Archival Sources and Information Resources of Biographical Researches on the History of Ukrainian Sports

The purpose of the article is to reveal the topic of archival sources and information resources of biographical researches on the history of Ukrainian sports. It is raised the issue of insuffi cient use of archival sources, in particular personnel documents of sports institutions. Emphasis is placed on the necessity to ensure the safety of documents of the sports branch at the present stage. There are also examples of useful electronic resources and meaningful professional publications about outstanding athletes. It is also paid attention to foreign experience of creation the sports archives and training specialists in this fi eld. The research methodology is based on general scientifi c methods of generalization, analysis and synthesis, system approach, comparative-historical and bibliographical research methods, which help to determine the range of sources of sports biography and compare them to each other. Scientifi c novelty. For the fi rst time the article raises issues related to the problems of using archival documents and media publications as a source base for biographical researches on the history of Ukrainian sports from the perspective of their informativeness and objectivity. Conclusions. Electronic resources and media are quite informative sources for studying the biographies of athletes. However, their subjectivity and emotionality often cause mistrust; therefore, the facts presented in such sources require careful verifi cation. That is why archival documents, offi cial profi le sites and professional publications are valuable. Prospects for further studies. The topic of implication of new types of sources to biographical researches of athletes has not been studied in the Ukrainian scientifi c space. There is limited amount of professional biographical researches on famous athletes, but most names may eventually disappear, so the systematization of information about them, its preservation and dissemination are extremely important tasks for researchers of the history of Ukrainian sports.