«Autobiography» of Fedir Shymchenko as a Source for Researching a Life Path (According to the Documents of Personal Archival Fond of the Institute of Manuscripts at the V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine)

The aim of the work. On the basis of archival sources, fi rst of all «Autobiography», from the personal fond of Institute of Manuskripts of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (VNLU) (F. 385, C. 11) is to carry out reconstruction of a way of life of Fedir Shymchenko (1922–1989) who worked for 40 years (1947–1987) in the Library of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (now – VNLU). He began his career as a librarian, in the result of the accumulation and enrichment of professional experience, professional growth, training F. Shymchenko was approved as fi rst deputy director of the scientifi c organization of library and bibliographic services, and later as an acting director of the Central Scientifi c Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The methodology is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, as well as on general historical methods – chronological, retrospective, problem-thematic. Particular attention was paid to the biographical method, which managed to reproduce the picture of a person's life in a particular microsocial environment. The scientifi c novelty of the study lies in the reproduction on the basis of archival sources of little-studied periods from the biography of F. Shymchenko and the presentation of a comprehensive study of life, including a detailed review of years of study in military aviation institutions. Conclusions. On the basis of primary sources from the personal archival fond, fi rst of all «Autobiography», a chronological sequence of F. Shymchenko's positions for the years of work in VNLU is built and documented. F. Shymchenko's personal contribution to the activity of the Library, its role in the development of the institution as the main all-Ukrainian book collection and the national complex library and information center are presented.