Archival documents on Yanka Kupala’s life and work

Honors

Participants in the celebration of the 15th anniversary of Kupala’s literary work. Minsk. 24 June 1920. (BGAMLI, fond 403, inv. 1, file 81, folio 1)
Resolution by the Belarusian State Publishers on publication of Kupala’s selected works in Belarusian, edited and prefaced by the public figure and statesman, Z. Zhylunovich (writer Ts. Gartny). 25 January 1921. Copy. Russian. (NARB, fond 6, inv. 1, file 33, folio 1-1rev)
Excerpt from the session minutes of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic on awarding Kupala the title of the People’s Poet of Belarus and granting him a lifelong pension. 10 June 1925. Typescript. Russian. (NARB, fond 7, inv. 1, file 153, folio 10)
Invitation card to the Belarusian artist, Ya. Drazdovich, for the Grand Party in Vilnius celebrating the 25th anniversary of Kupala’s literary work. 27 September 1930. Print. (BGAMLI, fond 3, inv. 1, file 221, folio 1)
Programme of an academic celebration arranged by the Belarusian community in Vilnius to mark the 50th anniversary of the birth of Kupala and Kolas. 27 November 1932. Print. (BGAMLI, fond 3, inv. 1, file 221, folio 10)
Minutes of session of the Belarusian Union of Soviet Writers concerning the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Kupala’s literary work. 11 November 1935. Typescript. (NARB, fond 265, inv. 1, file 4309, folio 11)
Mikhail Kalinin, Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, is presenting an Order of Lenin to the People’s Poet of Belarus, Yanka Kupala. Moscow. 1939. (BGAKFFD, 0-134372)
Belarusian writers and cultural figures beside the urn with Kupala’s ashes. Moscow. 1 July 1942. (BGAKFFD, 0-112251)
Draft design for Kupala monument in Minsk. Drawing. Design competition proposal (not realized). Architecht G. Zaborski. 1942. (BGANTD, fond 113, inv. 1, file 2)
Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic on the necessity of preserving speeches and literary materials created by the People’s Poet of Belarus, Ya. Kupala. 3 August 1942. Typescript on official letterhead. Russian. (NARB, fond 7, inv. 3, file 2, folio 200)
Letter from U. Lutsevich, Kupala’s wife, to the Commission for commemoration of the People’s Poet of Belarus Ya. Kupala with proposals on the commission’s work. 26 May 1943. Typescript. (NARB, fond 7, inv. 3, file 1479, folio 5-8)
Report on the work of the Commission for commemoration of the People’s Poet of Belarus Ya. Kupala. 26 May – 10 December 1943. Typescript by U. Lutsevich. (NARB, fond 7, inv. 3, file 1477, folio 47-48)
Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic appointing U. Lutsevich, Kupala’s wife, a director of the Kupala Museum at the Belarusian Academy of Sciences. 1 July 1944. Typescript on official letterhead. Russian. (NARB, fond 7, inv. 3, file 28, folio 21)
Edict of the Supreme Council Presidium of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic on attaching Kupala’s name to the First Belarusian State Drama Theatre (with the results of voting by the presidium members). Typescript on official letterhead. 21 December 1944. (NARB, fond 968, inv. 1, file 17, folio 163)
Resolution by the Council of People’s Commissars of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Central Committee of the Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) of Belarus on commemorating the People’s Poet of Belarus, Ya. Kupala. 4 August 1945. Russian. (NARB, fond 7, inv. 4, file 2876, folio 39-40)
Draft design for the Kupala museum in Minsk. Drawing. Design competition proposal (not realized). Architect I. Valadzko. 1947. (BGANTD, fond 105, inv. 1, file 45)
Draft designs for the Kupala musem in Minsk. Design competition proposals (not realized). Architect А. Voinau. 1947. (BGANTD, fond 221, inv. 1, file 2)
Scene from the production of Kupala’s “Paulinka” at the Kupala Belarusian State Theatre (with R. Kashelnikova, Honored Actress of the BSSR, as Paulinka and B. Platonov, People’s Actor of the USSR, as a landlord). Minsk. 1947. (BGAKFFD, 1-1582)
S. Pritytski, First Secretary of the Minsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, at the ceremony of unveiling the monument to the People’s Poet of Belarus, Yanka Kupala, in the village of Viazynka. Molodechno district, Minsk region. 1948. (BGAKFFD, 0-111890)
Design for Kupala monument in Minsk (in 1972, the monument was removed from the park at Central Square in Minsk to the village of Viazynka, Molodechno district, Minsk region). Architect І. Rudenka, sculptor Z. Azgur. 1949. (BGANTD, fond 51, inv. 1, file 307)
Letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus from the Minister for Culture of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic about the necessity to install the Kupala monument in Minsk. 24 November 1954. Copy. Typescript. Russian. (NARB, fond 974, inv. 1, file 45, folio 205, 207)
Resolution by the Council of Ministers of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic on holding an all-union open competition to design monumens to Kupala and Kolas. 18 December 1957. Typescript on official letterhead. Russian. (NARB, fond 7, inv. 4, file 700, folio 136-137)
Resolution by the Council of Ministers of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic on establishing the literary prizes in honor of Kupala and Kolas. 10 February 1959. Typescript on official letterhead. Russian. (NARB, fond 7, inv. 4, file 872, folio 5)
Design for the Kupala Literary Museum in the village of Liauki, Orsha district (formerly the poet’s country house). Measurements, facades, plans. [1970] (BGANTD, fond 91, inv. 1, file 514)
Design for the Kupala Memorial Reserve in the village of Viazynka, Molodechno district, Minsk region. Architect S. Musinski. 1972. (BGANTD, fond 122, inv. 1, file 163)
Unveiling of Kupala monument in Kupala Park. Minsk. 30 June 1972. (BGAKFFD, 0-100009)
House in which Kupala was born. The village of Viazynka, Molodechno district, Minsk region. July 1972. (BGAKFFD, 0-105021)
Sculptors A. Anikeichyk, L. Gumileuski, and A. Zaspitski and the architect L. Levin during work on the statue of the People’s Poet of Belarus Ya. Kupala. 17 January 1972. (BGAKFFD, 0-100280)
Bust of Kupala in Arrow Park. New York. 1973. Sculptor A. Anikeichyk, architect S. Batkouski. (BGAKFFD, 0-100257)
Statue of Kupala at the Kupala Literary Museum “Akopy”. The village of Akopy, Logoisk district, Minsk region. October 1997. (BGAKFFD, 0-156773)
Kupala National Academic Theatre. Minsk. 2007. (BGAKFFD, Е 000501)
Kupala State Literary Museum. Minsk. 2007. (BGAKFFD, Е 000502)
Statue of Kupala in Kupala Park. Minsk. 2007. (BGAKFFD, Е 000503)
Detail from the architectural composition based on Kupala’s works in Kupala Park. Minsk. 2007. (BGAKFFD, Е 000504)
Kupala’s tomb at the Military Cemetery. Minsk. 2007. (BGAKFFD, Е 000505)

Abbreviations:

NARB National Archives of the Republic of Belarus
BGAKFFD Belarusian State Archives of Films, Photographs and Sound Recordings
BGAMLI Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art
BGANTD Belarusian State Archives of Scientific and Technical Documentation