1. Voices of the Displaced: Post-WWII Ukrainian Refugees in Letters, Photographs, and Oral Histories
Alberta is home to one of North America’s oldest Ukrainian diasporas, shaped by successive waves of migration, including the era of post–World War II displaced persons. Based at the Kule Folklore Centre at the University of Alberta, this project draws on rare and understudied archival materials documenting the experiences of displaced Ukrainians in postwar Europe and Canada. The collections include more than 1,500 digitized pages of correspondence exchanged between Ukrainian Canadian women and displaced persons living in European camps between 1945 and 1962, digitized through the Sustainable Ukrainian Canadian Heritage Program, alongside oral history interviews and a partially catalogued photographic archive of more than 15,000 images—all held at the KuFC’s Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives. Situated at the intersection of archival research, migration history, diaspora studies, and digital humanities, the project examines how displaced Ukrainians maintained transnational networks, negotiated identity, and preserved cultural memory through correspondence, photography, and oral testimony. The research has two interconnected components. The first focuses on correspondence analysis and database development through the Skytaltsi Collection, a body of letters written by Ukrainian postwar refugees. The tasks involve cataloguing names, locations, relationships, and thematic references related to migration, sponsorship, displacement, and everyday life in order to build a structured research database accessible to scholars, genealogists, and descendants. The second component focuses on visual and oral history documentation by identifying photographs related to displaced persons (DP) camps and transcribing oral history interviews, referencing displacement experiences. Through researching these letters, photographs, and testimonies—examining the personal networks, everyday lives, and processes of identity formation that connected postwar Europe with communities in Alberta and beyond—the project traces how displaced Ukrainians renegotiated their culture and traditions in new environments.
Research area, student roles & skills
Research area: Dr. Oleksandr Pankieiev’s research specializes in Ukrainian ethnography, Ukrainian Canadian diaspora studies, digital folklore and media studies, propaganda studies, and the social and cultural history of Steppe Ukraine. His work examines identity, memory, migration, language, belonging, and information warfare within Ukrainian communities in Ukraine and the diaspora. Methodologically, his research integrates oral history, community-based scholarship, and digital humanities approaches to the study of migration, displacement, cultural heritage, and the circulation of narratives and propaganda in contemporary media and society.
Student roles:
The student interns will assist with archival research and digital humanities work focused on Ukrainian displaced persons and Ukrainian Canadian history. Working with more than 1,500 digitized pages of Ukrainian-language correspondence from 1945 to 1962, the students will read and analyze historical letters, extract key information (including names, dates, locations, relationships, and themes), and enter this data into a structured research database. The students will also draft short bilingual Ukrainian–English annotations for selected letters.
Additional responsibilities include identifying and documenting photographs of DP camps in the Medwidsky Archives’ Ukrainian Canadian Archives and Museum of Alberta Photograph Collection. The students will create detailed metadata records to improve accessibility and support future research.
The students will also assist with research on oral history materials from the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies’ Oral History Project and Local Culture Project by identifying relevant interviews, contributing to a project finding aid, and creating and proofreading transcriptions using the Whisper transcription tool.
Further duties may include processing smaller documentary collections containing letters and memoranda related to DP camps, and incorporating relevant materials into project research tools and finding aids.
Through these activities, the students will gain practical experience in archival research, database management, oral history processing, and the interpretation of letters, photographs, and other historical sources related to migration, refugee experiences, and diaspora studies.
Skills required:
Applications are welcome from students in history, archival science, library science, Ukrainian studies, cultural studies, literary studies, linguistics, or digital humanities. Proficiency in Ukrainian and English is required for the correspondence and transcription work; strong English skills alone are sufficient for the photographic cataloguing and database tasks. Familiarity with qualitative research methods, oral history, or archival processing is an asset. Basic digital literacy is expected. Applicants should demonstrate intellectual curiosity, attention to detail, and genuine commitment to community-engaged research.