ASSISTANCE FROM AROUND THE WORLD

During this tragic time, the Ukraine State Archives have received hundreds of letters and e-mails from friends, colleagues and concerned people from all over the world, expressing their shock and hope that some documents may be saved.

Additionally, we have received assistance both in technical advice and support as well as financial support that is enabling us to use the most sophisticated and known methods of preservation in such a situaiton.

Our archival colleagues in neighboring countries have been of valuable assistance and we are grateful for this.

From our Colleagues in Poland

Following the initiative of the Wladylaw Stepniak, Vice-Director General of the Polish State Archives, a meeting was arranged in Kamianets Podilsky for the purpose of assessing the situation with the damaged records. Leading this meeting was Hennadii Boriak, Director General of the State Committee on Archives of Ukraine, and Henryk Kurowski, Vice-Director General of the State Archives of Poland. Mr. Kurowski is very knowledgeable about document preservation and after seeing and inspecting the steps taken immediately following the fire (drying and freezing the documents), he proposed on behalf of the Polish State Archives to deliver technical assistance in transportation, defrosting, drying and fumigation of the frozen records. This work would be done with the Konvak company located in Wroclaw, Poland. This company specializes in equipment which is designed specifically for this purpose.

We are very grateful to the Polish State Archives for arranging this complicated and costly procedure. Immediately following the defrosting/drying process, a special workshop is planned in Wroclaw where dozens of people from several countries will meet to evaluate the surviving documents and the best way to proceed.

Assistance from around the World

We are grateful to the following individuals who have made generous contributions towards the restoration project:

Vitaly Chumak, Ataki, Moldova
Drew Techner, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Arnold Tolkin, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA
Miriam Weiner (Routes to Roots Foundation), Secaucus, NJ, USA

Also, we have received assistance and support from the following organizations and institutions.

The Ukrainian Studies Fund Inc., New York, USA
The International Association of Ukrainian Studies