Preserving Ukrainian musical heritage

Thursday, August 1, 2024

In January we reported on an initiative of the German Musicological Society (GfM) to help Ukrainian institutions preserve their musical heritage. This time we are pleased to share the news that, at the instigation of RISM and the GfM, the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine in Kyiv (RISM library siglum: UA-Knbuv, RISM Catalog | RISM Online) and the library of the Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts in Kharkiv (UA-CHnum) are about to receive financial support from the Ukraine Art Aid Centre (UAAC) funded by the German government.

Both Ukrainian institutions will receive high-performance scanners and computers as well as funds for the personnel required to digitize some of their musical treasures. The sources to be protected this way include sound recordings from both institutions, rare prints and music manuscripts from the 12th century onwards in Kyiv, and autograph manuscripts and printed editions of 20th-century Ukrainian music in Kharkiv. External data backup and in-depth cataloging are to be provided by the Saxon State and University Library (SLUB) Dresden, and most of the music prints and manuscripts will be searchable in the RISM database. As far as legally feasible, the digitized Ukrainian materials will also be published on the SLUB website as part of the Digital Collection Ukraine. The total funding of this complex project amounts to 137,000 euros.

About two years ago we published a brief summary of the connections between Ukraine and RISM, which had just started to bear their first fruits before the outbreak of the devastating war. Now we are delighted that the financial support RISM also spoke up for has been approved, and we wish our Ukrainian colleagues all the best with digitizing and cataloging their collections, thereby both protecting their musical treasures and increasing their visibility in the RISM database.

Image: Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts in Kharkiv, by Канопус Киля - Own work, CC BY 3.0

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