Scope: 1949-1964
Bulk: 1954-1960
Size: 2 c.f.
Language: Ukrainian, English
The Ukrainian Technical Institute Archives are organized into four series: administrative records (1949-1963); course records (1957, 1963); financial records (1951-1963); and student records (1947-1960). The archives as a whole provide background into the establishment, organization, and management of the Institute. More specifically they contain biographical and educational information about some of the Institute's students.
The administrative records include academic calendars, by-laws, circulars, correspondence, minutes, newsletters, publications, regulations, and statutes. Course records contain a textbook on dendrology, and correspondence related to courses in drafting and the stock exchange. The financial records are comprised of account books, bank statements, expenditure receipts, payroll statements, and tuition ledgers. Student records include copies of final examinations, general correspondence, and individual student files. The individual student files are arranged alphabetically and generally include applications, tuition payment receipts, and related correspondence. Student files also sometimes include lists of courses taken, letters of recommendation, and biographies. The applications are a good source for family research since they often provide the following information about individual students: date and place of birth, father's name, employment history, educational background, and place of residence.
HISTORY
The Ukrainian Technical Institute in New York was established in 1954 as a modified continuation of the postsecondary school Ukrainian Husbandry Academy. The Ukrainian Husbandry Academy was established in Prague in May 1922. The Academy offered a degree in engineering as well as courses in Ukrainian studies. Initially, the Ukrainian Husbandry Academy offered only lecture courses, but after ten years the Academy was enlarged through the establishment of a correspondence school, the Ukrainian Technical and Husbandry Institute. The Academy closed in 1935, but during the next fifteen years the UTHI conducted its correspondence courses. After World War II, the UTHI moved to Regensburg, Germany where it resumed lecture courses and continued correspondence courses. The UTHI was organized into departments of agronomy and forestry, chemistry and technology, and economics and co-operatives. It also offered courses in veterinary science, medicine and pharmacology, as well as practical fields, such as beekeeping, gardening, and soap making, a secondary-school program on the farming industry, and programs of Ukrainian studies, foreign languages, and journalism. By the end of 1951, however, almost half of the active student body and nearly all of the faculty had emigrated to the United States. Faced with a diminishing student body and faculty, the UTHI in Germany was gradually transformed into a research institution, while in December 1951 the Ukrainian Technical-Husbandry Institute Association was chartered in New York. This association was chartered as an education institution under the name of The Ukrainian Technical Institute in New York on August 11, 1954. Courses began during the 1954-1955 academic year and continued until the 1963-1964 academic year when the Institute folded. At first the Institute was divided into two divisions, offering courses in economics and political science. In 1956 the Board of Trustees approved the organization of a third division, engineering; in 1958 it authorized the creation of a Department of Education and Pedagogy; and in 1962 it added a fourth division, divinity. The mission of the Institute was to provide professional and vocation training for positions in business and government, as well as to promote Ukrainian cultural values.
The Ukrainian Technical Institute was headed by a Board of Trustees, which consisted of scholars and graduates of the Ukrainian Husbandry Academy and the Ukrainian Technical-Husbandry Institute. The Administration of the Institute was headed by the President with several administrative assistants. The presidents of the Ukrainian Technical Institute have been Arnold Margolin (1954-1955), Oleksander Arkhimovych (1956-1962), and Gregory Petrychenko, President (1962-1964). Directors and Vice-Presidents have been Yakiv Zozulia (Director, 1954-1956; Vice-President and Treasurer, 1956-1962), Edvard Zharsky (Director, 1956-1962), Borys Martos (Director, 1962-1964), Michael Havrylenko (Treasurer, 1954-1955), Hryhorij Pavlovskyj, (Vice-President and Treasurer, 1962-1964), and Volodymyr Kalyna (Vice-President, 1959-1962).