In the final years of the USSR, press freedom accelerated under Gorbachev’s “glasnost’” policy and culminated in the 1990 “USSR Law on the Press” which codified and legalized independent publishing of all kinds. In Slavic studies, much of the focus has been on the development of the independent press and press freedom generally in Russia, and specifically in Moscow. But Ukraine was the scene of no less a rich explosion of new publications, and East View is proud to help shine light on the fascinating story of the development of the Ukrainian free and independent press.

The origins of this collection date back to a major project at East View to preserve on microfilm this rare and comprehensive newspaper collection in cooperation with the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and the Ukrainian Book Chamber. The project was active through the early 2000s, hence the focus on the period 1989-2001. Not all title runs are complete, as the collection represented a best-effort collection program by the Book Chamber of local “informal” publications during the first tumultuous years of independent Ukraine. Even with the gaps, this collection is by far the most extensive of its kind in Ukraine, and a major resource for primary source research for the study of Ukraine’s modern history, politics and society during the first decade of its post-Soviet existence.

These materials have been endorsed by the GPA CRL Alliance Adivsory Committee. They align with the Phase 2 thematic area focus of community newspapers.