Patriarch Mstyslav Museum
The UHEC museum permanent collection consists of over 15,000 objects of folk art, fine art, and historical and religious artifacts. Its collecting scope broadly encompasses the following areas:
Ukrainian History: Materials related to the tumultuous social, political, and religious history of Ukraine and its vicinity.
Ukrainian Material Culture, Folk Art, and Ethnography: Materials that illuminate the beliefs and cultural practices of the Ukrainian people, including textiles, embroidery, carvings, photographs, and period descriptions of traditional Ukrainian culture.
Ukrainian Fine and Religious Art: Paintings, sculptures, engravings, and other works by Ukrainian and Ukrainian American fine and craft artists, and works by non-Ukrainian artists inspired by Ukrainian themes. Icons, vestments, and other religious ritual objects.
Immigration, Exile, and the Ukrainian-American Experience: Materials that document the forces that caused Ukrainians to leave their native land, and the difficulties and triumphs encountered by them and their descendants.
In the above, "Ukraine" is defined broadly as the boundaries of the current Ukrainian nation-state, as well as neighboring areas that currently or historically have had a significant ethnic Ukrainian populations.
The bulk of the museum collection is currently in storage, but are used as the basis for rotating exhibitions in the UHEC Library Gallery. If you are researcher interested in a limited number of specific objects or object types that are currently in storage, it may be possible to arrange to view them. Please direct your inquiry to museum@UkrHEC.org.
Do you have items or collections that you are interested in donating? Please contact us first! Here is some additional information for donors.
Archives
The UHEC archives holds hundreds of collections documenting the cultural, religious, and political history of Ukraine and Ukrainians in the United States. It also has one of the largest collections of Ukrainian recorded sound and radio programming in the world, including over 1,500 cassette and open reel tapes (many of which are likely one-of-a-kind), over 2,200 shellac discs, and over 2,000 vinyl LP records. The UHEC has been actively digitizing its endangered open reel and cassette recordings since 2014, and some of those recordings are available online.
Library
The UHEC has a library collection, which is currently maintained as part of the St. Sophia Seminary Library. Access to the library is free, and no appointment is necessary to use the collections.
The library catalog is available online. If you click on that link and get a login form, just enter "St Sophia Theological Library" as the "library name" (note there is no period after "St") and leave the password box blank. For more information, please contact the library at 732-356-0090 or at library@uocofusa.org. UHEC members have borrowing privileges of 4 weeks for most library materials. Non-circulating material (reference books, periodicals, rare books, and sheet music) must be used on-site.