History begins with documents

History becomes historical science when it transforms from a range of hypotheses, assumptions, and emotional statements into precise knowledge based exclusively on trustworthy sources and archival documents. In historical science these sources play the same role as experiments do in natural science. That is why every contribution to the Ukrainian National Archive is truly a good, early awaited event.

On February 10, in the building of Ukraine’s State Archive Committee, the US Embassy presented the Central Historical Archive of Ukraine with microfilms of documents from the US National Archives at a solemn ceremony. The gist is made up of seven rolls of microfilm containing 13 volumes of correspondence between the US Consulate in Odesa and the US Department of State from May 1831 until August 1906.

These archival documents cover some landmark historical events in the history of Ukraine and the Russian Empire: the Crimean War, reforms of the second half of the 19th century, and the revolutionary events of 1905, particularly the mutiny on battleship Potyomkin. In fact, they are not just memos, reports, and communiqu s about particular events, but also the American diplomats’ observations about some special aspects of Ukrainian and Russian history. This collection of microfilms was presented as a gift to the Odesa Oblast State Archives in 2004. Now it has enriched the collection of our state’s supreme archival institution and will serve as a uniquely valuable historical source for the students of Ukrainian-American relations and the history of diplomacy.

The ceremony was attended by William Taylor, US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine, Olha Ginzburh, head of Ukraine’s State Archive Committee, Christopher Fitzgerald, US Embassy Counselor for Press, Cultural, and Educational Affairs, the administration and the staff of the State Archive Committee and other archival institutions, and other officials. In his speech William Taylor stated that archives constitute the quintessence of a nation’s history whether it is the USA, Ukraine, or any other country. He quoted his wife, a historian by trade, who was also present at the ceremony: “History begins with documents. This is the only this way to restore the real, truthful picture of the past.”

“Notice how carefully and reverently,” continued the US ambassador, “the historic documents of America — the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and major laws — are kept in the Library of the Congress and other archival institutions.” William Taylor said that the archives enable us to discover and restore our country’s history. However, that is not all. The approach to studying the materials of most recent history is not less democratic. On Jan. 20, 2009, at 12:00 sharp, US president-elect Barack Obama assumed the office of the president, and precisely at that moment the US National Archives received all the documents on the eight years of the Ex-President George Bush rule. The future researchers will write the history of Bush’s administration relying on these documents. And then, one day, Barack Obama’s incumbency will be studied in the same way.

By the way, according to Olha Ginzburh, it was in 2008 that the Ukrainian archives started receiving certain materials on Ukraine’s political history since 1991. How much could historians learn by analyzing the archives of Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma? The question is rhetorical.

Another crucial thing, both for the American and Ukrainian archives, is how accessible they will be. Time will tell.