UKRAINIAN ARCHIVAL COMPANY
On 27 September 2023, on Polish Radio for Ukraine, the Head of the State Archival Service of Ukraine Anatolii Khromov spoke about the work of Ukrainian archivists in wartime.
He emphasized that Ukrainian archives in relatively safe regions today operate as they did before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Requests are processed, archival certificates are issued, and reading rooms are open.
Speaking about the international conference “Security of Collections – Security of Memory. Museums, Libraries, Archives under Threat”, where he reported on the current state of Ukraine’s archives, he noted the importance of such forums for establishing direct contacts with foreign partners interested in helping Ukrainian archives both financially and technically (equipment, restoration materials, digitization, and more). He thanked the General Directorate of State Archives of Poland for charitable assistance to Ukrainian archivists: special shelving, air dryers for repositories, restoration materials and, importantly, fireproof evacuation bags.
Anatolii Khromov stressed that risks to archives in wartime are unpredictable, and digitization makes it possible, if not to preserve the documents themselves, then at least to preserve the information — which is critical for safeguarding the national memory of the Ukrainian people. Rapid digitization has been made possible with the support of foreign partners; the largest such partner, he said, is FamilySearch International, cooperation with which is expected to engage 100 operators on 100 cameras, enabling nearly 100 million documents to be digitized over four years.
The full interview is available at: http://surl.li/lqovm
