About us
The Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the United States (UVAN) is an association of scholars dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Ukrainian studies and culture in the United States. It is a Not-for Profit Corporation overseen by the Executive Board elected every four years. It was registered in 1950 in New York City as heir to the tradition of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences of the 1920s in Kyiv (Ukraine) and the Ukrainian academy-in-exile, founded in Augsburg, Germany, in 1945and known as the Ukrainian Free Academy of Arts and Sciences. Chapters of the Academy were also established in Detroit, Denver, Washington DC, and Philadelphia.
Since 1961 the Academy is housed its own Renaissance-style building, the former Bloomingdale Branch of the New York Public Library. Designated an architectural landmark by the City of New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, the building was designed and built in 1898 by the renowned architect James Brown Lord.
The Academy’s emphasis is on the production and collecting of published materials, and collecting of archives of the prominent Ukrainian émigré scholars, writers, cultural and political figures, and that of the other leading Ukrainians. UVAN contains an archival holdings (over 250,000 items in circa 350 archives) and a library of some 70,000 volumes. The library collection contains significant holdings of Ukrainian language books and periodicals, as well as notable “Ukrainica” – works in other languages, relating to Ukraine and its people. Many of them can be determine as rare items.
Since its founding, the Academy has published over 140 tractates, including such definitive treaties as O.Powstenko’s The Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv (1954), D.Chyzhevskyj’s History of Ukrainian Literature (1956), D.Doroshenko’s Hetman Petro Doroshenko (1985), albums of works of prominent Ukrainian artists Mykhailo Chereshniovsky (2000), Myroslav Radysh (1966), Petro Andrusiv (1980), and others.
There are three official periodical publications of the UVAN: The Annals of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the United States, Visti UVAN (both irregular), and annual newsletter “Novyny z Akademii”.
The current president of the Academy is Oleksa-Myron Bilaniuk, Centennial Professor of Phisics Emeritus of Swarthmore College. His predessors were M.Vetukhiv (1950-1959), G.Y.Shevelov (1959-1961; 1979-1984), O.Arkhimovych (1961-1970), O.Ohloblyn (1970-1979), Y.Bilinsky (1984-1990), M.Boretsky (Acting President, 1990-1992), M.Antonovych (1993-1997), and W.Omelchenko ( Acting President, 1994-1995).
The Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the USA is exempt from Fedral income tax, under Section 501 ( c ) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All donations to the Academy are tax deductible.
