F. Vovk's Research on Ukrainians in Dobruja in the Context of Domestic Ukrainian Studies Achievements

In: Ukrai͏̈noznavstvo, Heft 1(78), S. 46-53

Abstract

The article defines the topicality of the ongoing study of the collection "Rare books with bookplates, inscriptions, and marginalia with the name of Fedir Vovk" from the Library Fund of the National Museum of the Ukrainian History as the source base for ethnology, ethnography, local lore, and Ukrainian studies. It characterizes the object of the research – Fedir Vovk's scholarly investigation of Ukrainians in Dobrudja (the historical and geographical region between the Lower Danube and the central part of the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria and Romania), which he conducted during his forced political emigration to Romania in the 1880s. The research is performed by the de visu method and based on two main sources – rare books, including the monograph "Transdanubian Sich (local memoirs and stories)" (1883) and the article "Ukrainian Fishery in Dobrudja" (1899). The research tasks that combine Ukrainian and book studies are based on the relevance of the discussion and its interdisciplinary sense. It has been generalized that the past of the Ukrainian community of Dobrudja can be illustrated in a certain diversity of its history and traditions, although relying on a very narrow historiographical basis besides Fedir Vovk's research. It has been observed that Fedir Vovk did not only dedicate almost 10 years of his scholarly work to the search, collection, and preservation of the historical memory of his compatriots abroad but also aimed to find the traces of Zaporizhzhian Cossacks military (administrative) centers to study their memory about homeland, way of life, and traditions in a new complex local geographical, social, and political context. The article outlines the research prospects in the context of the mission set by bibliologists, historians, and experts in Ukrainian studies to develop "Professor F. Vovk's Memory Department", which was founded in the 1920s by his associates and suspended by the Great Terror.