History of the Scientific Archive
The main collection of manuscripts of field reports and scientific works on archaeological research in Ukraine is the Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which has its beginning in 1919, but also covers documents from an earlier period. In particular, the collection of the Archive includes the Fond of the Museum of Antiquities at St. Volodymyr’s University in Kyiv (1826-1925), the Fond of the All-Ukrainian Archaeological Committee (1918-1932), documents on archaeological research of the transition period: VUAK-SIMK (1933-1934), VUAK-IIMK (1934–1937), as well as the Pre-war fond of the Institute of Archaeology (1938–1940). The vast majority of these materials has not been published, and due to serious historical cataclysms in Ukraine in 1917-1945, much of the archaeological collections from the excavations of this period were lost or deported, so the materials of the Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archeology of NAS of Ukraine often remain the only available source.
The Fond of expeditions covers the period of 1945-2021. It is the largest fond of the archive, which contains scientific reports on excavations and explorations of archaeological sites in Ukraine.
The Fond of scientific works includes manuscripts of monographs, articles, planned topics, reports, etc. The Archive also preserves manuscripts of dissertations defended within the walls of the Institute of Archaeology.
The personal fonds of the Archive consist of manuscripts and drafts, correspondence of prominent archaeologists of Ukraine (Khvedir Vovk, Vikenty Khvoyka, Danylo Shcherbakivsky, Serhiy Hamchenko, Viktor Petrov-Domontovych and others). In total, the Archive keeps 73 fonds on paper.
Special fond – Negateka, which includes negatives (on glass and film) to scientific reports for 1945-2008; negatives on glass plates from archaeological research of the 1920s and 1930s; negatives on glass plates and photographic films from several personal fonds of archaeologists for 1897-1992. Negateka contains about 50 thousand items of storage, including 13944 units – negatives on glass plates.