The Papers of Yakiv Makovetsky as a Source for the History of the Socio-Political Activity of Ukrainians in Emigration (1950s–1980s)

The purpose of this article is to review the documents of Ukrainian public and political figure in exile, Chairman of the Ukrainian National Council (UNR) Yakiv Makovetsky (1909–1990), which were transferred to the Central State Archive of Public Associations and Ukrainian Studies (CSAOU) by the Oleg Olzhych Foundation in 2024; to analyse their informational potential and scientific value for researching the public and political life of Ukrainians in exile in the second half of the 20th century; and to determine their degree of representativeness. Based on this set of documents, to reveal new data on the activities of Ya. Makovetsky in various spheres of public life. The methodological basis of the research was the use of general principles of historical research – historicism, objectivism, systematic analysis, as well as biographical and prosopographic methods. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that Ya. Makovetsky’s documents have not yet been the subject of scientific research, and this article is the first such attempt to analyse them and introduce them into scientific circulation. Conclusions. The article examines documents by Ya. Makovetsky that were stored in the OUN Archives and transferred to the Central State Archives of Ukraine. Based on a comprehensive analysis of these documents, it can be concluded that they have significant informational potential and contain a wealth of diverse and interesting information about the social, political, cultural, and scientific life of Ukrainians in emigration, the specifics of their daily life and leisure activities, their economic and charitable activities in the second half of the 20th century, their efforts to preserve their national identity and traditions of struggle for state independence. At the same time, these documents, as is typical of personal documents, reveal new insights into certain aspects of Ya. Makovetsky’s biography, detail specific facts about his multifaceted activities, and contain information about his psychological state and attitude towards friends and opponents. References: 1. Burim, D., & Cherchenko, Yu. (2016). Referat Volodymyra Stakhiva pro osnovni napriamky doslidzhennia zovnishnopolitychnoi diialnosti OUN u mizhvoiennyi period [Summary by Volodymyr Stakhivon the main directions of research of the OUN’s foreign policy activities in thethe interwar period]. Ukrainskyi arkheohrafichnyi shchorichnyk, 19/20(22/23), 481–517. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].2. Gagan, V. (2021). Ohliad diialnosti Ukrainskoi natsionalnoi rady 1948–1957 rokiv u svitli arkhivnykh dzherel (za fondamy TsDAZU) [Review of the Activities of the Ukrainian National Council in 1948–1957 in the Light of Archival Sources (based on the fonds of the Central State Archives of Foreign Ukrainian Studies)]. Arkhivy Ukrainy, 3(328), 131–150 [in Ukrainian].3. Yablonskyi, V. (Comp.) (2012). Ukrainskyi parlamentaryzm na emihratsii. Derzhavnyi tsentr UNR : dokumenty i materialy. 1920–1992 [Ukrainian parliamentarism in exile. State Center of the Ukrainian People’s Republic : documents and materials. 1920–1992]. Kyiv : Vyd-vo im. O. Telihy. 840 s. [in Ukrainian].4. Yablonskyi, V. (2020). Derzhavnyi tsentr UNR v ekzyli : idei, borotba, tradytsii (1922–1992 roky) [The State Center of the UNR in Exile : Ideas, Struggle, Traditions (1922–1992)]. Kyiv. 648 s. [in Ukrainian].