Ukrainian National Museum
Q: Can you tell me more about the UNM’s mission and objectives?
A: The museum first was organized as an archival center. The immigrants that came here - it was founded by three gentlemen. They wanted to preserve what they brought with them: the documents, the photos, the newspapers. And then slowly it developed into a museum. And its mission is to preserve its heritage, to pass it on to other people, and then to show the community and Chicago what contributions Ukrainians or Ukrainian Americans have made to the development of Chicago. [Maria] I think that the Ukrainians' community were very lucky and happy to have such a Ukrainian National Museum because it's an ambassador of Ukrainian culture in the United States. And the mission that the Ukrainian National Museum achieved, it's united, actually, all the Ukrainian waves of immigrants.
Q: What kind of artifacts do you prioritize in your collections?
A: [Lydia] All of our artifacts are donated. We don't purchase anything. And we've been very, very lucky that the community supports us. We have thousands and thousands of documents, photos. The priority is, number one, that this is something that is worthwhile, that it's a well-known artist, that it has some history behind it. [Maria] And they are very unique because me and the president of our museum Lydia, we have the privilege to travel to Ukraine this year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence in Kyiv, in the capital of Ukraine was our own exhibit. Believe it or not. But the only historical items that preserved in the United States now will be in display in Kyiv showing to the audience in Ukraine the step to the independence made by the diaspora.
Q: Can you tell me more about the history of the Ukrainian Village?
A: One very important person who came in the beginning of the century of the 20th century. And he united all communities. He was a priest, Catholic priest from Ukraine. And he started to build the church. He organized in 1906, first meeting, and they had to build St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. [Lydia] That's the Cathedral on Rice and Oakley. [Maria] Rice and Oakley, yeah. And in 1913, since 1913, Chicago has such a beautiful cathedral in Kazakh baroque style. And first, they came with style from Ukraine. They would like to show themselves, to expose themselves for the American that we are very rich by the culture, a nation. That we would like to be here, we would like to build our own home in a free land. This is why the Ukrainian Village now is such popular for all Chicagoans.
Q: Has gentrification impacted the demographic makeup of the neighborhood? How so?
A: [Lydia] There is some impact. It impacts mostly the elderly. Because of gentrification and because there was an article that Ukrainian Village was the best place to live several years ago, the real estate has gone up. Now there's also a good side to it. Well, and then there's the real estate taxes, et cetera, et cetera. But then there's also a good side because you have more diversity in the community. You have more young people living here because it's closer for them to downtown. The area, the location of the Museum, of Ukrainian Village, is really great. So in that aspect where you have more diversity, that is good. And we worry about it, and that's why we work hard at maintaining our museum. The churches were created to maintain their parishioners so that there is no big change, that the community will disperse into the suburbs. Can you tell me more about some of the accomplishments of the Museum that you’re most proud of/resonate with the most?
Q: Can you tell me more about some of the accomplishments of the Museum that you’re most proud of/resonate with the most?
A: We also have a lot of dignitaries coming in from Ukraine. Sorry that I interrupted. And they're amazed that our museum is so diverse because usually, you know, it's either a sports museum or an art gallery. But we try to encompass as much as possible. And so someone found out about it and we were invited to attend the one-hundredth anniversary of the Black Sea Fleet and to come with the flag. We were a little bit scared because we didn't know what it entailed and stuff. But Maria went with the flag. [Maria] It was a military parade, yeah. I was the one who gave a speech to the Ukrainian army just to support the Ukrainian young people, to fight for the independence, for peace in Europe, because it's a war in Ukraine. Russia started the war seven years ago. And for them, just to support them. We are very close, we are thinking about what's going on, we are worried about it, and this is why I went there. [Lydia] I think the other thing is our best programs are when we are able to share them and work in partnership with other museums because then you get a more diverse group coming to the exhibition, you get to exchange ideas.
Q: What hopes do you have for the UNM in the next five to ten years?
A: Our hopes are that we can do more virtual exhibitions, that we can actually digitize most of our archives and share them on various platforms, and that we can also... Look, everything is online. So whatever we have, even the items we have in our museum, we would have to put them online so that we're available to other museums and that we can share them and perhaps have more multicultural programs.