Geography and Ethnography
Ethnographic Collection / published by Ethnographic Commission of Shevchenko Scientific Society. - Lviv: Circulation of the S-ty. Print. Shevchenko Scientific Society, 1902. Vol. 12: Galician-Russian Folk Legends, vol. 1 / collected [and author of the preface] Volodymyr Hnatiuk. - XI, 215 p.
By the initiative of Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Head of Shevchenko Scientific Society (SSS) in Lviv, the society began to publish “Ethnographic Collection” since 1895 and after the creation of the Ethnographic Commission of SSS (1898), the collection was published under the auspices of it. The collection contained materials on folklore and ethnography from entire ethnic territory of Ukraine and places of settlement of Ukrainians beyond its borders, but the publications from western Ukrainian lands prevailed. In 1895-1914 there were regularly one, in separate years two (1912 - even three) volumes a year. During the World War I and after it books were published randomly: penultimate books combined 37-40 volumes – in 1928, the 20th volume, that was supposed to cover four volumes of “Kolomiyki” by V. Hnatiuk, was not published and was lost. There were 36 books in total.
Materials for the genre-themed volumes of “Ethnographic Collection” were collected according to special programs, instructions and questionnaires, which were developed and distributed by the Ethnographic Commission to collectors and correspondents in situ. Emphasis was made on maximal authenticity of records and publications of folk texts. All volumes have introductory articles that provide information abouts sources of published materials, their history, lists of collectors and settlements from which records originate. Most of the work in preparation and editing of the collections was done by V. Hnatiuk and I. Franko.
The fundamental “Ethnographic Collection” attracted attention of large scientific community and received positive appreciation from famous scholars. It still remains one of the most authoritative sources of Ukrainian folklore nowadays .
The copies of Odesa National Scientific Library were formerly stored in the private collection of Mykhalo Komarov (1844-1913), a well-known Ukrainian bibliographer, ethnographer, public figure, that is shown by the owner’s seals on covers and title pages.