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Call Number: Mss 206, Pc 185, Tc 109 (A.04-99)
Title: William (Bill) Wsiaki fonds.
Dates: 1939-2000.
Extent: 0.44 m of textual records and other material.
Biographical sketch: Bill Wsiaki was born in Wynyard, Saskatchewan in 1955. In 1973, he began his employment with the University of Manitoba Libraries. Currently, he is the Circulation Supervisor at the Father Harold Drake Library, St. Paul’s College. In addition to being employed at the University of Manitoba, he contributed news reports, human interest stories, and features and photos to numerous Canadian magazines and newspapers from 1979 to 1989. In 1984, he was one of the official photographers for the Manitoba Papal visit of Pope John Paul II. In 1989, he began WPW Video Productions. From 1989 to 2001, he produced television documentaries and educational video series. During this period, he received four international and three national awards for video production. Two of his documentaries were reviewed in the American national audio and video publication calledVideomaker. Some of his works are archived at the National Archives in Ottawa and at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Topics of his video productions include Catholic religious issues, Ukrainian history and culture, and aboriginal marriage preparation. From 1995 to 1999, he was the Winnipeg producer forKONTAKT, the Ukrainian culture and news program produced in Toronto.
Custodial history: The fonds was donated to University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections by Bill Wsiaki in 2004.
Scope and content: The fonds consists of research material and video-recordings pertaining to Ukrainian Canadians and Ukrainian history. It also includes videos used for the development of a television documentary on St. Benedict's Monastery, and videos shot in northern Saskatchewan for a marriage preparation series for Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. The videos include raw and finished video footage and master tapes and feature interviews, dramatizations, and scenes pertaining to the various productions. Also included are archival videos and photos purchased (with copyright clearance) for his work. The video collection totals 112 VHS videocassettes and 29 mini-DVC videocassettes. The tape collection consists of 13 audio-cassettes pertaining to St. Benedict's Monastery, Koshetz Choir, the Students' Choir of St. Vladimir's College, St. Andrew's College, and Babi Yar.
Restrictions: There are no restrictions on this material.
Accruals: Further accruals are not expected.
Finding aid: An on-line finding aid is available at the link below:
MSS 206, PC 185, TC 109 (A.04-99).
Digitized Material