Harvard University Launches a Database of Open Access Sources for Ukrainian History

The Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) has unveiled Fontes: Open Access Sources for Ukrainian History, a comprehensive database featuring resources on the history of Ukraine. The announcement was made on the Institute’s website.

Researchers interested in Ukrainian history can access all materials and resources available on the Fontes website. HURI’s statement explains, “The name Fontes refers to the Latin word for ‘sources,’ as our project aims to connect students, researchers, and the public with freely available primary resources for researching Ukraine’s past, from the prehistoric era through the twenty-first century.” The statement also highlights that the creation of this database was prompted by the increasing difficulty of physically accessing archives due to the pandemic and Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The website currently hosts a wealth of data spanning various periods of Ukrainian history, from the ancient Scythians, Kyivan Rus’, and the Cossack Hetmanate, to the Soviet era, the revolutions, and the wars of the twenty-first century. The database provides links to websites featuring online open-access primary sources on Ukrainian history suitable for scholarly research. These resources encompass archival documents, books, periodicals, photographs, films, and more. During the creation of Fontes, HURI’s staff was guided by the Digital Handbook for Research on Soviet History developed by the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.

To enhance user navigation, the database offers search options based on various tags, including category, region, era, source format, keywords, and language. HURI plans to expand the database and invites contributions from others, which can be submitted through the provided link.

In addition to Fontes, the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute is actively involved in publishing a series of translations of Ukrainian literature into English. This collection includes works such as “The Voices of Babyn Yar” by Marianna Kiyanovska, “In Isolation” and “The Torture Camp on Paradise Street” by Stanislav Aseyev, “Mondegreen” by Volodymyr Rafeyenko, “Ukraine, War, Love: A Donetsk Diary” by Olena Stiazhkina, “Felix Austria” by Sofia Andrukhovych, and “Dr. Leonardo’s Journey to Sloboda Switzerland with his Future Lover, the Beautiful Alcesta” by Maik Yohansen.

Translation: Sofiia Slaba

Editing:  Ilona Babkina, Tanya Mykhaylychenko