Braichenko-Petrenko Mykola

The library collection of Mykola Braichenko-Petrenko (1898–1989) represents the legacy of a Ukrainian family in the United States. Throughout his life, Braichenko-Petrenko believed that the “empire of evil” would eventually collapse and that Ukraine would be liberated from the yoke of slavery. He devoted his life to collecting Ukrainian books and periodicals and dreamed of donating his personal library to the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in independent Ukraine, where future generations would study the history of the Ukrainian diaspora.
His dream was ultimately fulfilled. Today, his collection is preserved in the Scientific Library of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and comprises 2,985 items representing 1,055 titles.
The collection is primarily composed of literary works by Ukrainian authors and Ukrainian periodicals published in Europe and the United States during the 1930s–1950s. These include children's magazines children's periodicals, including Lys (The Fox) and Lys Mykyta (Fox Mykyta); youth publications such as Smoloskyp (The Torch), Moloda Ukraina (Young Ukraine), Krylati (The Winged Ones), and Studentske Zhyttia (Student Life); art and cultural journals, including Arka (The Arch) and Vist (The Herald); and socio-political periodicals such as Shturm (Storm), Ridna Tserkva (Native Church), Dorohovkaz (Guidepost), Vilna Ukraina (Free Ukraine), and Suchasna Ukraina(Contemporary Ukraine), among others.
Mykola Braichenko-Petrenko was born on December 19, 1898 in the village of Novo-Oleksandrivka, Yelysavethrad County, Kherson Governorate (present-day Kirovohrad Region). During the Second World War, his wife died, and in 1943 he left his native village together with his two children, Tamara and Leonid, and moved westward. The family lived in Germany from 1944 to 1949 and emigrated to the United States in 1950, settling first in Wisconsin and later, from 1968, in Arizona. He passed away in 1989.

The collection is fully represented in the Electronic Catalogue.
Collection Profile.