The Ukrainian Museum of Canada was founded by the Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada (UWAC) in 1936 in Saskatoon. It was Canada's first Ukrainian museum and served as a center dedicated to the advancement of the knowledge of and the preservation of Ukrainian heritage in Canada. The first gallery space was at the Petro Mohyla Institute (401 Main Street) and opened to the public in 1941. In 1965, gallery space was also provided in the new Mohyla Institute when they moved to 1240 Temperance Street. Rapid growth in the late 1960s and early 1970s resulted in the need for expanded space to house the museum's growing collection.
A new museum building, at our current location of 910 Spadina Crescent East, was completed in the summer of 1979. The museum's staff and summer students began to move in artifacts beginning on Monday, July 9, 1979. It took two weeks to move everything from the old location to the new. Unpacking and set-up, however, took the rest of the summer. The first displays opened in early 1980. The official public opening took place on Saturday, May 24, 1980.
There are currently four branches and an associated collection connected to this museum. The Ontario and Alberta branches were established in 1944, Manitoba in 1950 and British Columbia in 1957. The associated collection was established in Calgary in the 1970s.
The Central and East European Studies Society of Alberta was created as a result of a panel at the "One Day Conference on Central and East European Studies", organized by the Division of East European and Soviet Studies, held on February 14, 1976. During February and March, several meetings of a steering committee took place. At the meeting on April 10th, the draft constitution was approved, a Board of Directors chosen, and a name decided upon, the Central and East European Studies Society of Alberta or CEESSA. The first meeting of the Board of Directors took place on April 29th. The Society was officially incorporated under the Societies Act of the Province of Alberta, on May 28, 1976. The first board of directors included: M. Lobay, P. Czartoryski, A. Dudaravicius, B. Biro, C. Suchowersky, W. Kostash, F. Pelech, M. Sulyma, C. Rodkiewicz, E. Zeiter, J. Stribrny, A. Saruk, A. Osis, W. Schepanovich, W. Kuester, Mrs. Panciuk, M. Gulutsan, and T. Priestly. Mary Lobay served as the Society's first president.
The original objectives of the society were to assist academics in the effort to train students in an interdisciplinary field and to aid and support in the work on the histories of ethnic communities from Eastern Europe. The Society was established as a non-profit educational institution.
CEESSA held two conferences in Banff, AB. The "First Banff Conference on Central and East European Studies" was held March 3-6, 1977. During this conference, the Central and East European Studies Association of Canada or CEESAC was established, with Metro Gulutsan as its first president. The "Second Banff Conference on Central and East European Studies" was held March 2-5, 1978, and also contained a CEESAC meeting. The first conference had 122 participants, while the second had 194 participants.
The Ukrainian Music Association of Alberta was founded on February 27th, 1972 at a Ukrainian National Federation meeting. The founders were four members of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers: Maria Dytyniak (piano), Iryna Pawlykowsky (piano), Serge Eremenko (violin), and Neonila Dmytruk (piano). They noticed that many professional musicians of Ukrainian descent regularly attended the Alberta Registered Music Teacher's meetings. They founded the association because they believed that professional musicians and enthusiasts that have an interest in Ukrainian music, should have a place to come together. 8 years later, on March 1st, 1980 the UMAA became part of the Province of Alberta.
The goal of the association is to "emphasize that Ukrainian music be preserved and promoted by skilled and talented musicians, and that an appreciation and understanding of Ukrainian music and its composers be fostered through performance, education and media within and beyond the Ukrainian community" (Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta).
Today, the Ukrainian Music Association of Alberta (UMAA) goes by the name of the Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta (UMSA).
In 1974, the Ukrainian Cultural Immersion Camp “Selo” concept was developed by Roman Onufrijchuk, Walter Dlugosh, and Vasyl’ Balan of the National Executive of the Canadian Ukrainian Youth Association (CYMK). The summer camps were organized as a cultural immersion experience and designed to appeal primarily — though not exclusively — to young Ukrainian-Canadians between the ages of 15-20.
For three weeks every year from 1974 to 1985, during the month of August, young people from across the country gathered in a natural rural setting, removed from the distractions of everyday life, where they were immersed in a learning experience, which sought to provide meaning and understanding to Ukrainian Canadian identity.
Orest Semchishen is widely recognized as one of Canada’s finest documentary photographers. He is best known for his photographs of Byzantine churches in rural areas of Alberta of which this collection is comprised.
Orest Semchishen was born at Mundare, Alberta in 1932). A radiologist by profession, Semchishen took up photography initially as a hobby. In the early 1970s, after taking University of Alberta extension classes, he turned to documentary work and since that time has continued to work in the classic documentary tradition. Probably the most important influence on his work is the American photographer Walker Evans, although Semchishen's vision has its own distinct personality and the wide-ranging scope of his work and its comprehensiveness recalls the achievement of the great French photographer Eugène Atget.
Beginning with a survey of Alberta's Byzantine rite churches that were a part of his Ukrainian heritage, Semchishen's oeuvre has expanded to encompass rural communities, city business districts and markets, ethnic groups, fur trappers and prairie farms. In the process he has developed an increasingly sophisticated vision and technique: his prints are marvels of brilliance and tonal balance. He has compiled an extraordinary record of Canadian life, centered on the Prairies but extending across the country. Semchishen no longer produces his photographic work making this collection even more valuable.
A resident of Edmonton, Orest Semchishen's works are represented in public collections including those of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Art Gallery of Alberta, The Glenbow Alberta Institute and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, located in the nation's capital, is Canada's only federal institution devoted solely to the collection, exhibition and promotion of the photographic medium. As such, it is the country's foremost advocate of artistic and documentary photography.