The Shevchenko Scientific Society united Ukrainian scientists in Lviv between 1873 and 1939. It played the role of the Academy of Sciences before the foundation of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kyiv in 1918. The Shevchenko Scientific Society Library represents a treasury of Ukrainian culture.
Before the foundation of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kyiv in 1918, the Shevchenko Scientific Society was the point of reference for Ukrainian scientists. The Institution was at the centre of a wide exchange of publications with scientific institutions and libraries, which testifies to its status as an academic centre. The Shevchenko Scientific Society became a treasury of the country’s culture and, with 1,200 books published in its last year, a centre of scientific dissemination. The archive contains the records of the Institution’s activities from 1873 to 1939, as well as the complete set of the scientific journal The Notes of ShSS (1892-1939).
The archive is stored in damp, unheated rooms and basements in the monastery and library of the Institution. The unstable political and military situation in Ukraine further endangers the materials. Archival materials have, in the past, disappeared, making digitisation the optimal form of preservation.
The project digitised 48 archival boxes, including documents on the organisation and activities of the Institution and 155 volumes of The Notes of ShSS. All documents were relocated to the Central Historical Archive of Lviv. The team gained great experience in handling scientific works and of modern digital technologies.
