Stepan Siropolko

The central story: a builder of libraries

Stepan Onysymovych Siropolko was an education historian, educator, bibliographer and public figure. He worked in several countries during the twentieth century and spent the final decades of his life in Prague. His importance to the Czech–Ukrainian atlas extends beyond teaching at the Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical Institute. He helped circulate knowledge about Ukrainian books, contributed to Prague’s Slavic bibliographic publications, edited Knyholiub, and participated in international book studies and education forums. These activities are documented in the bibliographic exhibition of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (NBUV) and an encyclopedia. [S01; S02]

His story can be told through tangible objects: books with shelfmarks, journals identifying their editors, bibliographic catalogues, congress programmes and records of Ukrainian institutions. Such an exhibition moves beyond the general image of a “political émigré” to explain the specific infrastructure of knowledge that the Ukrainian community created in Czechoslovakia. [S01; S04]

Key details and an important date problem

The Ukrainian and prerevolutionary period

Born in Obychiv, he attended the classical gymnasium in Pryluky and then studied at Moscow University’s law faculty (1893–1897). He was already engaged with public education, educational periodicals and library organisation. NBUV’s specialist exhibition describes his involvement with the editorial teams of Ukrainskaia zhizn’, Iunaia Rossiia, Pedagogicheskii listok and other periodicals. These are separate publications rather than organisations and require their own bibliographic identifiers. [S01]

In 1917–1920, Siropolko worked within Ukraine’s educational institutions, provided advice and helped develop models of education. Encyclopedia of Ukraine mentions his position as director of public education in Kyiv, teaching at the Froebel Institute and links to the Central Rada’s educational structures. NBUV also describes his official responsibilities in Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) bodies in 1920–1923. The precise legal title of each position, however, needs checking against appointment orders; the word “minister” should not be applied indiscriminately. [S01; S02]

His early library work included discussions of librarian training, public readings and catalogues. A Short Library Science Course (Lviv, 1924) is a specific publication illustrating the increasing professionalisation of the book sector. This also provides a useful context for Czech librarians and staff of memory institutions. Ukrainian book and article titles below are given in English translation unless a transliterated original title is used. [S01; S04]

Moving to Prague, higher education and adult learning

After 1921, Siropolko emigrated through Poland to Czechoslovakia. In Prague, he taught at the Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical Institute named after Mykhailo Drahomanov. Encyclopedia of Ukraine gives the years 1925–1932, while NBUV gives 1925–1933. The different end dates might reflect an academic year, but this remains a hypothesis requiring confirmation from timetables and payroll records. [S01; S02]

According to NBUV, he also taught at Prague’s Russian Pedagogical Institute named after J. A. Comenius in 1925–1927. This is an important example of intercultural educational history: the same person worked in different émigré institutions. A professor_at relationship must therefore distinguish the individual legal entities and years of service. [S01]

In 1926, Siropolko addressed the International Congress of Librarians and Book Lovers in Prague on the state of Ukrainian librarianship. In 1928, he participated in a Czechoslovak congress on extracurricular education in Brno, and in 1929 he spoke at an international congress of Slavic philologists in Prague. These are strong candidates for separate Event records, but conference programmes must confirm the exact venue and date of his appearance before a location is placed on the map. [S01]

Prague’s book culture: Knyholiub

Siropolko helped organise and lead the Ukrainian Society of Bibliophiles in Prague and served as editor-in-chief of Knyholiub. The society’s establishment must be distinguished from the journal’s publication period. A separate historical calendar reports a founding meeting on 5 January 1926 and approval of the statutes on 28 March 1926. NBUV dates his editorship of Knyholiub to 1927–1932 and his participation in the society to 1934. The appearance of a journal issue in 1927 therefore does not establish that the society was founded that year. [S01; S05]

Knyholiub published bibliographic research, book reviews, surveys of foreign publications and library practices. NBUV provides precise bibliographic entries, including the articles Book Studies in the Czechoslovak Republic over the Last 10 Years (1928, vol. 1–2, pp. 2–16) and Ukrainian Bibliography in Emigration (1932, vol. I–II, pp. 41–48). They can give Czech readers a Ukrainian bibliographer’s own perspective on Czechoslovak libraries. [S01; S04]

In 1925–1926, he edited the Ukrainian section of the monthly bibliography Slavianskaia kniga, and from 1930 he worked with the editorial team of Slovanská knihověda. These are different publications and editorial roles. They should not be merged into a single generalised “Slavonic Library editorial office”. [S01]

Scholarship, public organisations and life after the war

Siropolko participated in the Ukrainian Historical-Philological Society, museum and educational organisations, the committee assisting people affected by famine in Ukraine, professional bibliographic conferences and other circles. These lists need to be developed incrementally: for each institution, establish the relationship (member_of, chaired, spoke_at, published_in), the precise period and the supporting evidence. Inclusion in NBUV’s list does not itself prove that he led every society for many years. [S01; S02]

A substantial part of his published legacy concerns the history of Ukrainian education. The monograph The History of Education in Ukraine (Lviv, 1937) and Public Education in Soviet Ukraine (Warsaw, 1934) show how émigrés studied educational changes in their homeland. They should not be presented as “impartial statistics”: they have historical, political and authorial contexts. [S01; S02]

According to NBUV, Siropolko obtained Czechoslovak citizenship in 1951. This information supports a story about a Ukrainian who became a Czechoslovak citizen, but the citizenship document still needs to be located in the Czech National Archives. He died in Prague in 1959 and, according to NBUV, was buried in Olšany Cemetery. [S01]

Places and research routes

The future map requires points to be verified rather than arbitrary pins: the pedagogical institute’s building (R0036; its historical address requires archival checking), the still unidentified venue of the 1926 book studies congress, Siropolko’s bibliographic workplace, the meeting place of the society of book lovers, and Olšany Cemetery, where the grave number has not been established. The Klementinum should not automatically be treated as his personal workplace. [S01; S03]

Potential illustrations include a portrait with an identified creator and licence, a Knyholiub cover, old library catalogues, and conference photographs if they actually survive. Contemporary people unrelated to the historical event should not be used to illustrate the biography.

A digital exhibition: books connecting cities

The suggested Czech title is Knihy, které spojovaly Prahu a Ukrajinu — “Books that connected Prague and Ukraine”. The proposed exhibition could centre on six artefacts: a library science publication’s cover, an issue of Knyholiub, an article about Czechoslovak libraries, an international congress programme, a book from the pedagogical institute’s library and a postwar publication on education history. Each artefact would explain what it is, who created it, where it is held, what it demonstrates and the rights governing its display.

Research still to be completed includes visiting the Slavonic Library reading room, identifying the precise organisational collection of the society of book lovers, checking the Czech death register entry, finding copies of Knyholiub with editorial publication details, and comparing the list of papers at the 1926 Prague congress. None of these is presented as an archival file that has already been examined.