Wave Of Emigration Research Articles

Феномен релокации (Модели экономического поведения российских мигрантов после февраля 2022 г.)

The events of February 2022 became the starting point of a new wave of Russian emigration. On the one hand, this phenomenon can be considered within a series of previous migration waves, on the other hand, the modern context leaves its imprint on the current migration process, making it very special from the economic and sociocultural perspectives. The article presents an attempt to analyze this specificity with an emphasis on the characteristics of the economic behavior of emigrants. Empirically, the study is based on a series of in-depth interviews with people who left Russia after February 2022. On the basis of these interviews, the authors built idealized cognitive models of possible options for the economic behavior of migrants. The authors considered a total of four models: relocation, which involves searching for a job in the host country; relocation, which involves remote work for a Russian company; relocation, which involves creating or moving one’s own business; relocation to a branch of a Russian company. Since the economic strategies of migrants are influenced by signals broadcast by the Russian government structures, the article analyzed the statements of representatives of these structures using the method of network cognitive mapping, which made it possible to reveal two types of official discourse in relation to those who left Russia, which differed in the extent of their criticism towards them. In general, the study showed that migrants of the latest wave are internally heterogeneous and fall into several groups that differ markedly in their motivation and patterns of economic behavior. At the same time, a significant part of them continues to cooperate with Russia in one way or another and, in principle, is ready to return to Russia. For them, migration is driven largely by security and/or economic reasons. Only a minority of emigrants left the country due to their disagreement with the current political course and consider the possibility of coming back only if the political course changes radically.

Community Building Through Screen Sharing: Community Screening as Cultural Practice in Postmillennial Hong Kong and Beyond

Community screenings in this study are understood as the exhibition of moving images outside conventional theatres and commercial circuits. Based on fieldwork observations and interviews conducted between January 2019 and January 2020 with film workers, community groups, and venue providers who knitted together a rhizomatic community screening network in Hong Kong, this paper explores the (self-)making of urban cultural space by way of the reinvention of “screens” and the rebuilding of a place-based, people-centred community with ethical concerns for small businesses, artists, craftspeople, workers, and members of the public during the first two decades of postmillennial era. The paper concludes with some observations about the phenomenal shift in not only the mode, but also the site of film dissemination from Hong Kong to overseas diasporic communities before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the emigration wave in the 2020s.

Walizka, peron, wagon… Uchodźczy los we Wspomnieniach Nadieżdy Teffi

The first-wave Russian emigrants who left the country as a result of the October Revolution in 1917 and the civil war were united by a deep awareness of the loss of their roots and the need to preserve the memory of their former homeland and the tragic historical events that contributed to the exodus. Hence the huge popularity of the so-called “memory” literature among emigre writers and its diversity. The aim of this article is to include Memoirs of Nadezhda Teffi in the memoirs of the first wave of Russian emigration, dealing with the subject of the civil war and escape from Sovdepia. Typical distinguishing features of the reggee fate related to the category of memory were analysed, which include a suitcase, a platform and a wagon (similarly: a trunk, a harbor, a cabin). These attributes (except for a suitcase) did not attract the attention of researchers, although the plot of the work, which is the author’s subjective account, is largely focused around them. As a result, it was proved that they played various roles in the biographies of emigrants, reflecting new realities and social moods, often going far beyond their usual purpose or becoming symbols. This allows us to conclude that in her memoirs, Teffi combines the individual and collective dimension of remembering, because she shows a breakthrough moment in the history of the homeland from the narrator’s individual perspective through the details of everyday life, and is also part of the mission of Russian émigré literature by co-shaping the memory of the recent past.

Homeland–diaspora nexus during crisis: Towards a transformed engagement model

AbstractHistorically, Greece perceived and approached its diaspora as a source of philanthropic funding, economic remittances and lobbying on matters of domestic and foreign policy interests. The 2009 economic crisis, the subsequent emigration wave, have added new meanings and dimensions to the Greek diaspora–homeland nexus. Drawing on qualitative analysis and process‐tracing, this article argues that the crisis has transformed the dynamics of the homeland–diaspora relation especially when it comes to political engagement from abroad. While investigating the reasons behind this transfiguration, the article examines the changing features of the Greek diaspora's political engagement, by examining the influence wielded by homeland political parties and by conducting an in‐depth analysis of the diasporic vote. The article also delves into the influence of technology to the emergence of transnational political engagement and the establishment of novel diaspora networks.

Symbolism of Natural Imagery in Prose of Russian Émigré Writers (E. Yu. Skobtsova, N. D. Gorodetskaya, V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin)

This study explores the issue of symbolization of natural imagery in an ontological, existential sense through the works of authors belonging to the first wave of Russian literary emigration. It is noted that in E. Yu. Skobtsova’s novel “Russian Plain”, a mythologized image of spiritualized space is created, encompassing an expressively colored image of the motherland, calling on children to respond to universal pain. In the autobiographical prose of N. D. Gorodetskaya, past and present converge in a unified sense of gratitude: the gracious, invaluable past seems to merge into the present, giving it integrity and significance, with the native surrounding world in the past becoming the writer’s main life support, a great ontological value. V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin’s works reveal a typologically similar mythologization of space in an original individual-authorial perception, accentuating the motif of the sacredness of the latter, expressing the drama of the years of adversity; with N. D. Gorodetskaya, the writer is united by a perception of the harmony of the native surrounding world with a child’s soul. The analysis conducted convinces that the artistic thinking of E. Yu. Skobtsova, N. D. Gorodetskaya, V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin developed in a typological stream of neorealistic artistic consciousness characterized by a multifaceted synthesis of various artistic elements.

Family Language Policy and dialect maintenance in the Lithuanian diaspora

In this article, we adopt Spolsky’s Family Language Policy framework and Curdt-Christiansen’s dynamic model to explore the situation of dialect maintenance in the Lithuanian diaspora of three emigration waves. The qualitative data from in-depth interviews with representatives of all the waves or their descendants, resident in different continents, is explored to reveal the family language policy and the main factors that influence it. Different family language policies concerning dialect have been adopted by the different emigration waves for a combination of reasons, such as motives for emigration, education, language and dialect situation and language ideology in Lithuania at the time of leaving the country. The internal factors would favour dialects in situations where the dialect speakers themselves emigrate, but the external ones often have a stronger impact in the complex context of heritage language maintenance concerning passing on the language to the younger generation. This study of family language policies applied in different historical periods adds to a better understanding of the complex and dynamic reality of language maintenance in diasporic contexts.

The Ukrainian Artistic Community in the United States in the late 1940s to the 1960s: A Socio-Cultural Portrait

The article analyzes the socio-cultural life of the Ukrainian artistic community—visual artists—who actively worked or began their professional activities in the United States after the World War II (from the end of the 1940s until the 1960s). The main centers of their settlement in the United States are identified, and their belonging to different waves of Ukrainian emigration and generations is classified. The paper also identifies the educational level of the community members, some art schools, where Ukrainian artists studied in the United States, and traces the process of professional adaptation and/or their professional realization in emigration, as well as their involvement in the cultural activities of the local Ukrainian diaspora. The aim of the paper is to identify the main features of the socio-cultural portrait of the Ukrainian artistic community in the United States during this period. The problem of the socio-cultural integration of artists outside their homeland is actualized in the context of a new wave of mass emigration from Ukraine against the backdrop of war and globalization. The article introduces little-known materials on the issue; systematizes and summarizes the collective experience of Ukrainian artists in entering the American socio-cultural environment; highlights some characteristics of the community. It is stated that the majority of Ukrainian artists of the older generation who arrived in the United States after World War II, having passed the initial difficult stage of social adaptation, integrated into American society. A large group of fine artists combined their creativity with stable work in areas close to their main specialty. At the same time, Ukrainian artists did not assimilate: they became active in the Ukrainian diaspora, created Ukrainian centers, and/or participated in the activities of numerous Ukrainian cultural institutions, including the U.A.A.A (Ukrainian Artist’s Association in U.S.A). The younger generation of Ukrainian emigrant artists, on the other hand, demonstrated a diversity of socio-cultural activities from the very beginning.

The image of a rebel writer (based on the novels "The Revolt of Denis Bushuev" by S. S. Maksimov and "The Revolt of the Sunflower" by L.D. Rzhevsky)

The article examines the image of the writer in the novels "The Sunflower Rebellion" by Leonid Rzhevsky and "The Rebellion of Denis Bushuev" by Sergei Maksimov. The subject of the study is the poetics of the image of the writer in the works of major writers of the second wave of Russian emigration. Russian literature is based on the general problems of the novels, the similarity of the destinies of the main characters and the authors belonging to one direction of Russian literature of the XX century – the second wave of Russian emigration. Using the example of the fate of an emigrant writer and a writer of the metropolis, the uprising against the ideological restrictions dictated by the political regime is considered. Special attention is paid to the literary tradition of depicting the hero-creator at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as autobiographical and historical facts that influenced the transformation of the image in question in the work of second-wave emigrants. The methodological basis of the study is an integrated approach that includes biographical, historical, typological and comparative methods. The author's attention is focused on the conflict "artist-power", which is at the center of the novels "The Revolt of Denis Bushuev" and "The Revolt of the Sunflower". The novelty of the study is due to the introduction of previously little-studied material, and for the first time a comparative analysis of novels authored by representatives of the second wave of emigration is presented. As a result of the analysis, the following typological similarities were revealed in the depiction of hero-artists by S.S. Maksimov and L.D. Rzhevsky: the personal experience of the authors lies at the heart of the images of rebellious hero-creators; the main conflict of both works is the aggravation of contradictions between the writer and the authorities; this conflict underlies the creativity of the majority of emigrants of the second wave. Russian literature also proved that the depiction of the literary hero in the works of the second wave of Russian emigration continues the tradition of classical Russian literature in depicting the conflict between the artist and power, but emigrant creativity interprets it in a tragic way.

Braided motivations for Iceland’s first wave of mass emigration to North America after the 1875 Askja eruption

More than 14,000 Icelanders emigrated to North America between 1870 and 1914 CE. Mass movement from Iceland accelerated the year after the explosive eruption of Askja in 1875, and both contemporary and recent commentators have linked the two circumstances. Despite an abundant scholarship on Icelandic emigration in this period, the direct and indirect roles of the eruption as a possible stimulus remain unclear. Here, we engage critically with a range of contemporary source materials as well as meteorological and climatological information to re-assess where Askja fits into the picture of Iceland’s first wave of mass migration. We find that emigration was undoubtedly fuelled by the hardships of Icelanders and their growing contacts with countrymen already in the Americas, and that the highest proportions of emigrants came from counties most directly impacted by the Askja eruption. However, it also emerges that the eruption served as a lever for interested parties in Britain and Canada to persuade large numbers of desirable migrants to settle in North America. Our study highlights the opportunities that discrete episodes of volcanic activity present to probe the complex interrelationships of nature and society.

Russian ballet on the pages of the magazine “Zhar-ptitsa” (1921–1926)

INTRODUCTION. Monthly literary and artistic illustrated magazine “Zhar-ptitsa”, published from 1921 to 1925. in Berlin, in 1926 – in Paris, is a successor to the traditions of such magazines of the early twentieth century as “World of Art”, “Golden Fleece”, and is of scientific value as an additional source of information on the study of the theatrical life of the Russian Abroad. The purpose of the study is to conduct a detailed analysis of the magazine’s articles related to the creative activities of representatives of Russian ballet in exile.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The basis is taken from digitized versions of the magazine, posted in the public domain on the website “Presidential Library named after B.N. Yeltsin”. All 14 “Zhar-ptitsa” magazines were analyzed. Both articles related to the activities of representatives of Russian ballet in emigration, as well as various types of illustrations: photographs, drawings, reproductions, etc., were studied in detail.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. It was revealed that in many issues of the magazine there are no articles devoted to Russian ballet, but there are photographs of ballet dancers in stage costumes and images, drawings related to ballet art, reproductions of sketches for ballet performances, which are also of scientific value in the reconstruction of ballet scenography, the study of this period of history. Four issues of the magazine “Zhar-ptitsa”, no. 1, no. 2, no. 10, no. 11, contain articles dedicated to the art of ballet: the work of M.M. Fokina, A.M. Pavlova, E.P. Eduardova, as well as B.G. Romanov and his choreographic group “Russian Romantic Ballet”.CONCLUSION. Despite the abundance of scientific articles devoted to the periodicals of the first wave of Russian emigration, information related to the history of Russian ballet remains poorly studied. The co nducted research introduces into scientific circulation materials dedicated to Russian ballet, and placed on the pages of the periodical of Russian emigration – “Zhar-ptitsa”. It seems promising to further study the journals of Russian emigration for the analysis of articles related to the history of Russian ballet.

Oblicza samotności w epistolografii rosyjskich emigrantów pierwszej fali

A strong sense of loneliness and alienation was a common feature among Russian emigrants of the first wave, who were suddenly forced to leave the country due to the revolutionary events of 1917 and the civil war. They were unexpectedly deprived of contact with their loved ones and familiar places, losing their common denominator: their homeland. Thrown into a foreign world, they desperately missed their relatives and friends, the sounds of their native language, and the familiar materiality of life. The resulting feeling of loneliness led to various types of problems: lack of adaptation to new socio-cultural realities, social isolation, identity crisis, deteriorating mental and (or) physical condition, and creative impotence. Coping strategies for the traumatic experience of emigration included voluntary ghettoization, linguistic purism, and an extremely active exchange of letters with relatives and friends, which somewhat compensated for the lack of physical contact and direct conversation. Through correspondence, some sought information about loved ones left behind, while others sought deeper understanding, sympathy, and the chance to share their problems and fears. The analyzed epistolary material reveals similarities in the fates of the first wave of Russian emigrants, who, regardless of their origin and financial status, experienced similar problems and emotions. This is evident in the correspondence of both well-known emigrants (Mikhail Arcybashev, Ivan Bunin, Vera Muromtseva-Bunina, Aleksandr Kuprin, Nadezhda Teffi, Boris Zaitsev) and less well-known representatives of the post-October diaspora (Klaudia Fłorovskaya, Alexei Gvozdiński).

Shock Wave of Russian Emigration and Self-Reflection of Its Representatives

This essay introduces the notion of the shock wave of Russian emigration, applicable to those Russian citizens who strongly opposed the outbreak of military aggression against Ukraine and chose to leave Russia within the first weeks of the beginning of the fullscale invasion on February 24, 2022. Based on the data collected from in-depth interviews, the study of the shock wave gives an overview of the spectrum of the respondents’ personal motivations for leaving the country, fears and expectations that were driving them, and their deeper reflection on their experiences where metaphors and imagery play a very prominent role.
 Text in English

Land Distribution in German and Mennonite Colonies During the NEP Period. Expectations and Reality

The article is devoted to the study of the relationship between the Soviet authorities and the German, as well as Mennonite communities, regarding land issues during the NEP period. It is based on the analysis of the official reports, memoirs and documents. The author studies the complex relationships between the central government, the regional level of authorities (provincial and district) and Mennonites. The land distribution in Mennonite colonies, as well as the cause and-effects of the process are analyzed. In the whirlwind of the internal and foreign political processes, the newly created Soviet state found itself on the edge of socio- economic conflicts. In order to solve urgent economic issues and curb mob violence, a number of economic reforms were adopted, which are known in history as the New Economic Policy. Most of the projects of the Soviet government were based on communist ideology at the initial stage. Those advanced farms’ lands, which used to belong to the Mennonites and Germans, were redistributed. Unemployed / recent employed people who had received some land, were not skilled and did not have a knack for agriculture. Therefore, they gradually abandoned their lands. That strategy undermined the land system and, as a result, became another pushing motivation for emigration and agricultural problems in the countryside. As a result of the Bolshevik government’s land program, the Mennonite community became embroiled in complex multilevel problems: a) intra- community land tensions caused by demographic processes and the resettlement of fellow refugees from starving regions of Soviet Russia to the colonies; b) conflicts with the population of neighboring villages and poor peasant committees, which often forced the issue of redistribution of Mennonite lands in their favor; c) failure of provincial and district executive committees to enforce resolutions of the supreme power to settle the land issue of the Mennonite community; d) ineffectiveness of the national minority committee; e) the perception by some Mennonites of new communist ideas – social equality. These reasons became important pushing factors for а large-scale wave of emigration of this ethno- confessional group to North America.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПЕРІОДИЗАЦІЇ ТА КЛАСИФІКАЦІЇ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ЕМІГРАЦІЇ (ОСТАННЯ ЧВЕРТЬ XIX ст. – 2023 р.)

The article analyzes the problem of periodization and classification of Ukrainian emigration in the last quarter of the 19th century – from September to October 2023. The topicality of the topic is that, despite the presence in the domestic historical science of a significant number of works devoted to various issues of Ukrainian emigration, at this stage there is no unified approach to its periodization, which especially concerns the definition of the chronological boundaries of the fourth waves and selection of the fifth as a separate complex stage of Ukrainian emigration in the period of independence. In addition, the question remains open as to how appropriate it will be to characterize the migration movement in the conditions of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine as the beginning of the sixth wave of Ukrainian emigration. In the course of the study, on the basis of available scientific publications on the topic and the memories of the emigrants themselves, the reasons for each wave of Ukrainian emigration were analyzed and how they differed at different stages, which, accordingly, led to the beginning of a new period of mass migration. The prerequisites of Ukrainian emigration before and after the restoration of independence were also compared. The author also emphasized the diversity and ambiguity of the reasons for the migration movement after 1991. The peculiarities of each wave of Ukrainian emigration and their separate main periods were determined according to such criteria as motives, character, duration, distance, volume, level of education, organization, goals and purpose, etc. The author also focused attention on how much the vector of the migration movement changed as a result of the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine, which began in the spring of 2014. A special emphasis was placed on the impact of such a challenge as Covid-19 on Ukrainian emigration. The author also identified the perspective of further research, which consists in comparing the peculiarities of the periodization and classification of Ukrainian emigration with the peculiarities of the migration processes of another European country in the specified period.

ПАРАДОКС АЛЕКСАНДРА АЛЕКСЕЕВА: ИЗ КАДЕТОВ – В ХУДОЖНИКИ (1919-1930)

The authors of the article examine the way Alexander Alexeev (1901, Kazan – 1982, Paris), the outstanding world and Russian classical literature illustrator and pinscreen creator began his creative career. It is mentioned in the article that Alexander Alexeev had to leave the Russian Empire, forming part of the first wave of the Russian emigration settling down in Paris in the long run. In the beginning of his creative career he worked there as a theatre artist. Henceforward, Alexander Alexeev committed himself to the art of the book illustration. The authors claim in the first fifteen years of his creative activities Alexander Alexeev to have become the most eminent of the Russian emigrants book artist with twenty seven books, including book author frontispiece portrait and some book jackets illustrated. Having examined creative activities in the first fifteen years of his Paris life the authors claim Alexander Alexeev, as many other creative intellectuals of the first wave of the Russian emigration to have retained in his soul and heart the image of his Motherland, visualizing it in his works this way or another. These reminiscences and Motherland perception do demonstrate our contemporaries Alexander Alexeev though being away from Russia for nearly 60 years, in fact to have always been Russian patriot retaining the Russian world particle in his heart, as well as love for his mother, with her images scattered in his works all over his creative activities.

«Новая Русь» и опыт совместного русско-шведского книгоиздания

The publications of Russian-Swedish publishing enterprises of the period of the first wave of Russian emigration is observed – "Novaya Rus’", PLC Hasse V. Tullberg and the printing house "Progress". Their repertoire and further fate are studied in the context of processes within the Russian Abroad and beyond. For the first time based on archival materials from the manuscript department of the IRLI (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences the list of the publishing house "Novaya Rus’" is reconstructed. The editions of the joint-stock company Hasse V. Tullberg and the printing house "Progress" are revealed. They published fiction, educational, children’s and memoire publications. The key reasons for the closure of the three organizations was their orientation towards the rapidly recovering Soviet Russia and futility of the small "provincial market of Russian emigration in Northern Europe. The importance of studying and accepting the historical experience and heritage of the "other" Russia in the context of the identity and development path of modern Russia is arised.

УКРАЇНСЬКА ГРОМАДА У БЕРЛІНІ (1991–2015)

Berlin, which is a separate federal state in Germany, has been considered one of the largest multicultural cities in the world in recent decades: it is home to numerous diasporas from different parts of the world (the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Southern and Eastern Europe), which largely shape its modern face. Since 1991, the Ukrainian community, which had been virtually unrepresented in the city divided after the Second World War, has also gained an important place in Berlin. Ukrainians arrived in the city for various reasons and purposes: repatriation of ethnic Germans and their families, emigration along the Jewish line, family reunification, job search, study, illegal immigration, etc. As a result, Ukrainians now have a number of their own organisations, cultural and religious centres here, and Berlin itself, along with Munich, is considered one of the most important Ukrainian centres in Germany. The purpose of the study is to analyse Ukrainian migration processes in 1991–2015 and the situation of the Ukrainian community in Berlin. Accordingly, the main objectives of the study are to examine the dynamics of the Ukrainian community in the city, to identify the main aspects of the migration movement of the new wave of Ukrainian emigration, its integration into German society, and to highlight the social and cultural life of Ukrainians in the German capital.

A.S. Pushkin in the perception of “Russian Harbin”

The purpose of the work is to give an idea of the criticism and journalism of “Russian Harbin”, dedicated to Pushkin, as well as to determine the place that the poet’s personality and work occupied in the spiritual culture of emigrants. Russian emigrants regularly spoke out on the topic of Pushkin and for decades held a Day of Russian Culture associated exclusively with the name of the classic. A significant result of the study is the discovery of not only professional, but also journalistic and reader criticism, previously unknown. The conclusion that the author comes to is that, as A.P. Grigoriev once said (“Pushkin is our everything”), for the Russian residents of Harbin the “idea of existence” in a foreign land really mattered. Based on methods of description, as well as philosophical phenomenology, the cultural, historical, aesthetic and literary parameters of the works are comprehended. The Russian emigration has a serious tradition of studying the artistic and aesthetic heritage of the first wave of Russian emigration, but the aesthetic thought of the “Russian Harbin” is not convincingly integrated into this tradition. Russian literary scholars and foreign Slavists paid attention mainly to Pushkin studies of Russian emigration to Europe. The eastern line of Pushkin studies is considered as part of the literary heritage of the entire Russian diaspora. Critics of “Russian Harbin” saw in Pushkin an indisputable symbol of cultural Russia; The emigration considered Pushkin's Russia to be a true historical reality. The existing stereotype of the “secondary nature” of literary criticism on the part of eastern immigrants is being overcome. The bibliographic list of works about Pushkin is expanding. The article analyzes articles, including Western emigrants, known only from Harbin periodicals.

Ivan Puni in Berlin: an Emigrant’s View on Russian Art (Based on the Book «Modern Painting»)

The study is devoted to the artistic and critical activity of the Russian avant-garde master I. Puni within the framework of his Berlin period (1920–1923). The material for the analysis was the book «Modern Painting», written by I. Puni, which summarized not only the original texts of Puni’s public lectures, but also his reflection on the critical reaction that was provoked by them. Based on the structural-semiotic analysis, the author found that parallels could be drawn between Puni’s speeches (public lectures, responses to criticism) and his artistic works in the context of time and place (the first post-revolutionary wave of emigration from Russia 1918–1922). During his years of emigration, Puni was among those who formed views on the art of his time. During this period, the critic went from understanding the mechanistic techniques of the composition of Russian non-objective art to the importance of the intuitive principle as the basis of creativity and spectator work in the perception of a work of art, semantically filled and ambiguously readable. On the pages of the book, the artist joins the discussion with E. Lisitsky, V. Tatlin, the largest European artists, justifying his view on the pressure points of modern art.

Historian Theodore Matskiv in His Memoirs and Correspondence

The article presents the memoirs of Father Yuri Mytsik about the emigrant from Galicia, the renowned emigrant historian and researcher of early modern Ukrainian history, Theodore Matskiv (1918–2011). The publication’s objective is to portray the persona of a representative from the older generation of Ukrainian scholars in the diaspora through sources of personal origin — memoirs about him and his letters to the author of the memoirs. The memoirs and correspondence shed light on Matskiv’s life journey, scholarly and civic activities, his historical perspectives, assessments of past and contemporary events. In Matskiv’s memoirs, he emerges in everyday life. Concurrently, the author draws attention to the peculiarities of the scientist’s communication with a colleague from Ukraine. Matskiv’s impressions of the atmosphere within the Dnipropetrovsk scientific community in the early years of independence are of interest. The correspondence spans over a decade. The historian’s figure is depicted in letters with a plethora of life details, academic interests, reactions to political life in independent Ukraine. Brief but eloquent characterizations of Ukrainian presidents — Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, Victor Yushchenko — help in understanding how diaspora members perceived these politicians. Also noteworthy is Matskiv’s genuine interest in the research of his Ukrainian colleague. The letters demonstrate the Ukrainian diaspora scientist’s familiarity with the issues of the formation of historical science in Ukraine from the 1990s to the mid-2000s. At the same time, one can observe Matskiv’s research activity even in his advanced age. He discusses his new publications and reissues of already known works with the addressee. The addition of letters to Theodore Matskiv from the author to the main epistolary corpus broadens the context of their long-term communication. The publication of new sources not only deepens the understanding of one of the well-known researchers of early modern Ukrainian history after the post-war emigration wave, but also reproduces the mechanism of communication between historians of the old generation and scientists of independent Ukraine.