In a friendly circle: (in)formal associations and societies and development of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv in the second half of the 19th-20th centuries

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In a friendly circle: (in)formal associations and societies and development of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv in the second half of the 19th-20th centuries

Oleksandr Tseluiko Oleksandr Tseluiko PhD (History), Associate Professor, Department of Ancient History of Ukraine and Special Branches of Historical Science, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine, , Ihor Kryvosheia Ihor Kryvosheia PhD (History), Professor of the Department of World History and Teaching Methods, Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, Uman

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to study the formation peculiarities and functioning of the scholars ' environment who conducted lectures on special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv in the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that information on the activity of scientific and public societies of Lviv, related to the development of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines, has been systematized and analyzed comprehensively, and patterns of their development have been elucidatedfor the first time.

The Methodology of the Research. General scientific methods of empirical research, theoretical research, methods of historiographical analysis have been applied.

The Conclusions. Despite a long tradition of teaching special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv, the activities of the renowned Ukrainian and Polish scholars led to the establishment of the first professional societies at the beginning of the 20th century. The Heraldic Society was organized in the city, and an informal group of local members of Krakow Numismatic and Archaeological Society functioned at the time. The activities of these associations proved the overcoming of a certain atomization in this environment, transition to more organized forms of activity, involvement of not only professional historians, but also amateurs. When Lviv branch of the Polish Heraldic Society operated in the city, and the Union of Lviv Numismatists was founded, the traditions of such work carried on during the interwar period. The result of their work was the growth of interest in Numismatics, Heraldry, Sphragistics and Genealogy, the emergence of publications on the pages of the local periodicals, and the publication of new professional journals. There was a certain, noticeable decline in the activity of such professional associations in the 1930s, due to financial issues, activity of a number of other professional historical associations in the city, and a narrow national character of their composition. The experience of these societies, as well as T. Shevchenko Scientific Society, was shared during the organization of the Theoretical Seminar on Source Studies and Special (Auxiliary) Historical Disciplines in 1961, which operated for two decades at the Historical Archive in Lviv. The Theoretical Seminar not only became a continuation of those formal and informal associations of scholars, who worked in the city until September of 1939, but also formed a new generation of the Ukrainian professionals in special (auxiliary) historical disciplines.

Key words: special (auxiliary) historical disciplines, Heraldic Society, Union of Lviv Numismatists, Theoretical Seminar on Source Studies and Special (Auxiliary) Historical Disciplines.

Анотація

У дружньому колі: (не)формальні об'єднання та товариства і розвиток спеціальних (допоміжних) історичних дисциплін у Львові другої половини ХІХ-ХХ ст.

Олександр Целуйко

кандидат історичних наук, доцент кафедри давньої історії України та спеціальних галузей історичної науки, Львівський національний університет імені Івана Франка, м. Львів, Україна

Ігор Кривошея

кандидат історичних наук, професор кафедри всесвітньої історії та методик навчання, Уманський державний педагогічний університет імені Павла Тичини, м. Умань

Мета дослідження: вивчити особливості формування та функціонування середовища дослідників спеціальних (допоміжних) історичних дисциплін у Львові другої половини ХІХ - ХХ ст.

Наукова новизна: вперше комплексно систематизовано і проаналізовано відомості про діяльність наукових та громадських товариств Львова, пов'язаних із розвитком спеціальних (допоміжних) історичних дисциплін, виявлено закономірності їхнього розвитку.

Методологія. Використано загальнонаукові методи емпіричного дослідження, теоретичного дослідження, історіографічного аналізу.

Висновки. Попри давні традиції викладання спеціальних (допоміжних) історичних дисциплін у Львові, діяльність відомих українських та польських вчених - до створення перших фахових організаційних форм цих дисциплін дійшло на початку ХХ ст. Тоді у місті було організовано Геральдичне товариство, діяв неформальний гурток місцевих членів краківського Нумізматично-археологічного товариства. Діяльність цих об'єднань засвідчила подолання певної атомізації у цьому середовищі, перехід до організованіших форм діяльності, залучення до робити не лише фахових істориків, але й аматорів. Традиції такої роботи було продовжено у міжвоєнний період, коли у місті діяло Львівське відділення Польського геральдичного товариства, започатковано Спілку львівських нумізматів. Результатом їхньої праці було зростання інтересу до нумізматики, геральдики, сфрагістики та генеалогії, поява публікацій на сторінках місцевої періодики, видання нових фахових часописів. У 1930-х рр. помітним є певне затихання діяльності таких професійних об'єднань, причинами чого були фінансові негаразди, діяльність у місті низки інших професійних історичних об'єднань, вузьконаціональний характер їхнього складу. Досвід діяльності цих товариств, а також Наукового товариства імені Шевченка, було запозичено при організації у 1961 р. Теоретичного семінару з джерелознавства та спеціальних (допоміжних) історичних дисциплін, що діяв упродовж двох десятків років при Історичному архіві у Львові. Теоретичний семінар не лише став продовжувачем тих формальних та неформальних об'єднань дослідників, котрі працювали у місті до вересня 1939р., а й сформував нове покоління українських фахівців зі спеціальних (допоміжних) історичних дисциплін.

Ключові слова: спеціальні (допоміжні) історичні дисципліни, Геральдичне товариство, Спілка львівських нумізматів, Теоретичний семінар з джерелознавства та спеціальних (допоміжних) історичних дисциплін.

Introduction

The Problem Statement. The history of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv covers several centuries. It doesn't matter what kind of event we consider to be as a point of reference - the establishment of the first Department of Auxiliary Historical Sciences in Ukraine (1784) at the University, or earlier events, for example, the publication of the genealogical and heraldic directory “Korona Polska” by Kasper Niesiecki (1728 - 1743) in the city, observing the entire further development of these disciplines, it is noticeable that it was not of the nature of a steady linear growth.

On the contrary, periods of a certain lull (we consider it inappropriate to use the word decline regarding this phenomenon) ended with an explosive increase in interest. There were several such waves, which is quite easy to date for Lviv: the middle of the 19th century, the end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century, the 1960s - 1970s, the eve and the first decade of the restoration of Ukraine's independence. scientific public society numismatic lviv ukrainian

Diverse scientific, educational, cultural, political, and personal factors became the trigger: a surge of interest in the past during the days of modern nations formation or the search of arguments in the inter- and intra-national confrontation, the measures taken by the state, the public, or individual patrons to form the libraries, the museums, the collections of seals or medals, an understanding of the need to instrumentalize professional skills of historians, ultimately - the trend of collecting certain monuments and objects.

The above-mentioned factors, either independently or in totality, led to the activation of efforts in the field of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines and a surplus of people, who showed their involvement in this through professional (including scientific and educational) activities, or through amateur interest, what we would call a hobby nowadays. Significance of Franciszek Ksawery Liske, Ivan Krypiakevych or Yaroslav Dashkevych, is indisputable, who contributed to the formation of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv. However, there were other professional researchers or amateurs, who were under their influence, or were interested in the disciplines of the given complex independently next to them - in closer or further orbits.

Although it did not always happen. A certain atomization was a common phenomenon in this environment, due to the lack of coordinating centres or objective conditions for their formation but not the lack of appropriate leaders. In the article we will try to trace the associations activities that contributed to the development of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv in the 19th and 20th centuries and indicate how they contributed to the study of these disciplines in the city, formed appropriate professional environments capable of self-reproduction and autonomous progress.

The Review of Recent Researches and Publictions. Interest in the history of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv is growing over the past three decades. If for a long time information on this issue could be found in the works of W. Semkowicz (Semkowicz, 1937), V. Havrylenko (Havrylenko, 1977), Ya. Kis' (Kis', 1963), Ya. Isaievych (Isaievych, 1963), the number of publications is counted in dozens nowadays. Lviv University scholars' educational and scientific activity became the research subject of some scholars (Szymanski, 1991; Shust & Tseluiko, 2008; Ilkiv-Svydnytskyi, 2015; Ciara, 2016; Lawrecki & Szust, 2016; Tseluiko, 2022; Telvak, 2023). The others studied the achievements of Lviv scholars in the fields of Numismatics, Genealogy, and Historical Geography (Korolko, 2002; Szust, 2002; Tseluiko, 2015b; Trubchaninov, 2016). Both domestic and foreign scholars focused on the activities of scientific societies and associations in Lviv recently. These societies contributed to the development of various disciplines in the city greatly. The examples of such societies include the Heraldic Society (1906 - 1939) and the Theoretical Seminar on Archival Studies and Special Historical Disciplines, which operated during the period of the 1960s - 1970s at the local historical archive (Pudllowski, 1993; Bezdrabko, 2009; Masyk, 2009a; Tseluiko, 2015a; Moroz, 2017). The publications written by V. Perkun focused on the significance of studying the history of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines development (Perkun, 2021a; Perkun, 2021b). The intellectual space of Lviv and local historians' activities are also studied gradually (Telvak, Telvak & Yanyshyn, 2023). However, there is no comprehensive research that would review the history of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv. The Ukrainian associations activity, including during the Soviet era and after the restoration of independence, requires further study.

The purpose of the research is to study the formation peculiarities and functioning of the scholars' environment who conducted lectures on special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in Lviv in the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Results of the Research

Despite the long-term conducting lessons on Diplomatic, Heraldry and Numismatics at Lviv University (at the end of the 18th and at the first half of the 19th centuries), the number of their researchers or the number of relevant works did not increase. It should be noted as one odd thing that Denys Zubrytskyi was a Ukrainian historian, who contributed to the development of these disciplines in Lviv in the second quarter - the middle of the 19th century, did not obtain a university education diploma and did not attend relevant lectures. There were several reasons for this, and perhaps the main one was a scholastic nature of education at the time, concentration of higher schools work on the training of civil servants rather than scholars, the lack of a constant contact between a teacher and students as a scientific supervisor and his students. Taking into account the above- mentioned, it is difficult to dwell on the scientific schools formation before the educational process reform in the second half of the 19th century.

The museums and archives as well as other cultural institutions operating in the city at the time, did not become the centres of organization of a relevant scientific movement. The above-mentioned institutuions accumulated significant documentary funds, old prints and manuscripts, numismatic and sphragistic monuments, which created a good basis for the relevant studies. But the staff of these institutions was insignificant, and people who worked there did not have a proper training. A vivid example is the case of the Polish historian August Bielowski, who was hired for arrangement and inventory manuscript collections in the 1840s by the leadership of Ossolinski National Institute (hereinafter referred to as the Ossolineum). There were the following difficulties, i.e. the lack of training in the auxiliary historical disciplines, and the situation was saved by A. Bielowski's natural abilities and hard work (Semkowicz, 1936, p. 58). The scribes, who worked in the middle of the 19th century did not have the skills to read ancient documents and were “completely unfamiliar” with paleography in the so-called the Bernardine archive, the place where the main part of the act books and documents deposited in Lviv were stored (Pietruski & Tatomir, 1870, p. XX).

The atomization was also observed among those amateurs, who were fond of colecting relevant monuments, in particular, Numismatics for a long time. Although coin and medal collecting has a long tradition and there were larger collections in the city at Lviv University and the Ossolineum, private collecting didn't become popular until the second quarter of the 19th century. Thus, it is not accurate to talk about the presence of the Numismatists group until the beginning of the 20th century. There were several reasons for this phenomenon. One of which was a diverse social background of collectors, ranging from the Polish aristocrats, state and local officials, church hierarchs to the petty government officials and employees, entrepreneurs, and technical intelligentsia. In addition, the collections varied in nature and scientific value. The approach to their formation differed as well; some collections were based on thematic directions while the others were formed by purchasing everything that was deemed more expensive (Shust, 2005, pp. 35-38). The contacts between Lviv numismatists were sporadic, and cases of cooperation were isolated. There should be mentioned the numismatic collections arrangement of Lviv University and the Ossolineum in the 1850s and 1860s by the director of the University Library, Wojciech Urbanski, and a famous Ukrainian numismatist, Ivan Stupnytskyi, Przemysl Greek-Catholic Bishop as an example of cooperation (Shust, 1999, p. 257). We assume that the collectors and coin connoisseurs maintained some contacts, gathering information about coins and medals in collections, entering into negotiations about their exchange or purchase, and ultimately participating in the arrangement of public collections. Mauiycy Dzieduszycki examined the part of Lviv numismatic collections before 1852 and submitted information about them in the press (Dzieduszycki, 1852). However, it is uncertain whether other collectors carried out similar explorations and reviews.

There were made steps in order to overcome the atomization of Lviv researchers' environment of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in the second half of the 19th century. Several circumstances contributed to this, in particular, the onset of larger archeographic projects implementation such as, for example, the publication of “Hrodsky and Zemsky Acts from the Time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the so-called Bernardine Archive in Lviv”, a further professionalization of the museum and archival institutions activities and the establishment of requirements for the applicants regarding the employment, the resumption of teaching by professors F. K. Liske, T. Wojciechowski, M. Hrushevskyi of certain special (auxiliary) historical disciplines at Lviv University. The scientific seminars conducted by the Heads of Departments played an important role in training specialists and establishing contacts among the Ukrainian or Polish historians of the second half of the 19th - the first half of the 20th century. Although the seminars covered general historical issues mostly, some of them delved into the issues of Diplomatic, Archeography, Paleography, and Chronology.

There were made efforts to create associations among the amateurs and collectors, which intensified over time. In the city the numismatic movement development is considered to be a vivid example of the above-mentioned information. Lviv numismatists did not manage to establish an active society for a long time, which could be similar to Karol Beyer's group in Warsaw or Stanislaw Krzyzanowski's group in Krakow. However, a number of Lviv residents were members of the Numismatic (from 1892 - Numismatic and Archaeological) Society established in 1889 in Krakow, published on the pages of the periodical “Wiadomosci numizmatyczno-archeologiczne”. Wojciech Ketrzynski, Head of the Ossolineum, was elected to the Board of the Society; there were the following members of the Board: Bishop Stupnytskyi and a historian Sadok Baracz. The society included about a dozen individuals and institutions from Lviv in the 1890s, including Wlodzimierz Dzieduszycki, Ferdynand Wysocki, Aleksander Czolowski and, as a collective member, the Industrial Museum in Lviv (WNA, 1891, 1, Dodatek, pp. 1-2; WNA, 1892, 1, Dodatek, pp. 2-5 etc.). At the beginning of the 20th century Lviv historian Bohdan Barwinskyi, a museum curator Rudolf M^kicki, a bank employee, a collector Maximilian Goldstein began to participate in the Society and cooperate with its printed organ. Owing to the arrival of Przemyslaw Zulawski, Krakow numismatist, the above-mentioned researchers and amateurs kept in a more active contact in Lviv. He was the one, who initiated informal meetings of Lviv coins and other monuments admirers. The first meeting took place on February 12, 1910, the second - on March 5, and in the future they were planned to be held every first Saturday of the month at five o'clock in the evening. It was indicated that the participants of the meetings would be the local members of Krakow Society, who would form their own informal association (“Kolko numizmatykow”). Regarding the format of their work, it involved conducting conversations related to the individual issues on Numismatics, Medal-making, Collecting and Archeology, the demonstration of coins, or even larger collections (for example, the collection of the Polish coins by P. Zulawski) (WNA, (1910), 3, p. 47; 4, p. 67). The meetings that were held in the Scottish (Szkocka) cafe house became extremely popular among lovers of Lviv antiquity over time. By the 1911, these meetings were held daily, and as the author of the memo on the pages of “Wiadomosci numizmatyczno-archeologiczne” noted these meetings took place on the influx of willing people (WNA, (1911), 10, p. 163).

It is not possible to establish a detailed list of those who took part in these meetings. Their names were omitted in the information notices in the Society's periodical. It is known that it was about Lviv members of the Numismatic and Archaeological Society, but there were also guests from other cities among them, including the collectors or the researchers of antiquities, who were described as people “ze swiata nietylko numismatycznego, ale i starozytniczego wogole”. However, the activity of the group residents was not limited to a random chatter on the numismatic topics or (re)selling of numismatics. The result of the work was the growth of enthusiasm for numismatic studios in the city, which was evidenced by the publications on the pages of local and regional periodicals, the onset of new numismatic collections formation, clarification of certain controversial issues of the Polish numismatics, etc. The activity of the above-mentioned club contributed to the formation of a younger group of collectors and researchers of coins and medals in the city, among whom were R. M^kicki, Tadeusz Solski and M. Goldstein. M. Goldstein popularized Numismatics, in particular, the organization of coin and medal cabinets in gymnasiums and real schools of Galicia at the time (WNA, 1909, 7, p. 135; 11, p. 211).

The peak of activity of the above-mentioned informal association of Lviv Numismatists was in 1910 - 1911 (Wichnera, 2019, pp. 92-93). It is not possible to infer anything about his future activities, but the lack of mention in professional publications does not imply a complete halt of his work. Although the numismatics enthusiasts gatherings became less frequent, the professional environment they created still existed. The evidence was intensification of its activities during the difficult period of World War I. Other formal and informal associations of antiquity lovers did not miss the issue of numismatics, for example the so-called “Kolko starozytnikow” was led by the historian F. Jaworski, among whose members we came across the names of T. Solski and M. Goldstein (WNA, 1914, 6, p. 111).

Another association was created in Lviv at the beginning of the 20th century, which was connected with the development of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines. The Polish Heraldic Society is meant, which began its work in 1906 - 1908. A significant emphasis in the work of the Society was placed immediately on the scientific component, in particular, conducting and publishing research in the field of Heraldry, Genealogy and Sphragistics. In order to implement these plans, a regular issue of “The Monthly Heraldic” (“Miesiecznik Heraldyczny”) was published, and later - “Rocznik”.

The number of members of the Society increased over the following years significantly. There were about one and a half dozen people at the beginning and by the end of 1908 there were about a hundred of them, and in 1914 - about 200 (MH, 1909, 1, p. 13; 1914, 3-4, p. 80).

According to W. Semkowicz's calculations, a third of them came from outside Galicia (Semkowicz, 1934, p. 2), which means that the number of local participants was about one hundred people. The people of Lviv made up the most efficient group in the Society. Among the leaders there were such renowned people in the city as Professor of Lviv University Wilhelm Bruchnalski, Director of Ossolineum W. K^trzynski, Head of the Archives of the city of Lviv and city museums A. Czolowski, writers and historians Jozef Biaiynia Cholodecki, Wladyslaw Lozinski and the others. W. Semkowicz, Associate Professor of Lviv University (an editor of publications) and Helena Polaczkowna are considered to be a junior wing. Polaczkowna was elected as the secretary of the Society in 1909 (MH, 1909, 1, pp. 15-16).

According to W. Semkowicz, two groups of people joined the Society. One group included the admirers of Heraldry and Genealogy, who, although they did not possess necessary scientific tools, nevertheless understood the need and value of such research. The other group was composed of professional historians, who not only saw the possibilities of using the results obtained in the course of heraldic and genealogical studies for a better understanding of historical processes, but also realized that without material, moral or any other help from the first (amateurs), for example, making their ancestral archives available, they would not be able to achieve greater results (Semkowicz, 1934, p. 2). A synergistic effect of such a Society of amateurs and professionals was supposed to give a powerful start to a further research in the field of the above-mentioned special (auxiliary) historical disciplines, and the Society was turned into a centre for coordinating the Polish scholars' efforts.

We should highlight the last one, since the Heraldic Society was of a narrow national nature character from its beginning. Despite the fact that its Polishness was outlined in the name only during the interwar period, its character was mentioned even before World War I; this was emphasized during the Second Polish Republic (MH, 1908, 1, p. 16; Semkowicz, 1934, p. 2). It did not mean that only the Poles cooperated with the Heraldic Society. There were published the publications of the Austrian Genealogist Otto Forst de Battaglia on the pages of the Society periodical, in particular, (Forst, 1911). But almost the only local Ukrainian, who cooperated with the Society actively was B. Barwinskyi. The corresponding member in 1909 - 1914, he published information on the Ukrainian Sphragistics in “The Monthly Heraldic” (Barwinskyi, 1909). There were no representatives of the other national minorities of the region, for example, the Jews, among the members of the Society. As a justification, we should also point at the absence of a large number of scholars, who were engaged in heraldic or genealogical studies among the Galician Ukrainians and the Jews, however, it seems that other, non-scientific factors also played a role.

In comparison with Lviv Numismatists, the meetings of Heraldists rarely took place. The programme of heraldic readings did not develop either. However, the Society magazines were published regularly (at first - monthly, and from the middle of 1911 - every two months), which became a platform for announcing relevant researches and experiments.

The activities of Lviv associations of numismatists and heraldists were directly aimed at promoting the development of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines. However, there were other associations and societies related to the activation of historical studies, which emerged in Lviv: the local department (a cluster) of the Historical Commission of the Academy of Knowledge (1873), the Regional Archaeological Society (1875), the Historical Society (1886), T. Shevchenko Scientific Society (1893) and the others at the end of the 19th - at the beginning of the 20th centuries. The contribution of their participants to the development of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines was different, since research on them was not among their priority objectives. But it is worth noting that such disciplines as Paleography, Diplomatic, Numismatics, Sphragistics and Genealogy came into the field of view of the members of the Regional Archaeological Society. Their study was supposed to be conducted in four sections: (a) Heraldry, Genealogy, and Sphragistics, b) Numismatics, c) Paleography, and d) Diplomatic). The first and second sections were more active; the sections of Paleography and Diplomatic existed only on paper (Masyk, 2009b, p. 279). Owing to the efforts of the Historical Society, the publishing of the “Kwartalnik Historyczny” was launched, on the pages of which we came across the publications from special (auxiliary) historical disciplines. In July of 1890, the II Congress of the Polish historians was held in the city, a number of abstracts delivered at which related to Archeography, Historical Geography, Paleography and Diplomatics, Numismatics and Sphragistics. Separate issues from the field of the above-mentioned disciplines were elucidated more than once at the meetings of the sections of T. Shevchenko Scientific Society. We should mention the speeches made by S. Tomashivskyi at the historical and philosophical section in June of 1904 “On Territory of the Hungarian Rus at the Beginning of the 20th Century” (Khronika NTSh, 1904, 19, p. 17), M. Hrushevskyi's report “When was Lubart's Letter to the Lutsk Cathedral Falsified?” in April of 1906 (Khronika NTSh, 1906, 26, p. 11), I. Krypiakevych's “On the Cossack's Sphragistics” in June of 1914 (Khronika NTSh, 1914, 58-59, p. 15) and the others.

Due to the outbreak of World War I, the societies activities were stopped for some time. A number of scholars and collectors moved to other cities of the Habsburg state or were deported by the Russians. A social life in Lviv improved after the return of the Austrian power gradually. At the same time, the contacts between the collectors both in the city and the collectors, supporters of antiquities from other areas intensified, and in the summer of 1918, the activity of the Lviv Numismatic group was revived. Then there appeared a note in the local newspaper “Kurjer Lwowski” informing about the intention of local members of the Numismatic and Archaeological Society to organize a group (circle) that would operate on a regular basis. The meetings (“pogadanki naukowe”) would take place every Thursday in the restaurant of “Krakow” Hotel in the format of numismatic tea parties (“herbatki numismatyczne”). There would be heard discussions, negotiations, exchange of ideas and information, reports on archeology and numismatics at these meetings.

The first of the meetings took place not at the above-mentioned hotel, but at Lviv University for unknown reasons. All subsequent gatherings were held in the salon of a collector Helena D^bczanska. At the first meeting, a temporary board was elected: the Chairman - Zygmunt Luba-Radziminski, the Secretary - Kazimierz Sochaniewicz. There were invited not only members of the Numismatic and Archaeological Soiety to participate, but also everyone who wanted to be present at the meeting (KL, 1918, 20.06, p. 5). Among the first ones were Professor Edmund Bulanda, Mieczyslaw Rutkowski, M. Goldstein, Adam Solski. The participants were Associate Professor of Lviv University Wladyslaw Witwicki, a doctor B. Skalkowski, an architect and engineer Ignacy Drexler (1878 - 1930). In addition to the residents of Lviv, the guests from other cities took part in the meetings, for example, M. Gumowski from Krakow and Kazimierz Osinski, a curator of Museum of Science Friends Society in Przemysl (KL, 1918, 27.06, p. 4; 11.07, s. 5; 13.09, p. 4).

The subjects of the speeches were varied. The history of coins and coin business was discussed in the reports “St. Felix and Adauctus Cathedral in the Light of Numismatics” by M. Gumowski, “On Coins Minted during the Siege of Zamostia in 1813” M. Rutkowski, “The Polish War Bony” by T. Solski. The participants did not ignore Heraldry (K. Sochaniewicz's essay “On Genesis of Coat of Arms of Zamost Town”), Sphragistics (the same essay “On the Issues of Systematics of Sphragistic Collections”), Historical Toponymy (I. Drexler's report “On Name Genesis of the City of Lublin and Dictionary of Place Names”) (Sochaniewicz, 1913, pp. 109-110; KL, 1918, 28.09, p. 6).

There were taken steps over time aimed at a further expanding the work of the group: it was decided to contact the members of the Numismatic and Archaeological Society in Lviv and Eastern Galicia with a request to send addresses, as can be assumed, to send invitations to further meetings, or to discuss other issues (KL, 1918, 22.08, p. 6). However, the idea was not implemented. The participants meetings also became rarer: from a weekly format, they, officially due to the unsatisfactory state of health of the Chairman, were supposed to take place once every two weeks from the middle of October of 1918. The last found mentions of the group date from the middle to the second half of October. Then two meetings were to be held, at one to discuss current goals and objectives (KL, 1918, 10.10, p. 11), and at the other meeting to consider important organizational issues (KL, 1918, 27.10, p. 4). We do not know whether these meetings took place and what was discussed at them. The events of the beginning of November of 1918 in Lviv, related to the proclamation of the West Ukrainian People's Republic and the Polish-Ukrainian War, postponed further self-organization of the numismatic movement in the city for a longer time.

The activities of Lviv branch of the Numismatic and Archaeological Society resumed at the beginning of the 1920s. Its formal and informal head was F. Biesiadecki, who was a member of the society's Board since 1918 (WNA, 1918, 7, p. 62). In the 1920s, other Lviv residents and institutions were among the members of this society, for example an engineer Tadeusz Kalkowski, R. M^kicki, Stanislaw Swiezawski, Ossolineum (WNA, 1926, 1-12, pp. 70-71).

The organizational crisis that emerged in the activities of Krakow Society in the first half of the 20th century gave an impact to Lviv residents to establish their own numismatic association - the Union of Lviv Numismatists. It was founded in February of 1925 at the meeting at King Jan III Museum. A. Czolowski chaired the above-mentioned meeting. The draft of the Union Charter was approved, the leadership was elected: F. Biesiadecki (Chairman), Wiktor Chominski (Deputy Chairman), R. M^kicki (Secretary and Treasurer) (ZN, 1925, 1, p. 28). The main objectives of the Charter were to support research in the field of Numismatics, to foster further interest in collecting the Polish numismatic material, to prevent the destruction or export of numismatic monuments outside the country, to make efforts for the further growth of public numismatic collections, etc. The objectives were ambitious, although they were mostly of a general nature. There were also more realistic goals that the Union sought to achieve, such as the completion of arrangement and opening for general inspection of Lviv public collections, the conclusion of a further register of private collections in the city, etc. (Chominski, 1925, p. 10).

In order to implement the objectives, the Union conducted a number of activities, in particular, gathered for weekly meetings (“zebrania towarzyskie”), at which information about numismatic monuments was exchanged, other issues of interest to them were discussed, coins were exchanged, and auctions were organized. The meetings took place regularly in 1925 - 1927, and must have continued even further.

There were planned monthly hearings of scientific reports, but it was not possible to sustain such a rhythm. During the period of 1925 - 1927, four reports were heard: “How did the Kufic Coins Get to Poland?” by Roman Jakimowicz from Warsaw, A. Czolowski from Lviv “About the Finds of the Ancient Coins on the Polish Lands”, Stanislaw Swiezawski “Did Lviv Mint work from July 1, 1662 to April 3, 1663?” and Stanislaw Moraczewski “The Excavations of Coins in Modrychy”. Because the vast majority of the Union members were hobbyist collectors, rather than scholars, there weren't many scientific reports. However, there were exceptions. The authors of the published studies were a bank employee T Solski, a local railway employee W. Chominski, and an engineer S. Swiezawski.

At the third meeting in February of 1925, a decision was made to publish a periodical in Lviv around which all supporters of the Polish numismatics, both the scholars and collectors (“everyone who was interested in Numismatics ”) would unite. R. M^kicki was chosen as the Chief and Editor-in-chief of the publication “Numismatic Notes” (“Zapiski numismatyczne”), and the editorial board included Lviv residents F. Biesiadecki, W. Chominski, T. Solski and a renowned Polish numismatist M. Gumowski. The publication was supposed to appear quarterly, although its transformation into a bimonthly or a monthly was not excluded. It did not happen, and it was not possible to maintain a quarterly rhythm for a long time. The world saw nine issues of the “Numismatic Notes” (four in 1925, three, one of which was paired, in 1926, two in 1928) and five issues (three in 1926, one of them paired, and two in 1928) of the illustrated appendix to the “Notes”, which was called “Pieni^dz papierowy” (an editor - T. Solski). The subsequent release of the periodical and supplement was hindered by a lack of funds: there were about a hundred subscribers, which did not cover expenses. Charity auctions were organized twice in order to cover the needs of the publishing house; for the same purpose, the Union was ready to accept duplicates of coins, orders, medals, etc., for sale from interested parties (ZN, 1926, 1, p. 19; 2, p. 49).

In the 1920s, there were three dozen members in the Union, an active participation in its work by a dozen people. Some members of the Union lived outside the city and did not participate in the meetings; the Union also included several organizations and societies, for example, the National Art Gallery in Lviv, Wielkopolska Museum in Poznan, the Ossolineum (ZN, 1925, 4, pp. 108-109; 1926, 1, p. 19). The Union established in Lviv united the Polish scholars, museum workers, and collectors mainly, who became an obstacle to the association potential growth. The only exception was the participation in the association work of the collector of the Judaic studies (the Jewish studies), the owner of a rich numismatic collection M. Goldstein. On the other hand, there was no single Ukrainian in the Union.

The activities of the Heraldic Society were reactivated during interwar period: in May of 1920, the first post-war general meeting was held. It quickly became clear that inexorable changes were coming to the Heraldic Society activities. Some of these changes had a personal dimension. It was about the need to rotate management and attract new scientific forces due to the departure of an older generation. However, there were other, more fundamental circumstances that affected the society work from now on. Lviv lost its capital status after the restoration of the Polish state. It was impossible to keep the leadership of the Heraldic Society in it, and from the end of 1930 its central seat was moved to Warsaw. The result was a gradual decrease in the number of Lviv residents in the society management, the transfer of periodicals publishing to Krakow and Warsaw, and the institutionalization of work in the city in 1926 by Lviv branch of the Polish Heraldic Society. However, among the members of the society there were renowned Lviv scholars, museum workers and collectors A. Czolowski, F. Biesiadecki, K. Sochaniewicz, Przemyslaw D^bkowski, H. Polaczkowna, Jan Ptasnik. Although the meetings of the Society (and later its Lviv branch) were held several times a year, they mainly related to current activities, but the practice of listening to reports on heraldic and genealogical issues, neglected at the beginning of the 1920s, was revived with difficulty, there were no a lot: one report, sometimes two reports a year. The above-mentioned form of scientific work, despite its importance, was not particularly popular. It was not possible to activate the relevant studios in Lviv department in the 1930s, despite the decision to hold separate discussion meetings with the reading of abstracts every quarter. It is not known how often and how long the meetings of Lviv branch carried on in the future. In 1939, A. Czolowski, at the request of local authorities, indicated that after the death of some and the departure of the others from the city, “the [Heraldic - O. Ts.] Society in Lviv has neither a Board capable of conducting legal activities, nor members'' (Pudlowski, 1993, p. 167). However, a number of Lviv residents were listed as members of the Polish Heraldic Society in the mid-1930s. There were included such city institutions as the State, Zemsky and City Archives and the Baworowski Library, the editorial office of the “Kwartalnik Historyczny” and the Institute of Auxiliary Historical Sciences of the University of Lviv at that time.

During the interwar period, Lviv Branch of the Polish Heraldic Society and the Union of Lviv Numismatists were involved in various activities that demonstrated the city's interest in the development of special historical disciplines. However, they also highlighted the challenge of operating effectively for an extended period of time. There were several reasons for this state of affairs, including the lack of a proper material basis and a narrow national nature of members. However, we should keep in mind that another, no less important circumstance was the activity of other scientific societies in Lviv, with a more respectable reputation, publications and meetings. The Scientific Society emerged in the city at the time, which held regular meetings with listening to the scientific reports and abstracts. A number of them were published in the periodical (“Archiwum Towarzystwa naukowego we Lwowie”, published since 1923); in abbreviated form (as theses) - on the pages of the published reports. A fairly significant share of speeches and abstracts concerned the issues of Diplomatic and Paleography, Archeography, Archival Science, Historical Geography and Demography, Heraldry and Shpragistics, Numismatics, Genealogy, Papyrology, Historical Metrology (Sprawozdania Towarzystwa naukowego we Lwowie, 1921, 1, p. 1; 3, p. 182; 1922, 2, p. 63; 1923, 1, p. 2; 3, p. 88; 1924, 1, p. 2; 1925, 2, p. 30; 1926, 1, p. 2; 2, p. 48; 1927, 1p. 2-3; 1928, 1, p. 2; 2, p. 42; 3, p. 151; 1929, 1, p. 3; 2, p. 69; 3, p. 178; 1930, 2, p. 47; 1931, 1, pp. 2-3; 3, p. 106; 1932, 3, p. 146; 1933, 3, p. 142; 1934, 3, p. 194; 1935, 1, p. 3;2p. 65; 3, p. 160; 1936, 2, p. 114; 3, p. 235; 1937, 1, pp. 3-4; 3, pp. 212-213; 1938, 1, p. 4; 2, p. 137; 3, pp. 244-245; 1939, 1, pp. 3-5). The number of reports and abstracts from these disciplines heard at the Scientific Society meetings many times exceeded similar speeches at the meetings of the Heraldic Society and the Union of Lviv Numismatists, whose members (the same P. D^bkowski or T. Modelski) worked more actively within the Scientific Society, rather than the Heraldic or Numismatic of Associations.

T. Shevchenko Scientific Society remained the main platform of the scientific cooperation for the Ukrainian scholars in interwar Lviv. Some news about studies in the field of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines can be found in reports on the work of sections and commissions of the society. The reports on genealogical topics were given by B. Barvinskyi (“The Family of Eichinger” and “The Family of Konashevych in the Przemysl Land of the 15th and 16th Centuries”), Omelian Pritsak (“The Genealogy of the Skoropadskyi”) (Khronika NTSh, 1926 - 1930, pp. 69-70, 72; 1937 - 1938, 74, p. 49), on Heraldry issue was presented by Ivan-Yulian Shpytkovskyi (“Introductory Information on the Ukrainian Heraldry, Part I”) (Khronika NTSh, 1931 - 1932, 71, p. 23), on Sphragistics - by Yaroslav Pasternak (“Seal with the Inscription “ Днкслово” from Belz”), on Numismatics - by Roman Zubyk (“The Treasure of Coins from the 13th century from Bolotna in Przemysl Region”). A chief focus was on the issues of Historical Geography and Historical Topography, and relevant abstracts were prepared by Myron Korduba (“Where was the Ancient Town of

Khmeliv Located?”, “Traces of the Germanic Trade Route through the Ukrainian Lands in the Half of the 1st Millennium BC”), I. Kiypiakevych (“Studies about the State of B. Khmelnytskyi. I. Borders. II. Roads”, “Historical Review of the Ethnographic Boundaries of Galicia and Chelm land in the West”, “Map of Galicia under the Rostyslavychi's Rule”, “Non- localized Chronicle Topographical Names”) (Khronika NTSh, 1926 - 1930, 69-70, p. 71), Jaroslav Rudnytskyi (“The Origin of the Name of Sambir Town”, “The Origin of the Name of Terebovlia Town”), Teofil Kostruba (“Unexplained Historical Names”, “Whether Belz Belonged to the Cherven Cities” (Khronika NTSh, 1932 - 1934, 72, p. 76; 1935 - 1937, 73, pp. 52-54; 1937 - 1938, 74, pp. 47-48) and the others. A number of studies on special (auxiliary) historical disciplines were published by members of T. Shevchenko Scientific Society on the pages of its “Notes”, other periodicals or in separate books, in particular studies on Genealogy (Barvinskyi, 1930), Heraldry and Shpragistics (Barvinskyi, 1925), Numismatics (Polianskyi, 1926; Krypiakevych, 1924), Bonistics (Hnatyshak, 1931a; Hnatyshak, 1931b), Historical Geography (Korduba, 1924; Korduba, 1938; Terletskyi, 1930). However, unlike the Polish scholars, their Ukrainian colleagues failed to establish professional heraldic or numismatic associations. The only known attempt, which was made to establish such a union dates back to 1928, when an initiative group was supposed to meet to found the Ukrainian Heraldic Society (Hrechylo, 2008, p. 4). However, it was not founded.

The beginning of World War II and the first Sovietization of Western Ukrainian lands affected fundamentally the activities of formal and informal societies and associations of researchers of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in the city. A gradual but unceasing planting of new forms of state and a social life could not coexist with uncontrolled or unauthorized forms of organization and self-organization of scholars.

As a result, T. Shevchenko Scientific Society stopped opeating; nothing is known about the activities of the Numismatic Union or Lviv branch of the Polish Heraldic Society. Certain contacts between their participants could be maintained, but these were private meetings in a narrow circle, which hardly led to scientific discussions or research. Hence, there is no need to write about any formal or informal associations of researchers of special (auxiliary) historical disciplines in the 1940s. A personal composition of the city's historians changed significantly, as a number of the Polish and Ukrainian scholars died (such as R. M^kicki, H. Polaczkowna, Mykola Golubets) or left Lviv (O. Pritsak, M. Haisig, T. Modelski, etc.)

The studies in these disciplines were not stopped during the post-war period - the city remained a base for such research, scientific personnel capable of solving tasks, but their progress was hindered. The situation began to change for the better during the so-called the Khrushchev thaw, when a favourable background was created for the development of the Ukrainian humanitarianism, the search of new forms of scientific cooperation, the resumption of research on previously intolerable topics, including special (auxiliary) historical disciplines.

There was a need for the emergence of similar to pre-war associations of scholars, which was realized in the early 1960s in the activities of the Theoretical Seminar on Source Studies and Special Historical Disciplines at the Central State Historical Archive of Ukrainian SSR in Lviv.

The inspiration of this seminar is considered to be made by I. Krypiakevych. It was he who made efforts to make the seminar a platform for the exchange of ideas and the training of young scholars (Orest Matsiuk, Oleh Kupchynskyi, Oleksiy Markevych, etc.), who over time turned into renowned scholars and authorities in their fields of knowledge, continuing the traditions of their predecessors. It involved not only archivists, but also scholars of Lviv University (Ya. Kis' , Volodymyr Zvarych, Vitaliy Havrylenko, etc.), the Institute of Social Sciences (Ya. Isaievych, Feodosiy Steblii, Volodymyr Ohonovskyi, etc.), a number of local museums, libraries of the Academy of Sciences (nowadays - V. Stefanyk Scientific Library). One of the peculiarities of the Seminar activity was that people, who we can call amateurs or amateur local historians took part in its work, i.e. those who, due to certain circumstances, found themselves outside the boundaries of institutions called to engage in historical and research activities, but did so at the behest of the heart and soul. Such were the local historian Yosyp Hronskyi, an artist Hryhoriy Smolskyi, a teacher Yosyp Kril.

Owing to involvement of a wide range of local and visiting scholars, amateurs, planned nature of work set from the beginning allowed the Theoretical Seminar to operate for two dozen years.

The Theoretical Seminar went beyond the laws and regulations traditional to the Soviet regime, becoming the successor of those formal and informal associations of researchers, who worked in the city until September of 1939, preserving the spirit of friendly meetings and contacts, creative work and the search of new horizons.

In the topics of conferences and monthly seminars, the predominant place was given to archival studies and source studies, but a significant place was given to Diplomatic, Paleography, Heraldry, Genealogy, Sphragistics, Numismatics, Historical Chronology, Codicology, Historical Geography and Historical Toponymy, Historical Cartography (Bezdrabko, 2009, pp. 139-170). The majority of materials were designed as monographs, catalogues, articles, reference books over time, which to this day constitute the golden fund of these disciplines historiography.

The above-mentioned seminar gradually lost its pace and importance as an interdisciplinary platform for specialists in special historical disciplines in the city from the1970s to the 1980s. The number of meetings decreased, the group of participants was limited mainly to the archive workers.

However, dozens of the scholars formed within the framework of the seminar acted and worked both in the archive and outside of it. Young scholars joined them gradually. It was possible to reanimate the work of the archival seminar, with reports and announcements made by archive employees at the end of the 1980s and at the beginning of the 1990s (Tsarova, 1990, p. 79).