"Kyiv Polytechnic" has already published materials about the short but extremely fruitful for the development of the Ukrainian language and, at the same time, tragic period of Soviet Ukrainization of the 1920s and early 1930s, and how it took place in KPI (see publications in #5 of 2016 and #27-28 of 2023). There is not much material evidence of that campaign-books, magazines, newspapers, etc.-remaining: some publications were once removed from libraries as "nationalist" and destroyed, some were burned by private library owners for reasons of personal safety (because their authors or translators were repressed), and some were lost during wars and all kinds of historical disasters. So each of the surviving documents is of great value. The University's Scientific and Technical Library also has such publications. This story is about them.
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The collections of the Scientific and Technical Library of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute have been formed over many decades. Depending on the historical period, this process was faster or slower. The literature that came to the library in different years can be an interesting subject for research. The specialists of the Department of Rare and Valuable Documents are engaged in this work, and facts unknown or unnoticed before are gradually revealed.
The library also has a certain amount of documents from the 20s and 30s of the twentieth century. Recently, work has begun on separating it into a separate collection. There are about 650 copies of such books, which is actually a small number, because during those two decades specially created state and departmental specialized publishing houses published quite a lot of technical literature in Ukrainian. In the 1920s, Ukrainian-language scientific and technical terminology was actively created, dictionaries, textbooks, and practical manuals were compiled and published, and scientific treatises by prominent scientists were translated into Ukrainian.
The oldest books of this period in the library were published in 1923-1924. They are a part of the Ukrainian Economic Academy in the Czech city of Poděbrady. The institution, founded in 1922 by Ukrainian immigrants, was a higher technical school with a four-year course of study and three faculties: agronomic and forestry, engineering, and economic and cooperative. The Academy operated until 1935. We have three publications: "Chemical Technology of Agricultural Products" by L. Frolov, 1923, "Analytical Chemistry: Qualitative Analysis" by S. Komaretsky, 1924, and "Strength of Metals: A Course for High Technical Schools" by S. Ryndyk, 1924.
Also dated 1924 is the book of the outstanding national mathematician and KPI teacher Mykhailo Kravchuk "On Square Forms and Linear Transformations", published by the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. This is the scientist's dissertation for a doctoral degree, which he defended on December 14, 1924.
In total, 76 Ukrainian-language publications by KPI professors and lecturers published during 1924-1939 have been found. To name a few: textbooks, also published in 1924, by Trokhym Usenko, head of the KPI Steam Boilers Department in 1928-1930, "Test of Steam Boilers" (Kyiv, 1924, with a dedication on the title page: "To the office of heat and power plants from the author 1/24") and "How to burn in steamers: a handbook" (Kyiv, Sugar Trust, 1924); the book of the outstanding scientist-chemist L.V. Pysarzhevsky "Introduction to Chemistry: on the basis of the structure of the atom and the electron-ion structure of molecules: a textbook for chemical and biological faculties and departments of universities" (Kharkiv, 1926, State Publishing House of Ukraine); a practical manual by KPI physics professor G.G. De Metz "Radioactivity and the Structure of Matter: A Guide for Teachers of Physics in Mass Schools" (Kyiv, 1931, State Technical Publishing House). And many other publications written in Ukrainian or translated into Ukrainian.
A separate part is made up of Ukrainian-language lithographed editions - 20 copies of 1923-1938, in the source data of which we often see various divisions of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute: the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Printing House, the Kyiv Research Department of Heat Engineering and the Kyiv Energy Bureau, the KPI Student Mutual Aid Fund, as well as the Mechanical Circle of the Kyiv Machine-Building Institute, the Energy Circle of the Kyiv Energy Institute, and the Kyiv Industrial Institute.
So, what exactly is the subject matter of the Ukrainian-language literature kept at KPI? The vast majority are textbooks and practical manuals, lecture courses, reference books, and manuals for using various equipment. There are also separate prints of journal articles, collections of scientific papers, monographs, translations from French, German, and English of scientific papers and textbooks.
It is interesting that the educational literature that came to the library during these years was intended not only for higher education, but also for secondary school, for the so-called "slave faculties," and for workers in specific industries. We remember that during the period of active Ukrainization (1920s and early 1930s), different segments of the population began to study: peasants and representatives of different layers of the city. And most of them did not have not only technical education, but no secondary education at all. Therefore, educational literature of various levels was in great demand. Here are some examples: O. Bilokurskyi "Ceramic Technology for Handicraft Schools and Training Workshops" (Kharkiv, 1928, State Publishing House of Ukraine); D.S. Katkov "Research and Use of Metalworking Machines: A Practical Textbook" (Kharkiv, 1929, State Publishing House of Ukraine); K.I. Debu "Blacksmithing: tools and basic methods of blacksmithing, necessary for the artisan; information on locksmithing" (Kharkiv, 1930, Gosvydav Ukrainy); I.F. Bohdanov "At the Machine-Building Plant" (series "Student's Work Library", Kharkiv, 1932, "Soviet School"); P.V. Kuchuhurenko "Wood Technology: A Manual for Technical Schools and Vocational Schools" (Kharkiv, 1933, Budvydav).
However, most of the textbooks were intended for higher technical institutions that trained specialists for various industries: builders, metallurgists, chemical engineers, electricians, machine builders, and many others. The authors of these publications include the names of well-known scientists: "Collection of Problems on the Resistance of Materials: A Manual for Industrial Universities" (translated from russian, 1929, Odesa, State Publishing House of Ukraine) by S.P. Tymoshenko, a world-renowned scientist, founder of the theory of strength of materials, theory of elasticity and vibrations, professor of KPI; "Elementary Course of Integration of Differential Equations" (1930, Kharkiv, State Publishing House of Ukraine) by Dmytro Matviyovych Sintsov (1867-1946), Doctor of Mathematics, Professor at Kharkiv University, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; Hydraulics: Textbook for Engineering and Land Reclamation Institutes (1933, Kyiv, State Agricultural Publishing House) by Heorhii Yosypovych Sukhomel (1888-1966), a hydraulics scientist, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, graduate and professor of the KPI. Of course, the collection also contains books by now forgotten authors that can become unique material for researchers of the national history of science and technology.
In 1935, the Department of Welding Production was established at the Institute. And it was during these years that more and more literature on welding appeared: "Electric welding with a voltaic beam" (Kharkiv, 1932, Tekhnizdat), by I.S. Dmitriev; "Electric welding" (Kharkiv, 1932, Tekhnizdat) by P. Schimpke and G. Horn; the work of Yevhen Oskarovych Paton "Bridge support parts of the welded type" (Kyiv, 1932, All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Electric Welding Committee); "Automatic machine for arc welding, principle of operation, structure and maintenance" (Kyiv, 1935, Institute of Electric Welding) by P. Bushtedt and others.
A significant number of publications were translations from foreign languages. In this way, the need for modern professional scientific and technical literature was met. The authors of the translations are domestic specialists and teachers of educational institutions. Sometimes translations from German and English were translated into Ukrainian. Here are a few examples of publications translated into Ukrainian: Alexander Smith, Laboratory Exercises for the Course of General Chemistry, translated from English by Stefan Zenkevych (Kharkiv, 1930, State Publishing House of Ukraine); Eberhard Zschimmer, Chemistry of Glassmaking, translated from German by Z. I. Perkal (Kharkiv, 1928, State Publishing House of Ukraine); W. Bedger, professor of chemical technology at the University of Michigan, "Chemical Technology of Inorganic Substances," translated from English by V.S. Finkelstein, professor of chemical technology at the Dnipro Chemical Technology Institute (Dnipro, 1931, DVOU Technical Publishing House).
The collection of Ukrainian-language books also includes popular science publications, which is understandable. The need to quickly and easily familiarize readers with the basics of various scientific disciplines or simply give them an idea of them was the impetus for the publication of such literature. For example: "In the Light of Atoms and Molecules" by W. Bragg, Nobel Prize winner in 1915, translated by A.V. Zhelikovsky (Kharkiv, 1932, ONTVU, Techno-theoretical Publishing House) or "The History of the Candle" by the famous physicist Michael Faraday (Odesa, 1932); "Interesting Chemistry: Attempts and Amusements in the Field of Chemistry" by V. Ryumin, translated from russian (Kharkiv, 1932).
We have mentioned only a few publications from a rather large volume of literature from the 20s and 30s of the last century. To tell the truth, even a simple review of bibliographic records is incredibly fascinating. Behind each line is the story of an individual and the entire country. It's even more interesting to leaf through the pages of such publications. Often there are owner's and donor's inscriptions, stamps and seals of various organizations that once owned the book. The paper of the publications, bindings, and covers can also tell us a lot about the distant 20s and 30s. For most of us, the experience of getting to know such literature adds bright colors to the stories that older people usually share with younger ones and that are kept in family chronicles...
The books are physically available in room 3.5 of the Denysenko Scientific and Technical Library and are presented in the electronic catalog - in the collection "Rare editions" - section "Collection of Ukrainian-language technical publications of the 1920s and 30s".