Project: “Alma Mater Leopoliensis. History of the Lviv humanities 1661─1946” is a breakthrough project. How did its execution look in practice?

Dr Helena Sojka-Masztalerz, project coordinator, University of Wrocław, Institute of Polish Studies:

We began our preparations in 2018. We conducted the first scanning year later in April because our Ukrainian archivists had to complete their training first. We have not worked on the equipment like this before. The first training was held in February 2019 at BUWR and AUWR.

And when everything was ready, the pandemic began…

Yes, since February 2019 until 2020 we couldn’t come to Lviv. What is more, there were breaks in scanning in Lviv because of COVID-19.

Long-term pandemics, then war on a large scale didn’t make your work easy…

Fortunately, although with 2-year delay, we finished what we planned to do.

And there was plenty of work…

What was your starting point?

Personal files, the most desired by researchers, that means, inventory 5 – personnel files of the University of Lviv.

But it has not been scanning exclusively since everybody does so…

Our project aimed at compiling files according to General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD-G) and creating a monograph about Lviv humanities with interactive links.

We’ve made almost 180k scans and more than 3k of records (3047)!

What impressed you the most, apart from the size of the files?

The diversity of scanned documents and their uniqueness. Sometimes it has been single copies, e.g. handwritten Japanese excerpts by the sinologist Bogdan Richter, certificates of baptism or marriage (e.g. the marriage between geographer Henryk Arctowski and American Jane Addy). Moreover, I found the original students’ books of the particular scholars very interesting.

The awareness, how many notable scholars from different fields of science were associated with Lviv and its University…

You mean the Lvov School?

Not one!, because we have:

• The Lvov-Warsaw, started by Szymon Askenazy and continued a.o. Oswald Balzer, Ludwik Finkel, Wojciech Kętrzyński and Karol Szajnocha.

– Maria Dłuska’s Laboratory of Experimental Phonetics, later continued by Lucylla Pszczołkowska, Adam Kulawik and Stanisław Balbus.

– the Lviv anthropological school of Jan Czekanowski, which included Jan Mydlarski, Bolesław Rosiński and Karol Stojanowski.

– the Lviv school of geography led by Eugeniusz Romer, with Stanisław Pawłowski, Julian Czyżewski and August Zierhoffer among its members.

– and finally the Lwów (Lviv) School of Mathematics: Stefan Banach, Hugo Steinhaus, Stanisław Ulam, Władysław Orlicz and Antoni Łomnicki.

If it had not been for the Ukrainian archivist, the project would not be possible.

Yes. Their engagement and management of the national and academic archives was crucial. Without their devotion, project of the execution in demanding pandemic and war condition would not be possible.

Are the scanned files safe until this day?

The scans are secured correspondingly to the same extent as all the archives, museums and libraries in Ukraine. When a bomb or drone strikes on the building, nothing can prevent it from destroying. Right now, it is seen clearly that the importance of digitalisation in securing the files. Apart from this, Polish-Ukrainian collaboration is based on mutual trust and an understanding of the necessity of the undertaking.

What did we gain from digitalisation?

Personally, I feel that I fulfilled my duty. We contributed to preserving something that could had been utterly destroyed. Due to the project we initiated the process of securing priceless collections from the history of science.

First and foremost we contributed to making global the heritage of the important R&D, educational, culture-making and nation-making academic center of the Middle Europe.

Now everyone can benefit from your work

When the project was in progress, I would get mails with requests to use the scanned files. The interest was enormous, especially right now, when not everybody can or wants to go to Ukraine due to the war.

It was the job that had different consequences as well

Indeed, we teamed up with the international research team consisting not only of scholars but also archivists and computer scientists. We learned to collaborate and we know that we can count on each other. It was not easy. We were separated by the distance, and in the case of Ukrainians, the obstacles were the manner of compiling files and the language barrier as well. Moreover, the contributors come from various academic centers, namely the University of Warsaw, the Jagiellonian University, the University of Rzeszów, as well as the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, from two university archives, the University Library in Wrocław, and the State Archives of Lviv Oblast.

The computer scientists extended presentable version of the digitalised material for the Lviv collection. Moreover, they implemented new technological tools.

That being said, you paved the way for the new generations of scientists without leaving the house?

Correct, the credit goes to the whole forty-person team . I am happy that we finalised the compilation of the personal files in both inventories: inventory no. 5 of collection 26 and inventory no. 1 of collection R-119.Above all, we pioneered something else. Thanks to the help of the University of Wrocław and rector Robert Olkiewicz, the Ukrainian archivists started to scan another inventory 7: Faculty of Humanities. These are another crucial documents concerning not only particular people, but also presenting the structure of the University, important research topics etc.

So, Is it going to be a continuation? What are you planning to do, and with whom?

The continuation of the 2018 digitalisation and files compilation has already begun. This continuation is actually the digitalisation of another series that means inventory 7: Faculty of Humanities, besides the project with NHDP (National Humanities Development Program). Another inventories are in being prepared e.g. inventory no. 6: The Faculty of Law. Nonetheless, without systemic financial support, it will be difficult to execute the next inventories.

There is a multitude of work for a dozen people to do. The members of the team remain the same since the beginning of the project. Since digitalisation and file compilation are our top priority, most of the work is going to be performed by archivists and computer scientists from Poland and Ukraine.

More info about the project here

Over the centuries, the University of Lviv (the Jesuit College, the Jesuit Academy, the Josephinian University, the Imperial and Royal University of Emperor Francis I, the Franciscan University, the Jan Kazimierz University, and the Ivan Franko National University) has been one of the most important academic institutions in Europe.

The University of Lviv became a permanent part of the history of science and culture in Central and Eastern Europe. Its heritage influences today’s world through its successors.

Project: Alma Mater Leopoliensis. History of the Lviv humanities 1661─1946 aims at portraying the University of Lviv through the prism of Lviv humanities. This perspective demonstrates the University as an R&D, educational, culture-making and nation-making institution in particular historical periods. What is more, the project aspires to compile the history of the humanities.

The key objectives of the projects are to indicate: main directions of development within a given discipline (e.g research topics, methodology), the place of Lviv humanities within the structure of the University of Lviv and groundbreaking accomplishments of the Lviv humanities scholars.

The project consists of documentary and editorial efforts. Its key tasks include the digitization of source materials, the preparation of a scholarly database system built on these resources (the so-called Lviv Collection), as well as the development of a three-volume monograph complemented by access to digital archives and an electronic catalogue of publications concerning the history of the University of Lviv.

The research team is composed of experts from several academic centers in Poland (Wrocław, Warsaw, Kraków, Rzeszów) and Ukraine (Lviv), all specializing in the history of the University of Lviv. The project is coordinated by professor Anna Dąbrowska, with the day-to-day management carried out by dr Helena Sojka-Masztalerz, both affiliated with the Institute of Polish Philology at the University of Wrocław.

Institutional partners include the University of Wrocław, represented by the University Library and the University Archives, as well as Ivan Franko National University of Lviv together with its Archives, alongside the State Archives of Lviv Oblast.

The project has been implemented within the framework of a competition organized by the Minister of Science and Higher Education, under the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities – National Heritage I/2017, pursuant to Decision 0170/NPRH6/H11/85/2018.

Translated by Amelia Kłaniecka (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.

Compiled by: Katarzyna Górowicz-Maćkiewicz

Publication date: 24 September 2025.

Added by: M.J.