Robert Bohdan Klymasz (born May 14, 1936,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada) is a

Ukrainian-Canadian Ukrainian Canadians ( uk, Українські канадці, Україноканадці, translit=Ukrayins'ki kanadtsi, Ukrayinokanadtsi; french: Canadiens d'origine ukrainienne) are Canadian citizens of Ukrainian descent or Ukrainian-born pe ...

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

. He was a pioneer in the field and published widely in the English language. Educated at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

(Russian, 1957) under George Luckyj, the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Jaroslav Rudnyckyj Jaroslav Bohdan Antonovych Rudnyckyj ( uk, Яросла́в-Богда́н Рудни́цький, ; November 18, 1910 – October 19, 1995) was a Ukrainian Canadian linguist and lexicographer with a specialty in etymology and onomastics, folkl ...

, 1960),

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(1960–62), and

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

(PhD in Folklore Studies, 1971), he was a long-time Curator of the Slavic and East European Program at the

Canadian Museum of Civilization The Canadian Museum of History (french: Musée canadien de l’histoire) is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of C ...

, Ottawa. He has taught at several North American universities, served as executive director of the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre, Winnipeg (1976–78), and for several years an adjunct professor at the

Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies The Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies (CUCS) was founded in 1981, as a joint creation between the University of Manitoba and St. Andrew's College. The mission of the Centre is to create, preserve and communicate knowledge dealing with Ukrai ...

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and the USSR, specifically

western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...

, to expand his knowledge of Slavonic studies and do first hand work in the field. This was a relatively rare event for a Ukrainian Canadian scholar during the Cold War. During the early 1960s, Klymasz traversed the

Canadian prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

recording the folksongs and gathering other materials concerning the early pioneer Ukrainian immigration to Canada. These elderly immigrants and their descendants provided him with a wealth of material with which he was able to construct a portrait of Ukrainian-Canadian folk culture, especially rural culture, as it then existed. Most of these materials are today preserved in archives in

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

, and

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

and remain valuable resources for contemporary folklorists. Klymasz's major published works consist of studies in Slavic-Canadian

onomastics Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study. Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...

, and Ukrainian-Canadian folklore, including the groundbreaking ''Introduction to the Ukrainian-Canadian Immigrant Folksong Cycle'' (1970), ''The Ukrainian Winter Folksong Cycle in Canada'' (1970), and the comprehensive ''Ukrainian Folklore in Canada'' (1980). His other contributions to scholarship include studies of subjects as varied as

ethnic jokes An ethnic joke is a remark aiming at humor relating to an ethnic, racial or cultural group, often referring to an ethnic stereotype of the group in question for its punchline. Perceptions of ethnic jokes are ambivalent. Christie Davies gives ex ...

, Ukrainian-Canadian pictorial art and

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

s, stories, and various musical genres.

References

Robert Klymasz
in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada * Article in Ukrainian on "Klymash, Robert Bohdan," in Mykhailo Marunchak, ''Biohrafichnyi dovidnyk do istorii ukraintsiv Kanady'' (Winnipeg: Ukrainska Vilna Akademiia Nauk v Kanadi, 1986), p. 299. * Materials on his research trip to Czechoslovakia and Ukraine, based on his personal reminiscences, may be found in the article by Thomas M. Prymak on Oseredok, the Ukrainian Museum and Library in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: https://oseredok.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/A-VISIT-TO-THE-UKRAINIAN-MUSEUM-AND-LIBRARY.pdf

External links

* Archives of Robert Klymas
(Robert Bohdan Klymasz fonds, MG55/31-No41)
are held at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klymasz, Robert 1936 births Harvard University alumni Indiana University alumni Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Canadian folklorists Living people University of Toronto alumni University of Manitoba alumni Canadian folk-song collectors Folklorists of Canadian folklore Onomastics Ukrainianists Canadian curators Canadian Museum of History Corporation Ethnic studies in Canada Culture of the Canadian Prairies Rural culture in North America Ethnic jokes