Institute of History of Ukraine

Institute of History of Ukraine
Name	Institute of History of Ukraine
Native name	Інститут історії України
Established	1936
Founder	Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Mykhailo Hrushevsky
Location	Kyiv, Ukraine
Type	Research institute
Director	Oleksandr Pankevych

Contents

Institute of History of Ukraine is a leading research institution based in Kyiv dedicated to the study of Ukrainian pasts from medieval to modern eras. It operates within the framework of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and engages with scholars from Poland, Russia, Germany, United States, and other countries through collaborative projects on topics such as Kievan Rus', the Cossack Hetmanate, Hetmanate (Ukraine), Galicia, and Soviet Union history. The Institute contributes to public history debates about Holodomor, World War II, Orange Revolution, and Euromaidan while maintaining archival partnerships with institutions like the Central State Archive of Supreme Bodies of Power and Government of Ukraine.

History

The Institute traces origins to research groups in the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and reforms under figures such as Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Dmytro Doroshenko, and Serhii Plokhy. During the Soviet Union period it navigated ideological supervision from Communist Party of the Soviet Union organs and produced scholarship on topics including Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Hetmanate (Ukraine), and Union of Lublin, while contending with censorship exemplified by cases like the repression of Mykola Skrypnyk and restrictions after the Great Purge. Post-Perestroika and post-1991 independence led to institutional restructuring, expansion under directors associated with Viktor Yushchenko-era reforms, and renewed emphasis on archives related to the Holodomor and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). The Institute has been involved in nation-building debates connected to the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine, the Brown-Bag History revival of scholarly pluralism, and responses to Russian invasion of Ukraine consequences for cultural heritage.

The Institute is organized into departments and laboratories named after prominent historians such as Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Volodymyr Antonovych, and Oleksandr Potebnia, and hosts research councils aligned with periods: Medieval Ukraine, Early Modern Ukraine, Modern Ukrainian History, and Contemporary Ukraine. Administrative oversight is exercised through the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and peer evaluation panels including representatives from Harvard University, Jagiellonian University, University of Oxford, and Sorbonne. The governance includes an editorial board for its flagship journals, project management units coordinating grants from entities like the European Research Council, the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities, and bilateral programs with the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The Institute publishes monographs, collections, and periodicals addressing themes such as Kievan Rus', Mongol invasions, Cossacks, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Habsburg Monarchy, Russian Empire, Soviet historical policy, and the Holodomor. Major journals edited at the Institute include titles comparable to Ukrainian Historical Journal and the series of source editions that complement works on Mykhailo Hrushevsky's multi-volume history and annotated documents from the Central Rada and Hetmanate. The Institute has produced critical editions of chronicles like the Laurentian Codex, documentary collections on treaties such as the Treaty of Pereyaslav, and bibliographies used alongside catalogs from the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.

Although primarily a research body, the Institute supervises doctoral candidates and maintains postgraduate programs in cooperation with universities such as Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, and National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Its staff teach courses on Kievan Rus', principalities, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Habsburg Galicia, World War II in Ukraine, and Cold War-era topics, and direct dissertation defenses before academic councils modeled after those at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The Institute runs summer schools and seminars with partners like the Kennan Institute, Institute of Historical Research (London), and Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity.

Prominent historians associated with the Institute include Mykhailo Hrushevsky (foundational historian), Omelyan Prytsak, Serhii Plokhy, Fedir Vovk, Yuri Shevchuk, Andrii Portnov, Paul Robert Magocsi (collaborator), Natalia Yakovenko, Yaroslav Hrytsak, Serhii Plohky (alternate spelling), Oleksandr Ohloblyn, and Ihor Pidkova. Alumni have gone on to roles at institutions such as Harvard University, Columbia University, Jagiellonian University, University of Toronto, and policy positions in administrations led by Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma. The Institute’s scholars have received awards linked with bodies like the Shevchenko National Prize and fellowships from the Fulbright Program and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

The Institute maintains document collections, manuscript holdings, and microfilm repositories containing materials on the Central Rada, Hetmanate, Cossack registers, diplomatic correspondence with the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as Soviet-era files relating to the Holodomor and NKVD. It collaborates with archival institutions including the Central State Archive of Public Organizations of Ukraine, the State Archive of the Kyiv Oblast, and the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine for preservation, digitization, and publication of primary sources such as newspapers like Rada, legal codes like the Magdeburg rights records for Ukrainian towns, and collections of maps tied to the Treaty of Andrusovo.

The Institute organizes and hosts international conferences on topics such as Kievan Rus', Cossack history, Holodomor studies, and Eastern European borderlands, attracting participants from United States, Poland, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, and Lithuania. It partners with organizations including the European Association for Ukrainian Studies, the International Congress of Historical Sciences, the Center for Belarusian Studies, and the Ukrainian World Congress to run joint projects, exchange programs, and edited volumes. Regular conference series address comparative topics alongside institutions such as Collegium de Lyon, Leipzig University, and the University of Warsaw, and results feed into collaborative grants from the European Union and UNESCO cultural heritage initiatives.

Category:Research institutes in Ukraine Category:Historiography of Ukraine