western Ukraine. Her parents (Yakiv and Kateryna/Jacob and Katherine Parayko) were peasants in the old country and came to Alberta, Canada together with their five children (John, Mary, William, Alex and Sophia) in 1899, where they acquired a homestead. They stayed on the same homestead all their lives. Her father Yakiv knew how to read and write - he was the only one in the family who had had any schooling. He was interested in astronomy and for this he was nicknamed the Stargazer by the villagers. He used to go to the reading hall where he became acquainted with the booklet "O Emigratsii" (Concerning Emigration) written by Dr. Joseph Oleskiw. Yakiv was interested in public issues. It was Oleskiw's booklet that encouraged him to go to Canada. In fact, he was the first in the village to do so. He was a member of the Radical Party in the old country and he brought some literature on radicalism with him to Canada.
The family spent their first winter with Alex Chorney's family. In November of 1899, they paid for their own homestead. In 1907, a school was built in the district in which they had settled. Sophia was already eleven years old when she entered the first grade. She attended school until 1911.
They read several newspapers in our home: Ruske Slovo (Ruthenian Word), Soyuz (Alliance), Kanadiiskiy Farmer (Canadian Farmer), Chervonyi Prapor (Red Banner), Robochyi Narod (Working People), Ranok (Morning), Hromadskyi Holos (Community Voice), Novyny (News) and Ukrainskyi Holos (Ukrainian Voice).
Sophia’s brother Alex was a delegate from Calgary to the First Ukrainian Social Democratic Party Convention that was held in Edmonton in 1910. He brought back some socialist literature from this convention. He also subscribed to the Western Clarion, the Social Democratic newspaper published in English in Vancouver.
Sophia joined the Association for Self-Enlightenment as soon as it was formed in Edmonton in 1916 under the guidance of John Klebanowsky. In the years 1917-1918, she was living in the mining district of Cardiff where she was in contact with the branch of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party. She also acted parts in plays on stage and took part in concerts.
In 1927, Sophia married Peter Kyforuk (1894-1976). They farmed at Warspite, AB (near Smoky Lake) from 1937 to 1957.
Sophia was a life long member of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and its organizational predecessor, the Ukrainian Labour-Farmer Temple Association. Upon her death in 1993, her daughter, Octavia Hall, honoured the memory of her parents by donating the family home in Edmonton to the Alberta Ukrainian Heritage Foundation, along with some money, a collection of Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Canadian artifacts, and personal archival materials.
A renown artist and photographer, David Goberman was born in 1912 in Minsk. He studies in the Leningrad Academy of Arts. He is especially famous for his photographs of Jewish tombstones and Hucul ceramics. In 1950s he travelled across Ukraine and Moldova and photographed material culture, cemeteries, everyday life, and people.