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The Rededication of the
Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archive
Archives hold unique documents. They contain written records, sound recordings, photographs, videos, and other materials that exist in single copy. Libraries hold books that are also found in other libraries. What is in an archive is found nowhere else. The Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archive is the largest repository of Ukrainian folklore outside Ukraine. On April 8, its new quarters were formally dedicated in a ceremony attended by Prof. Medwidsky, the man who founded the Archive, Natalie Kononenko, Acting Director of the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore, and University officials Carl Amrhein, Provost, Colleen Skidmore, Acting Dean of Arts, and Adrian Del Caro, Chair of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies.
The Archive sprang from humble beginnings: field materials collected by Medwidsky's students. Donations from the local community and across Canada followed as people quickly recognized the importance of heritage preservation. The University of Alberta also recognized the Archive and, in 1995, gave it its first home on the fifth floor of the Arts Building. Medwidsky made a major donation to the Archive in 2003 and it was renamed in his honour. The Archive moved to temporary quarters in HUB Mall in 2005 and this year it has returned to the Arts Building where it occupies an expanded facility easily accessible to students, scholars, and the general public. The Archive has already been used by researchers from Ukraine and across Canada.
Folklore is a discipline characterized by intimacy and immediacy. Folklore fieldwork demands direct interaction with performers and other members of the community. In this day of increasing isolation, when people interact through Facebook rather than face to face, folklore is all the more necessary. The Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archive makes folklore accessible to all.