Institute of Ukrainian Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Institute of Ukrainian Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine [Інститут українознавства ім. І. Крип’якевича Національної академії наук України; Instytut ukrainoznavstva im. I. Krypiakevycha Natsionalnoi akademii nauk Ukrainy]. The scientific research institute was organized in Lviv in 1951 as the Institute of Social Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR out of the Lviv branches of the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, the Institute of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, and the Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. These branches had been established in 1940–1 in place of the dissolved Shevchenko Scientific Society and were restored in 1945. From 1963 to 1969 the institute came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the Ukrainian SSR. Then it became part of the Social Sciences Section of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1993 the institute was reorganized and assumed its present name. Its institute’s directors have been Oleksii Nesterenko (1951–3), Ivan Krypiakevych (1953–62), Markiian Smishko (1962–4), Myroslav Oleksiuk (1964–73), Volodymyr Chuhaiov (1973–81), Mykhailo Bryk (1982–8), Fedir Steblii (1981–2 and 1988–9), Yaroslav Isaievych (1989-2010), and Mykola Lytvyn (since 2010).

During the cultural revival of the 1960s the institute became one of the main centers of interdisciplinary studies in western Ukraine, particularly in history of Ukraine, archeology, folklore, ethnography, and economics. It published a number of collections, including Materialy i doslidzhennia z arkheolohiï Prykarpattia i Volyni (Materials and Research in the Archeology of Subcarpathia and Volhynia, 19 vols, 1954–2015, with interruptions) and Z istoriï zakhidnoukraïns'kykh zemel' (From the History of Western Ukrainian Lands, 5 vols, 1957–60), which was continued as Z istoriï Ukraïns'koï RSR (From the History of the Ukrainian SSR, 3 vols, 1962–3), and then returned to its original title (volumes 9–11, 2013–2015). During the 1960s and 1970s the institute also published several seminal monographs and collective works on the history of material culture, on ancient populations of Subcarpathia and Volhynia, on Ukrainian historical lexicology and lexicography (including an important two-volume dictionary of the Old Ukrainian language, 1977–8), on paleolithic monuments of the Dnister River region, and on the archeology of Galicia. The institute’s scholars also cooperated with the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR on several serial projects, among them Istoriia mist i sil Ukraïns'koї RSR (The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR, 26 volumes, 1967–73). One of the most important, yet controversial was the collective monograph edited by Myroslav Oleksiuk, Torzhestvo istorychnoï spravedlyvosti. Zakonomirnist' voz’iednannia zakhidnoukraïnskykh zemel' u iedynii Ukraïns'kii radians'kii derzhavi (The Triumph of Historical Justice: A Validity of the Unification of Western Ukrainian Lands within the United Ukrainian Soviet State, 1964). Despite its explicit ideological message, the collective monograph was the first comprehensive history of western Ukrainian lands, while also emphasizing their Ukrainian character throughout the centuries. The monograph was harshly criticized by the Communist party establishment for the alleged underestimation of Russian historical influence on Western Ukraine. After suffering a decline during the repressions of the 1970s (for instance, Oleksiuk had lost his position as the institute’s head in 1973), the institute experienced a revival in the 1980s and particularly in the 1990s, after a noted historian Yaroslav Isaievych became head of the institute in 1989 and later, after the institute was reorganized in 1993.

As of 2012 the institute consists of seven departments: archeology (including the Archeological Museum); the history of the Middle Ages; modern history of Ukraine; contemporary history, with a section devoted to the study of the Ukrainian national movement in the 20th century; Ukrainian literature; Ukrainian language; and the Center for the Study of Ukrainian-Polish relations, with a publications section. The institute’s library and archive contain over 36,000 books and 4,000 archival documents. They also contain several research catalogues, among them 800,000 entries to the ‘Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language of the 16th–the First Half of the 17th Century’ and 60,000 entries to the ‘Historical Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language.’ The institute’s Archeological Museum holds 350,000 artefacts, including more than 3,000 items from the Carpathian Mountains region and Volhynia representing the periods from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages. In 2011 the institute employed 70 scholars, one of whom (Mykola Ilnytsky) was a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

In recent decades the institute’s scholars have published a number of important studies in the fields of Ukrainian history, archeology, cultural studies, and philology, among them: Mykola Bandrivsky, Svarozhi lyky (arkheolohichno-relihiieznavchi narysy z istoriï Zakhidnoï Ukraïny) (The Faces of Svaroh: Essays on Archeological and Religious History of Western Ukraine, 1992); Mykola Lytvyn, ed., Heneralitet ukraïns’kykh vyzvol’nykh zmahan’: biohramy heneraliv ta admiraliv ukraïns’kykh viis’kovykh formatsii pershoï polovyny XX stolittia (The Generals of the Ukrainian Liberation Struggle: Biographies of Generals and Admirals of Ukrainian Military Units of the First Half of the 20th Century, 1995); Mykola Ilnytsky, Vid ‘Molodoï Muzy’ do ‘Praz’koï shkoly’ (From the Moloda Muza to the Prague School, 1995); Ihor Chornovol, Pol’s’ko-ukraïns’ka uhoda 1890–1896 rr.: heneza, perebih, naslidky (The Polish-Ukrainian Agreement 1890–1896: Genesis, Developments, and Consequences, 1996); Yaroslav Isaievych, comp., Lviv: istorychni narysy (Lviv: Historical Essays,1996); O. Lutsky, ed., Ku’turne zhyttia v Ukraïni. Zakhidni zemli Ukraïny 30-kh–pochatku 50-kh rokiv (Cultural Life in Ukraine. Western Ukrainian Lands, the 1930s to early 1950s, 3 volumes, 1996–2003); Ya. Isaievych et al., ed., Istoriia ukraïns’koï kul’tury. U 5-ty tomakh. Tom 2: Ukraïns’ka kul’tura XIII–pershoï polovyny XVII stolit’ (A History of Ukrainian Culture in 5 volumes. Vol. 2: The Ukrainian Culture in the 13th to the First Half of the 17th Century, 2001); Ya. Isaievych, Ukraïns’ke knyhovydannia: vytoky, rozvytok, perspektyvy (The Ukrainian Book Publishing: Origins, Development, Perspectives, 2002); Tymofii Havryliv, Tekst mizh kul’turamy. Perekladoznavchi studiï (Text Between Cultures: Studies in Translation, 2005); Ya. Isaievych et al., ed., Istoriia L’vova. U triokh tomakh (A History of Lviv in 3 volumes, 2006–7); Leonid Zashkilniak, ed., Istorychni mify і stereotypy ta mizhnatsional’ni vidnosyny v suchasnii Ukraïni (Historical Myths, Stereotypes, and Inter-Ethnic Relations in Contemporary Ukraine, 2009); and Olha Zanevych, Ukraïns’ka mova XVI–XVII st.: diieslovo. Semantyka, perekhidnist’, ob’iekt (The Ukrainian Language of the 16th and 17th Centuries: the Verb. Semantics, Transitivity, Object, 2015).

In the years following Ukraine’s independence in 1991, aside from resuming the publication of older series and periodic collections, the institute has launched several new ones, including Ukraïna: kul’turna spadshchyna, natsional’na svidomist’, derzhavnist’ (Ukraine: Cultural Legacy, National Consciousness, Statehood, 24 volumes, 1992–2014); Ukraïna-Pol’shcha: istorychna spadshchyna, suspil’na svidomist’ (Ukraine-Poland: Historical Legacy and Social Consciousness, 6 volumes, 1993–2013); Dialektolohichni studiї (The Studies in Dialectology, 9 volumes, 2003–10); Istorychni ta kul’turolohichni studiï (Historical and Cultural Studies, 7 volumes, 2001–15); Kniazha doba: istoriia i kul’tura (The Princely Era: History and Culture, 8 volumes, 2007–14); and Paradyhma (Paradigm, 7 volumes, 1998–2013).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Naukovi pratsi spivrobitnykiv Instytutu suspil’nykh nauk 1951–1969. Bibliohrafichnyi pokazhchyk (Lviv 1970)
Instytut ukraïnoznavstva imeni Ivana Kryp’iakevycha Natsional’noï akademiï nauk Ukraïny: Naukova diial’nist’, struktura, pratsivnyky (Lviv 2001)
Instytut ukraïnoznavstva imeni Ivana Kryp’iakevycha Natsional’noï akademiï nauk Ukraïny: Bibliohrafiia prats’ naukovykh spivrobitnykiv 1990–2001 (Lviv 2001)
Isaievych, Ya. ‘Storinky istoriï Instytutu ukraïnoznavstva im. I. Kryp’iakevycha NANU,’ Ukraïns’kyi istorychnyi zhurnal, 2002, no 4
Petehyrych, V. ‘Instytut ukraïnoznavstva imeni I. Kryp’iakevycha NAN Ukraïny,’ Entsyklopediia istoriï Ukraïny. Vol. 3 (Kyiv 2005)

Serhiy Bilenky, Ivan Myhul

[This article was updated in 2017.]