Abstract
The purpose of the study is – based on a thorough study of issues of official printed periodicals of the universities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa for the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, to identify articles related to Ukrainian history, language and culture; to find out the frequency of such publications and to what extent their content was consistent with the then-current policy of the imperial authorities, to show, based on the frequency of the presence of Ukrainian topics on the pages of “University News” and “Notes” of the universities of Kharkiv and Odessa, the existence of an anti-Ukrainian policy of the Russian authorities. The research methodology is based on a complex of general scientific and special historical methods. Among them, the key role was played by the methods of analysis, induction and deduction, as well as problem-chronological, historical-psychological, and comparative-historical. The scientific novelty lies in the introduction into scientific circulation of materials on the Ukrainian language, history, and culture that were published on the pages of the “University Bulletins” and “Notes” of the universities of Kharkiv and Odessa of the specified period, which were ignored by researchers. At the same time, attention is drawn to the diverse thematic potential of these types of sources. Conclusions. The analyzed materials confirm the dominance of anti-Ukrainian orientation in the politics of the Russian Empire. At the same time, it was established that despite the official status of the studied periodicals, they sometimes contained materials on Ukrainian topics that were written in a spirit that did not correspond to the imperial policy towards Ukraine. Therefore, they testify to the corresponding position on the Ukrainian issue of their authors, which enriches the study of these personalities. At the same time, it is proved that despite the thesis postulated in historiography about the special role of the University of St. Volodymyr in the Russification policy of the empire, it was on the pages of its periodical that the largest number of publications on Ukrainian topics were placed. Also, the very fact of the appearance of articles useful for studying Ukraine in official printed publications indicates the existence of loopholes in the cumbersome imperial bureaucratic machine, and therefore indicates the effectiveness of the mobile approach to combating it. After all, if the Ukrainian movement was able to survive in the absence of Ukrainian statehood and imperial oppression, then the approach of constantly modifying the methods of fighting the new imperial system is all the more successful now that Ukraine has restored its statehood. This conclusion applies to all spheres of life and is also valuable during Ukraine’s current war for its right to a free life. The attention of historians is also drawn to the main blocks of sources on which this study is based, as a valuable basis for research of various kinds in the field of historical science.