History of Ukraine-Rus' in English: Launch of the final volume

The year 2021 marks a major milestone for CIUS—completing publication of the English-language translation of Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s History of Ukraine-Rus'. With an accomplished team under the leadership of Frank Sysyn and Uliana Pasicznyk, the Hrushevsky Translation Project (HTP) under CIUS’s Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research worked for many years to see the completion of this signature endeavour. The Jacyk Centre has published the twelfth and final book of Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s magnum opus, thereby making this entire fundamental source by Ukraine’s leading historian available to the English-speaking community and audiences worldwide.

Just as the publication of the original Istoriia Ukraїny-Rusy (1898–1936) demonstrated the continuity of the history of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people from ancient times, the English translation makes it possible for the international academic community to access the writings of Ukraine’s greatest historian. The Jacyk Centre has received widespread acclaim for the excellence of the translations and the meticulous scholarly apparatus of the twelve books it has published with CIUS Press. Indeed, at a time of geopolitical tensions and conflicting narratives on what constitutes the Ukrainian people it is essential that Hrushevsky’s vision and scholarship be broadly available to the international community.

The HTP was initiated just as Ukraine’s independence permitted Ukrainian scholars to fully utilize Hrushevsky’s immense historical legacy and the reprinting of the original Ukrainian text of the History in Ukraine presented the long-prohibited work to the general Ukrainian public. It was Hrushevsky’s wish that his history be translated into a major scholarly language, so that his vision and exhaustive source studies could be integrated into international scholarship. The HTP was a founding mandate of the Jacyk Centre when it was established in 1989 by a generous donation from businessman and philanthropist Mr. Peter Jacyk of Toronto. It was conceived as a research project that would provide full bibliographies and scholarly apparatuses for the translated volumes, as well as introductions and bibliographic updates that would place Hrushevsky’s contribution within the context of subsequent scholarship. 

Under three managing editors of the translated volumes (Uliana M. Pasicznyk, Myroslav Yurkevich, and Tania Plawuszczak-Stech), the project engaged six translators (Marta Skorupsky, Bohdan Strumiński, Marta Daria Olynyk, Leonid Heretz, Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj, and Ian Press) and eight consulting editors (Andrzej Poppe, Serhii Plokhii, Yaroslav Fedoruk, Myron Kapral, Robert Romanchuk, Robert Frost, Andrew B. Pernal, and Christian Raffensperger). Together they also established an English-language terminology for historical periods ranging from antiquity to the seventeenth century and consulted with scores of specialists in order to ensure the accuracy of the translation and its congruence with current terminology in this field. The HTP’s editor-in-chief, Frank E. Sysyn, and the project’s managing editor, Uliana M. Pasicznyk, monitored consistency among the diverse volumes. Marko R. Stech served as the HTP project manager. The staff of the HTP worked closely with colleagues in Ukraine on compiling the indexes of personal and place names and full bibliographies for all of the translated volumes. Indeed, the planned new Ukrainian edition of Hrushevsky’s original work—which was last reprinted in a photo-offset edition in Kyiv from 1991 to 1998—will incorporate the research and editorial work of the HTP in producing a new academic edition of the collected works of Mykhailo Hrushevsky in fifty volumes. The HTP also cooperates with the Hrushevsky Archive in Kyiv, which seeks to provide digital access to all of Hrushevsky’s works and to the plethora of literature about him. 

With the completion of the project, the HTP and CIUS Press will initiate a program to provide selected libraries with sets of the English-language History and make the translated edition available online. The overall project could not have been fulfilled without the base funding of the Jacyk Centre and the sponsorship of numerous individuals and organizations, who are acknowledged in each volume. They include Mykhailo Kowalsky and Daria Mucak-Kowalsky (two volumes); Dr. Maria Fischer-Slysh (two volumes); Dr. Jeanette Bayduza and Peter Jacyk (one volume combined); Petro and Ivanna Stelmach; Olga Pawluk; Hanna Mazurenko; Sofia Wojtyna; Hon. John Yaremko and the Chair of Ukrainian Studies Foundation (Toronto); the Shevchenko Scientific Society, Inc., USA; and the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko. Additional funding was provided by the Petro Jacyk Education Foundation; the National Endowment for Humanities, Washington, DC; the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies; the estate of Edward Brodacky (1926–2007) in London; the Buduchnist Foundation; and the Temerty Foundation. The Jacyk Centre will organize a series of academic and community events to publicize the significance of the HTP and in appreciation of those who contributed to its success.

“Hrushevsky’s ten-volume History was intended to demonstrate the development of a distinct Ukrainian ‘nationality,’ literally defining a subject area. His insistence on the importance of social and economic history has relevance today.”
- Dr. Jonathan Shepard
  University of Cambridge


“The Petro Jacyk Education Foundation takes great pride in the successful publication of the English translation of Hrushevsky’s masterpiece. With a new academic edition, his work will reach the international community. My late father, Petro Jacyk, was dedicated to this project being accomplished with the highest standards, and that goal has been achieved.”

- Nadia Jacyk
  President, Petro Jacyk Education Foundation