7.10.2026, 12:00 / Central Square
The twenty-volume “Ukrainian Language Dictionary” defines a town as a group of residential or commercial buildings, organized by purpose, and the area between them. Historians usually refer to the year in which a settlement was granted Magdeburg rights, search for documents on the construction of notable industrial sites, and examine the figures of its founders. Writers, on the other hand, attempt to capture the characterful atmosphere of a small town, often romanticizing its everyday life. But how do its residents experience it?
During this facilitated discussion, we will focus on two roles — that of the researcher-resident and the resident-researcher. Drawing on our personal experiences, will try to reflect together on what a small town actually is. What defines its rhythms and characters? What comes to mind first when we talk about the events and people there? What are our favorite places, and what are our daily routes like?
To an outside observer, Volochysk is known for the Zbruch River—along which ran the border between the Romanov and Habsburg empires, and later between Poland and the Ukrainian SSR—as well as for the bridge spanning it, the main street and its stone townhouses, the train station, and the Volochysk Post and Telegraph Office building. For centuries, townspeople of various nationalities and faiths lived, worked, quarreled, reconciled, and married here. Some of its figures are better known, such as Frederick-Joseph Moshinsky, Erast Andriyevsky, and Kateryna Zaritska; their biographies have been written, and separate Wikipedia pages have been created for them.
Yet the history of the town would be incomplete without the stories of ordinary people — those who have enriched Volochysk with their experiences. Their archives often lie on bookshelves or among sets of fine pottery in a buffet. Tapes, letters, postcards and printed photographs tell stories and add nuance to the well-known narratives. They transcend the years, transporting us to memories dating back decades or even centuries. However, their physical form is not so long-lasting. Digitization is one way to preserve these unique materials, while the recorded oral accounts become sources that fill important gaps.
The event is both an invitation to share personal stories from your credenzas and an offer to digitize your private archives for free: photographs taken in the town square or near a department store, at work at a school, hospital, or factory; footage of family events, vacations, and town celebrations captured on 8-mm or 16-mm film. This is an opportunity to preserve the recent past and share your own stories. This is an opportunity to preserve the recent past and share your own stories.
Organizers: Center for Urban History, Volochysk Museum with the support of the Khmelnytskyi Regional State Administration.
PROGRAM
12:00 — Residents, Routes, Recollections: Conversations about Volochysk
12:00–16:30 — Workshop on digitizing family photographs, slides and recording oral histories
The event will take place as part of the exhibition and accompanying public program “From Place to Place: Stories from Scattered Archives,” which is part of the “REHERIT 2.0: Common Responsibility for Shared Heritage” project. The “REHERIT 2.0” project is implemented by the Center for Urban History and the Center for Regional Development of the PPV Economic Development Agency with financial support from the European Union.
