Omeljan Pritsak and the Establishment of Ukrainian Studies at Harvard: The Vision and the Actuality

Abstract

Born in 1919, as were George Luckyj and Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky, two other prominent students of Ukraine, Omeljan Pritsak became an eminent Orientalist and Turkologist. A Harvard professor from 1964 until his retirement in 1989, he is chiefly known in Slavic studies for his role in establishing chairs in Ukrainian studies and the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. Created in New York in 1957, the Ukrainian Studies Fund (USF) had become a community organization dedicated to funding Ukrainian studies in American academia. Pritsak's success in obtaining USF backing and the Harvard administration's approval of his plan represented a major accomplishment in establishing and legitimizing Ukrainian studies in North America. The article outlines Pritsak's vision of the new field, including its European antecedents, and examines how his vision and program developed in the Harvard academic environment. The author discusses the structuring of the program and its accomplishments during Pritsak's tenure at Harvard, as well as instances in which the program fell short of the initial plans. Based in part on the author's memories as a graduate student and faculty member at Harvard, the article conveys his perspective supported by Pritsak's writings and the publications of the Ukrainian program. The article thus serves as a starting point for more systematic archival research on the topic in the future.