To Academician V. Vernadsky’s Iconography (a Story of the Search for a Photo Portrait Made by V. Sovinsky)

Two rediscovered letters to Volodymyr Vernadsky from Kyiv zoologist and entomologist Vadym Sovynsky, who worked with the fi rst president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences among other places at the Dnipro (Starosillya) Biological Station in 1928, where he took a photo portrait of the academician, have been analyzed. An additional research into Volodymyr Vernadsky's correspondence with his daughter Nina Vernadska-Toll and his son George Vernadsky made it possible to track down the original photo in New York and establish the date and place it was taken. The purpose of the research was to fi nd a photo portrait of Vernadsky made by Sovynsky based on the information obtained from the letters, which would be a worthy addition to the academician's photo archive. The methodology includes general methods of historical research and, fi rst of all, source analysis and archival heuristics, as well as textual attribution of the correspondence. The scientifi c novelty. The researchers were not aware of the correspondence between V. Sovynsky and V. Vernadsky, the Kyiv zoologist's letters in the academician's archives were unattributed. It was also unknown which photo portrait of the academician was taken by Sovynsky. Conclusions. The conducted research made it possible to introduce the letters of V. Sovynsky to V. Vernadsky into scientifi c circulation, as well as to fi nd in the Archives of Georgy Vernadsky in the U.S. the original photo portrait of the academician taken by Sovynsky in Starosillya in 1928. Although, as it turned out, the photo was used by researchers earlier, but its author and date were unknown. The research made it possible to expand knowledge about V. Vernadsky's connections with Ukraine, attribute authorship and establish the exact date and place of making the «Ukrainian photographic portrait» of one of the founders and the fi rst president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.