Musical biographical studies of the Ukrainian Diaspora: scientific reflexion over the funds of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine

In recent years the domestic historical science has paid much attention to the study of the topic of the Ukrainian Diaspora, its artistic and scientific contribution to the national culture, which is addressed through the lens of the latest trends in the humanitarian discourse of Ukraine of the XXI century. The least-known and informatively developed page of the foreign history of ethnic Ukrainians is the musical biography science. Thus, the task of correcting the historical injustice in relation to the large community of Ukrainian musicians in emigration, who made a significant contribution to the treasury of domestic art, has long been on time. The research was carried out in the context of modern trends and tasks of historical science, aimed at the ideological awareness of foreign Ukrainians as an integral segment of the Ukrainian culture, and based on the source-foundational basis of the complex of printed publications presented in the funds of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, which allowed to perform a number of theoretical and practical tasks. An overview of the biographical editions of Ukraine dedicated to the reconstruction of the life of Diaspora musicians became the basis for creating a holistic view of genre varieties and thematic spectrum of the publications, periodization and geography of research, factual content of sources. As a result of the revision of the VNLU funds a list of sources was compiled, 47 biographical summaries were provided, and the names of renowned Diaspora musicians thanks to whom the Ukrainians took the spotlight in the world were presented. The history of formation and development of musical-biographical knowledge about our compatriots abroad is presented in conjunction with the mastery of this topic in the field of Ukrainian studies, archival studies, and musicology.