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Myroslav Shkandrij: Home

Myroslav Shkandrij fonds


Myroslav Shkandrij fonds
Call Number: Mss 356, Pc 311 (A.02-61, A.11-92)

Title: Myroslav Shkandrij fonds.

Dates: 1960-2008.

Extent: 1.57 m of textual records, 1100 slides, 147 photographs, 19 negatives.

Biographical sketch: Dr. Myroslav Shkandrij is a professor of the Department of German and Slavic Studies, University of Manitoba. He was born on March 17, 1950, in Leeds, England. Dr. Shkandrij studied at Cambridge (1972) and the University of Toronto, where he received an M.A. (1973) and a Ph.D. (1980). He taught at the Universities of Calgary and Ottawa. Dr. Shkandrij is the author, translator, and editor of many publications dealing with Ukrainian Literary History and Art. Between 1977 and 1987, he was on the editorial board of Diyaloh, a journal of the young generation of Ukrainians in the West, the Ukrainian Canadian University Students. The journal was published three times per year. The Ukrainian Student Group smuggled issues of their publication to Ukraine during the Cold War. During those years, Dr. Shkandrij served on the Committee in Defense of Soviet Political Prisoners and many other Ukrainian institutions and organizations in Canada (CUIS, KUK).

In 2001, Dr. Shkandrij organized the first North America exhibition devoted to the Ukrainian Avant-Garde art, “Phenomenon of the Ukrainian Avant-Garde”. It covered period of the 1910’s through 1930’s. As a curator for the Winnipeg Art Gallery and in cooperation with the National Art Museum of Ukraine, he introduced to Winnipeg the Ukrainian Avant-Garde art hidden during the Stalinist years. Artists as David Burliuk, Mykhailo Boichuk, Kazimir Maleich, Alexander Archipenko and others represented modern trends in art such as Cubism, Futurism or Constructivism. Dr. Shkandrij researched a life and art of David Burliuk and organized another exhibit for the Winnipeg Art Gallery in2008 - “Futurism and After: David Burliuk, 1882-1967”.

Dr. Shkandrij is the author of many publication such as “Literary Discussion in Soviet Ukraine, 1925-1928” (1980), “Modernist, Marxists and National Discussion of the 1920s” (1992); Russia and Ukraine (2001). His latest book “Jews in Ukrainian Literature” (2009) contributed to a public dialogue on Jewish-Ukrainian relations. Dr. Shkandrij is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, the Canadian Association of Slavists. In 2010, he received the Faculty of Arts Professor of the Year award.

Custodial history: The fonds was donated to University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections by Dr. Shkandrij in 2002 and 2011.

Scope and content: The first accession contains issues of the underground student journal, Diyaloh,correspondence, minutes of meetings, files and notes pertaining to the journals Diyaloh and Meta. It contains information about Leonid Plyushch's visit to Canada in 1976 and The Grigorenko Meeting in Toronto in May 1978.

The second accession consists of Prof. Shkandrij’s correspondence and general research material; material pertaining to the Ukrainian Avant-Garde art (David Burliuk, Mykhailo Boichuk ); an article and a research material re: Winnipeg Ukrainian artist Roman Kowal; Shkandrij's unpublished manuscript “Monumentalists: Mykhailo Boichuk”, and Photograph Collection (photographs and slides of the Ukrainian Avant-Garde art, publications, Ukrainian archhitecture, and Roman Kowal'sart).

Language: English and Ukrainian

Restrictions: Initials were removed from the minutes of meetings at the request of the participants.

Accruals: Further accruals are not expected.

Finding aid: On-line finding aids are available at the links below:

MSS 356 (A.02-61)

MSS 356, PC 311 (A.11-92)