Orest Levytsky


Orest Ivanovych Levytsky was a Ukrainian historian, ethnographer, and writer. He was a member of Kiev Hromada, an editor of Kievan Past, and a Russian language philologist.

Biography

Born near Poltava, in Mayachka village, into the family of a priest, Levytsky graduated from the Poltava Divinity School and Seminary in 1869. In 1869-1870 he worked as a private teacher in the village Vepryk. As the best student, Levytsky was referred to be studied at a theological academy but unexpectedly enrolled into the Law faculty of Kiev University. Later he transferred to the History and Philology faculty, from which he graduated in 1874. Led by Volodymyr Antonovych, in 1874 Levytsky defended his dissertation "Overview of the internal history of Little Russia in the second half of 17th century".
In 1874-1921 Levytsky was a secretary of the Provisional Commission in reviewing of old acts while teaching Russian language in the Fourth Kiev Gymnasium and geography in a music school. In 1879-87 he was a chief deputy of the Kiev Central Archive. He was one of the founders of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine where he worked as a secretary from 1918 to 1920 and head of the Department of Social and Economical Sciences.

Awards

Selected works