The Easter Egg (Pysanky) Collections Circa 1880-1939 at the Museum of Ethnography and Artistic Craft of the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

The foundation and operation of museum institutions is a response to the needs of society to preserve the cultural heritage of its people, to respect identity, traditions and history, as well as to ensure heredity and connection between generations. The ethnographic museum is a unique center of history that presents the achievements of a profoundly Ukrainian experience, making it possible to understand the present through the past, while appealing to the intellectual and emotional bases of each person. The historical Easter egg collection (pysanky) is an exclusive, intricate and exquisite example of this.

The Museum of Ethnography and Artistic Crafts of the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is one of the richest ethnographic museums in Ukraine. The basis of its collection is derived and gathered from various museum institutions, the most prominent place of which is occupied by the collections from the Museum of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.

The Foundation of The Museum of The Shevchenko Scientific Society

The Taras Shevchenko Scientific Society (hereinafter referred to as NTSh”l or The Society) was established on December 23, 1873 in Lviv as The Literary Society,  named after Taras Shevchenko – the name was later changed in 1892. The establishment of this scientific institution marked an important stage in the development of Ukrainian science and education in Galicia and throughout Ukraine. The Society became the only association of Ukrainian scientists in the western region of Ukraine during this period (1, p. 4).

The Society's statute stated the need to collect scientific materials, ancient artifacts, and historical monuments,  in order to preserve store them in the museum (2). Such a museum, originally called the Museum of Antiquities, was founded at the National Academy of Sciences in the mid-1890s. The first mention of the Museum can be found in the report on the activities of the National Academy of Sciences for 1895 (3, p. 417). It was in this year during the meeting of the "Branch of the National Academy of Sciences" that a decision was made "to create a national museum, where the monuments of our past would be collected and the exact science of the development and growth of our people would be presented" (4, p. 6). Members had already started collecting important artifacts for the museum two years earlier. Therefore, in the historiography of museum studies, the date of foundation of the ethnographic museum is sometimes indicated in 1893 (3, p. 417).

On the one hand, the development of museology in Greater Ukraine (5) and, on the other hand, the organization of a number of Polish museums in Galicia prompted the creation of the Museum of the NTSh. Also, the emergence of the Museum of the NTSh was preceded by ethnographic, industrial and agricultural exhibitions that took place in Lviv (1877, 1885, 1887) and in Ternopil and Kolomyia (1880), as well as other cities of Galicia. The exhibitions aroused interest in monuments and artifacts of folk culture, their study and collecting. Naturally, the intricate artistry of Pysanky was of a special interest in terms of historicity and museology reflecting Ukrainian tradition.

The initiator of the foundation of the museum was the Ethnographic Commission of The Shevchenko Scientific Society. Its creation was one of the results of the efforts of the Ukrainian intelligentsia of Galicia aimed at building a network of Ukrainian cultural institutions in this region (1, p. 4).

A significant role in the compilation of the collections was played by the head of the NTSh, Mykhaylo Hrushevskyi, the head of the Ethnographic Commission Ivan Franko, and the long-time secretary of this commission, Volodymyr Hnatiuk. Together they contributed to the distribution of questionnaires, a specifically personal type  of research and information gathering with   which monuments, ethnographic, historical, folklore and other scientific materials were identified and collected in order to preserve the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people.

Over time, The Museum of The Shevchenko Scientific Society became one of the largest Ukrainian museum institutions. The main tasks of the Museum were the preservation, popularization and scientific research of the culture and art of the Ukrainian people. This was reflected in the wealth, diversity, value and uniqueness of the collections of monuments, artifacts, and antiquities which began to form from the first days of the Museum's existence. Thus, considering that Pysanky, a symbol of a rebirth, love, and hope is much more than just an Easter egg for Ukrainians and is a symbol of past, present, and future, it is a fitting representation of the importance of the Museum and its collections.

Organizing a collection of Easter eggs in the Museum of the Shevchenko Scientific Society

Creation of the collection of Easter eggs in the Museum of the Shevchenko Scientific Society began at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1907, the Museum received the original selection of more than 300 Easter eggs from Volyn as a gift from "Dobrodiy Lvovych" (it is under this name that the donor is recorded in the Museum's inventory book, unfortunately, there is no more complete information about him). This selection includes professionally collected Easter eggs for various purposes (gifts from girls to boys, relatives, to commemorate the dead, as well as those used in agrarian magic) [6].

In 1911, before Easter, the NTSh Museum published in the press an appeal to the Ukrainian public with a call to collect and send Easter eggs [7, p. 25, 28–31]. This appeal was a great success – by the end of August, the Museum received 814 Easter eggs from different parts of Galicia (almost all of them were donated) [8, p. 21–22].

The Ethnographic Commission published such appeals both earlier and in subsequent years. They specified in detail what information should be provided when sending an Easter egg to the Museum, and how to pack it correctly. It was, in particular, about the time of painting the Easter egg, the names of the ornament and its elements, the peculiarities of using the Easter egg during holidays, etc. [8, p. 21–22]. The obtained information was necessary in order for the researchers to be able to connect these sights with the entire socio-cultural context of their life, understanding museum artifacts as an organic part, an element of folk culture [1, p. 63].

During the period of 1909 – 1920, valuable collections came to the fund from famous Ukrainian scientists: Ivan Krypyakevych (1886–1967), Osyp Rozdolskyi (1872–1945), Volodymyr Shukhevych (1849–1915), Yaroslav Pasternak (1892–1969). Among the most notable pieces are collections of Galician Easter eggs donated in 1909 by Osyp Rozdolskyi (191 items) [9, p. 43] and in 1913 by Ivan Krypyakevych (281 units) [10].

It is important to note that priests, artists, students, teachers of gymnasiums, who collected and handed over Easter eggs from their localities, readily responded to the calls of the NTSh about the need to collect Easter eggs. This is evidenced by the records in the inventory books of the Museum of the NTSh. In particular, in 1912, a collection of Hutsul Easter eggs from Kosiv (149 items) was handed over by the artist Sorokovskyi [11, p. 34].

Evaluating the condition of the museum collection of the NTSh at the end of 1912, the "aplicat" (worker responsible for the collection) [12] of the Museum Oleksa Nazariyiv classified the Easter egg collection among the most valuable collections, which the Museum could be especially proud of [1, p. 64, 65].

In 1913, before Easter, the Museum published another appeal in the Ukrainian press regarding the collection of Easter eggs (it was printed by the newspapers "Vpered", "Svoboda", "Ruslan", "Hromadskyi Holos" and others). This year, the Museum received a particularly large number of Easter eggs – 624 items. [13, p. 21]. In particular, the Museum received 18 Easter eggs from the Kyiv region (Easter eggs made in 1912–1913) [14] as a gift from Vitaliy Vasylyovych Nahornyi. In fact, this collection is the only one from Central Ukraine in the fund from the beginning of the 20th century.

Pysanky came from priests, students, engineers. Rev. Father Lev Silinskyi presented Easter eggs from Radehiv. Brody and Borshchiv counties, father Ivan Okhrymovych – Easter eggs and scrapers (shkryabanka) from Bohorodchany county, rev. father O. Hotskyi and law student Ivan Hynylevych – Easter eggs from Yaroslavl county. Engineer Andriy Kornelli presented a collection of Easter eggs from Staryi Mylyatyn, Radekhiv Oblast, Bukovyna and Yaroslavl county, art painter Oleksa Maidanyuk – from Lemkiv Oblast, Kost Kotys – from Rava-Ruska, Stary Sambor, Gorodek, Turka. The Ukrainian school in Chernivtsi presented the Museum with 36 Easter eggs. As of August 1913, the collection included 2,732 Easter eggs from all parts of Galicia, as well as from Volyn and Bukovyna regions [15, p. 18].

Summarizing the work of the Museum in 1913, Volodymyr Hrebenyak (1892–1915), an archaeologist, art critic and employee of the Museum of the NTSh, noted: "The Ethnographic Department has the opportunity to be proud with several valuable items of its kind. The collections of carpets, embroidery, ceramics, glass, Easter eggs are very numerous and diverse, they are the only ones in Galician Ukraine (…) At the heart of the whole society should lie the desire to enrich the National Museum with monuments of ancient things, and the Museum of the Shevchenko Society with the remains of the prehistoric culture of Ukrainian lands on this side and on the other side of the border and with items of rural life of our people..." [16, p. 48].

Folk teachers made a significant contribution to the formation of the Easter egg collection of the Museum of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. Thanks to their efforts, museum collections were replenished with the best typical examples of folk life and art. In particular, Bohdan Zaklynskyi and Mykhaylo Kuzmak were teachers from the Hutsul region who collected Easter eggs. In a letter to I. Kozakivskyi, B. Zaklinskyi wrote: "The teachers, being in the village, are capable of collecting embroidery, Easter eggs, or samples of folk costumes, or some crafts, or some old monuments (...). Many of us are amateur collectors and have a lot of all kinds of things..." [16, p. 34]. Only in 1911, M. Kuzmak collected and handed over to the museum more than 60 Easter eggs from the Kosiv county. The names of these donors are repeatedly found on the pages of the inventory books of the Museum of the NTSh.

Despite all the difficulties and dangers during the First World War, the NTSh Museum was replenished with new items. In particular, a valuable collection of crafts by Hutsul Region craftsmen (1,078 items) was purchased from the widow of engineer Chervinskyi for 8,000 crowns. The collection included clothes, ceramics, embroidery, carpets, Easter eggs, and wood products. The largest group was Hutsul ceramics (329 units). The clothing collection consisted of 270 items. There were 215 Easter eggs in the collection. [3, p. 422].

During 1928–1929, the Museum collated and systematized the collection of Easter eggs collected over three decades. This work was carried out by Iryna Hurhula, who later became a famous researcher of folk art. In 1929, she published an article about Easter eggs of Eastern Galicia and Bukovyna [17], where she described the ornaments of Easter eggs and drew attention to common patterns in embroidery.

In 1929, there were already 4,200 Easter eggs in the collection, including 3,095 from Galicia, 494 from Volyn and Kholm region, 203 from Bukovyna, 14 from Kyiv region [18, p. 37]. The origin of 394 Easter eggs could not be determined [9, p. 4]. Among them was a large (up to 100 units) selection of Easter eggs donated by a teacher from Sokal Andruhovych [19]. As a result of another appeal in the matter of collecting Easter eggs, published in 1929 in the magazine "Dilo", another 600 Easter eggs were received from localities that were not well represented in the museum collection [18, p. 37]. Among these Easter eggs, 30 duplicates were selected from various localities and sent to the Kharkiv Ethnographic Museum in exchange for a painted clay bottle and a kumanets (for horilka) from Poltava region given to the museum [16, p. 69].

So, at the end of the 1920s and in the 1930s, the collection of Easter eggs increased significantly. In particular, in 1930–1936, the museum received 1,019 Easter eggs (201 Easter eggs in 1930, 367 in 1931, 54 in 1932, 57 in 1933, 106 in 1934, 40 in 1935 , 1936 - 194) [20].

Entries in inventory books indicate that a significant number of Easter eggs arrived in 1931. It is important to note that the donors that year were well-known scientists Bohdan Barvinskyi, Ivan Krypyakevych, Yuriy Polyanskyi, and Volodymyr Shukhevych. In particular, Bohdan Barvinskyi donated 36 Easter eggs made in 1890 in the village of Moskalivka near Kosiv and in the village of Tyshkivtsi, Horodenka county. [21].

Studying Easter egg collections in contemporary museums (NTSh Museum, "Boykivshchyna" in Sambir, "Verkhovyna" in Stryi), ethnologist and historian Mykhaylo Skoryk published his work "Boykiv Easter Eggs" in the 1930s. [22].

Objects were collected for the Museum during scientific ethnographic expeditions. In November 1937, R. Harasymchuk, commissioned by the Museum of the NTSh, went on an ethnographic expedition to the Lyubachiv region, as a result of which he enriched the collection of Easter eggs (16 items). In total, this year the collection was replenished with 140 monuments. In particular, Ostap Selyanskyi, a doctor from Kuty, presented the Museum with 34 Easter eggs from the Cheremosh valley.

1938 turned out to be more successful in replenishing the collection of Easter eggs than the previous one. This year, the museum received 276 Easter eggs. In particular, Master Kalistrat Dobryanskyi collected and handed over 45 Easter eggs from Boykivshchyna and Volyn regions to the Museum. Also this year, Easter eggs were given by R. Harasymchuk and O. Duchiminska.

Inventory books [20] contain detailed information about the arrival of monuments to the Museum of the NTSh. Their records make it possible to trace the development of the museum collection.

Significant parts of the collections of many modern Lviv museums originate from the collection of the Museum of the NTSh: the Museum of Ethnography and Art Crafts of the Institute of Folklore of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the National Museum in Lviv named after Andrey Sheptytskyi, the Lviv Historical Museum, the State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and others [1, p. 4].

Exhibition activity of the Museum of the Shevchenko Scientific Society

For the founders of the NTSh Museum, the creation of an exposition, which is the basis of cultural and educational work, belonged to the list of mandatory tasks. However, this was not immediately possible [1, p. 71]. The Museum of the National Academy of Sciences was opened to visitors only in 1910. The ethnographic exhibition occupied 2 halls [3, p. 425]. However, the museum collection grew rapidly, so there was not enough space for exhibiting and storing monuments over time.

In 1912, the NTSh purchased a building on 24 Charnetskoho Street (now it is Vynnychenka St.). Five spacious halls in it were allocated for the Museum exhibition. Actually, in the third hall, a collection of Easter eggs was exhibited among various ethnographic monuments.

After the First World War, the exhibition of the Museum of the NTSh was opened for visitors on October 31, 1920. It was housed in eight rooms. The Museum's exhibition turned out to be as diverse as its collection. Its creators were guided by the desire to show museum visitors the most interesting and attractive things. Visitors had the opportunity to view Easter eggs in the fifth hall, where samples of church art, portraits of hetmans and a numismatic collection were also exhibited.

Organizing the collection of Easter eggs after 1939.

After the Soviet occupation in 1939, the Shevchenko Scientific Society was liquidated, most of the monuments of the museum's ethnographic collection were transferred to the established Lviv State Ethnographic Museum (LSEM). Among them were 3,610 Easter eggs.

In 1940, LSEM included ethnographic collections from the City Industrial Museum, Didushytskyi Museum and other private collections of Lviv, which were taken by the state. In particular, more than 120 Easter eggs made in 1905-1930 from Podillya, Volhyn, Hutsul region, Pokuttya, Bukovyna, as well as several Easter eggs from the Czech Republic and Slovakia were transferred from the City Industrial Museum. The basis of the ethnographic collection of this museum was the ethnographic collection of art researcher Oleksandr Prusevych (1878–1944), which he presented to Lviv in 1933 [16, p. 52].

A large collection of Easter eggs was from the museum named after Didushytskyi, which contained rich collections from the ethnography of the western regions of Ukraine [23, p. 520]. In 1941, about 3,800 Easter eggs were handed over to LSEM [24].

In 1951, by merging the State Ethnographic Museum and the City Industrial Museum, the Museum of Ethnography and Art Craft (MEAC) was created [25].

The rich collection of Ukrainian Easter eggs of the MEAC of the Institute of Folklore of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has become an important source base for scientific research. Today, the collection of Easter eggs (Pysanka) of the Museum of the NTSh, collections of other museums and private collections gathered in the first half of the 20th century are unique components of the fund group "Pysanka" (Easter egg) of the MEAC of the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The museum's Easter egg collection includes about 13,000 items and is one of the largest and most comprehensive museum collections in Ukraine.