Letters of the Archaeologist V. Ye. Kozlovska to the Regional Researcher S. L. Drozdov (According to the Archive of the National Museum of History of Ukraine)

Abstract

In the archives of The National Museum of History of Ukraine in the fund No. 4 (K. V. Bolsunovskyi) there are personal documents of the famous local historian and museum figure Stepan Leontiiovych Drozdov, among them — five letters of the famous archaeologist Valeria Yevhenivna Kozlovska. This correspondence is a fragment of V. Ye. Kozlovska’s archive, part of which is now outside Ukraine, or is scattered across the personal archives of Ukrainian scientists who were a part of V. Ye. Kozlovska’s circle of contacts and have not yet been introduced into scientific circulation. Therefore, each new revealed letter of V. Ye. Kozlovska has a significant scientific value as a source for the biography of this outstanding personality and scientist. The earliest of V. Ye. Kozlovska’s letters to S. L. Drozdov is dated by June 14, 1916; there was mentioned the evacuation of the Kyiv Art, Industrial and Scientific Museum collections during the First World War. The next four letters concerned the activities of the expedition of the All-Ukrainian Archaeological Committee in 1929 in Bilotserkivshchyna. In addition to V. Ye. Kozlovska — the head of the expedition, it included F. M. Ivanov and J. F. Maslun — employees of the Bilotserkivskyi District Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, V. A. Mazur — an employee of the T. Shevchenko All-Ukrainian Historical Museum, a draftsman (whose surname is not mentioned in the letters) and a certain Mykola Mykhailovych was also mentioned in the letters — obviously M. M. Tkachenko — an employee of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and the husband of V. Ye. Kozlovska. In a letter dated by May 14, 1929, V. Ye. Kozlovska appealed to S. L. Drozdov with a proposal to conduct joint excavations of the All-Ukrainian Archaeological Committee and the Bila Tserkva Museum. In a letter dated by September 22, 1929, V. Ye. Kozlovska informed S. L. Drozdov that she would be able to arrive to Didivshchyna village not earlier than in September 28. The place of writing the letter dated by October 3, 1929 is the corner of Zalissia in Didivshchyna village. The letter mentions the arrival of S. L. Drozdov for excavations, finds of an iron knife and two male burials, packing archaeological finds in boxes. V. Ye. Kozlovska also asked S. L. Drozdov to find in Bila Tserkva a technique for drawing excavation plans. In the letter dated by October 18, 1929 there was informed about the packing of a cut-out of the hearth of the stove from the investigated dwelling and about V. Ye. Kozlovska’s intention to come to Bila Tserkva in November 1 for ready-made drawings of the excavations.