Cultural Work of Lemkos on the American Continent in the Interwar Time (on the Materials of Rusyn Newspapers)

The purpose of the article is to find out the diversity of public service of Lemko emigrants in emigration centres in America. The task is to find out the information potential of the newspapers «Nash Lemko» and «Lemko» to reconstruct the cultural and educational life of American Lemkos in the interwar period and to reproduce the diversity of its forms and manifestations. The research methodology is based on the combination of scientific research principles (historicism and objectivity) and methods (philosophical, general scientific and special-historical), being usual for works on the historical science. Of particularly significance are the methods of source study analysis (at the stage of collection and critique of empirical material), as well as comparative and typological methods (at reconstructive and narrative stages). The scientific novelty of the article attempts to comprehensively reconstruct the cultural and educational work of Ruthenian emigrants on the American continent in the interwar period based on the newspapers «Nash Lemko» and «Lemko». As a result of the study, the article has proven that the Ruthenian community's cultural and educational work abroad was surprisingly diverse and active. This revelation is awe-inspiring considering that the Lemkos were mostly lower-middle-class people, as they worked mainly physically or as contractors. Despite this, in the centres of compact residence on the American continent (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Montreal, Winnipeg, Toronto), the Lemkos created an excellent variety of cultural practices – established museums, organized folk festivals, schools and educational institutions and published their periodicals and educational literature. This sacrificial work, conducted in the spirit of unity, became a significant and integral part of all foreign Ukrainians' cultural competitions in the twentieth century. It also saved Rusynism itself, as it protected it from dissolving in a multicultural world in the second half of the twentieth century when Lemkivshchyna was devastated by totalitarian regimes and its population had to scatter in many countries.