The Photo Archives of Ukrainian Émigrés (1914–1945)
| Name | The Photo Archives of Ukrainian Émigrés (1914–1945) |
 Group of members of the Society for the Museum of the Liberation Struggle of Ukraine |
| Catalog Number | T-UF | |
| Volume | 454 inventory units, 3 archival boxes, 1 folder | |
| State of Cataloging | The collection has been fully catalogued and is freely accessible | |
| Languages of Documents | Ukrainian, Czech |
The collection comprises photographs documenting the public, military, political and cultural life of Ukrainian émigrés during the First World War, the interwar period and the Second World War.
Most of the photographs included in the collection were originally part of the holdings of the Museum of the Liberation Struggle of Ukraine in Prague (which existed in 1925–1948), as evidenced by extant registration stamps and other marks. Another significant part of the collection comes from the estate of the Ukrainian politician Mykyta Shapoval (1882–1932), who spent the last years of his life in Prague and Řevnice (Czechoslovakia). The comprehensive collection forms the basis of the photographic exhibition on the subject of the Ukrainian Sokol movement that was organised by the Ukrainian Economic Academy in Poděbrady.
The Slavonic Library received some of the photographs as a gift from private owners. The origin of others is unknown – they probably come from private collections that were either given to the Ukrainian Museum without being properly registered or had been donated to the library but were hidden or forgotten in the depository due to the political situation before 1989.
The latter include, for example, a number of photographs related to the history of the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian People’s Republic, taken in Ukraine during the Russian-Ukrainian war (Civil War) of 1918–1920, as well as several portraits of members of the Ukrainian anarchist movement (the Makhnovists). Although the photographs are not directly related to the topic of emigration, they undoubtedly belonged to some of the Ukrainian émigrés and were added to the collection because of their unique historical value.
Based on the content of the photographs, the collection is divided into eight parts:
- – personalities (portraits of individuals),
- – civic activity (emigrant committees and unions),
- – the army (army units in Ukraine and in internment beyond its borders),
- – education (Ukrainian émigré courses and schools),
- – professional associations and events (congresses, results of the activities of Ukrainian experts),
- – culture (singing and theatre groups, museum and library activities),
- – Subcarpathian Rus’,
- – large-format photographs.
It is particularly valuable for historians focusing on Ukrainian émigrés that about one-fifth of the collection consists of photographs used as illustrative material in Symon Narizhny’s comprehensive book Ukraïnska emigratsiia [Ukrainian Émigrés], mostly in the first volume, published in Prague in 1942. These include approximately 80 pictures, which have editorial notes on the reverse and crop marks for placement in the publication.
Digitized items from the photo archives are available on esbirky.cz web portal.