This summer, I received five boxes of donations from the Shevchenko Scientific Society in the United States. The Society had offered duplicates to libraries around the world, and we were fortunate enough to receive a few hundred with the help of the Cambridge Ukrainian Studies programme which paid for delivery. While we have avoided having library material delivered to our homes, these boxes did come to my house with the agreement of the Society and the CUS programme lead, because timing was of the essence and the University Library building was at that point not fully open for deliveries.
These boxes have stayed unopened in my hall until now, having had to take their place in a queue predominated by ebooks and decolonisation-related work. At last the first box has been opened! Its contents complement two earlier donations – books from the libraries of the late British Ukrainians Peter Yakimiuk and Teodor Kolassa – providing Cambridge readers with further interesting material published by the Ukrainian diaspora. Here are a few of the books catalogued so far, with links to iDiscover.
- Narodni︠e︡ slovo : zbirnyk suchasnoho ukraïnsʹkoho folklʹoru / ypori︠a︡dkuvanni︠a︡, peredmova, vstupy i prymitky I︠U︡r. Semenka.
- A collection of anecdotes published in New York and Munich in 1964.
- Ukraïnt︠s︡i v Avstraliï : materii︠a︡ly do istoriï poselenni︠a︡ ukraïnt︠s︡iv v Avstraliï.
- Written under the auspices of the Shevchenko Scientific Society branch in Australia, this 1966 volume looks at different aspects of Ukrainian diaspora life in the country, and contains forewords from various Australian politicians, starting with H.E. Holt, then prime minister.
- I︠A︡ vybrav voli︠u︡ : osobyste ĭ politychne z︠h︡ytti︠a︡ sovi︠e︡tsʹkoho uri︠a︡dovtsi︠a︡ / napisav Viktor Kravchenko ; pereklav iz angliïsʹkoĭ movy Mykhaĭlo Hetʹman.
- A 1948 translation into Ukrainian, published in Toronto, of Viktor Kravchenko’s English I chose freedom about his move west from the Soviet Union.
- Anhliĭsʹka hramatyka : osnovni pravyla z prykladamy / Bohdan I︠A︡roslavchenko.
The cover of the final item in the list, illustrated by Edvard Kozak. - An introduction, published in New York in 1951, to English grammar. Our copy includes an inscription by the author to Professor Dr Chubatyĭ, probably Mykola Chubatyĭ who founded the U.S. Shevchenko Scientific Society.
- T︠s︡yhansʹkymy dorohamy : humoresky / Ivan Kernyt︠s︡ʹkyĭ ; obhortka ta ili︠u︡strat︠s︡iï Edvarda Kozaka.
- Humoresques published in 1947 in Munich. Many Ukrainian diaspora publications produced in the immediate post-WW2 years came out in West Germany, where many Ukrainians had been in Displaced Persons Camps.
It is very enjoyable to start opening up the boxes and seeing what we have received, and we are very grateful to our colleagues in New York and Cambridge for enabling the donation. A search in iDiscover for the Society and the word “donor” will bring up all books as they are added to the catalogue. The titles above and the remaining books in the donation will eventually go to Cambridge’s Library Storage Facility.
Mel Bach
Languages across Borders 
It’s heartwarming to see the blog post. I clicked on the link to the bibliographic record and chuckled when I saw the cover photo of Ivan Kernytskyi’s volume “Циганськими дорогами.” That copy is from the library of my great uncle Antin Malanchuk, who lived with our family. He was my “surrogate grandfather.” He emigrated to the US in the early part of the last century. I recognized the label “636” –numbers cut from old wall calendars for the purpose of keeping track of his books. I remember my father trying to keep up with his ever-growing library by building new shelves in our tiny house in New Haven, Connecticut. Growing up surrounded by his books it isn’t a mystery why both my sister and I chose library careers – she at Yale University and I at the Library of Congress. I remember when just before his death in 1963 he donated his entire collection to the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York. I’m certain he would be happy to know that I presently chair the Archives and Library Committee of the Society.