Historical school of Mykhailo Hrushevsky in Lviv: formation, structure, personal contribution

Abstract

This article deals with the genesis and functioning of the Lviv Historical School of M. Hrushevsky. The plans to create a historical school of Ukrainian character at the University of Lviv were made by the initiators of the department of World History – specializing in with the history of the Western Europe – i.e.O. Barvinsky, V. Antonovych, and O. Koninsky, as well as by M. Hrushevsky. The school had a two-stage structure of formation and functioning: the historical seminar of the University of Lviv and the section for the history of philosophy of the Scientific Society of Shevchenko. It made it possible to gather creative young people on the first stage at the University of Lviv, and introduce them to the scientific work and to prepare and train the new employees on the second stage in the section for the history of philosophy of the Scientific Society of Shevchenko. The composition of the school were elaborated relying on the firstly determined criteria (taking part in the scientific seminar, the work in the sections and commissions of the Scientific Society Shevchenko, scholar maturity etc). It was determined that the Lviv school counted 20 young historians, among whom one was a woman. The Ukrainian Galician Center of Hrushevsky was characterized as a common school of the leadership type, whose didactic tasks were accompanied by the simultaneous creation of the new Ukrainian historical ideology. It was concluded that the Lviv Historical School was undoubtedly the most important humanistic phenomenon in the Ukrainian science, both in terms of effectiveness and the temporal range of influence. Its appearance marked the entry of Ukrainian science into a new level of professionalization.