Seventy years of Lemko community history
LEMKO.org preserves digitized scans of 50 Calendars issued across the period 1921–1991. These volumes contain articles, community history, literature, photographs, organizational records, advertisements and first-person accounts that document Lemko life across generations.
The PDFs below are the original scans already preserved on LEMKO.org. This modern page does not replace or alter them; it simply gives the collection a clearer entrance.
Provenance & preservation
This collection has a documented custodial history. The physical Calendars were preserved by John Madzik of Ansonia, Connecticut, who was born in Bartne, Lemkovyna, Poland. Madzik carefully protected the volumes, including the use of paper covers, and gave the collection to Walter Maksimovich approximately twenty years ago.
Walter Maksimovich personally scanned these volumes and still retains the physical originals. No pages are missing from the digitized Calendars presented here. The original volumes are intended eventually to be placed with the Monastyryska Museum, while the complete digital scans remain available through LEMKO.org.
Madzik and Maksimovich also worked together in connection with publication of Madzik's manuscript dealing with a Lemko Wedding. A separate John Madzik archival feature is planned so that his contribution is documented beyond the provenance of this collection.
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
Researching the Calendars
The Calendars are primary sources, not merely a run of old annual publications. They can preserve contemporary articles, names, photographs, organizational records, advertisements, literature and first-person accounts. Subject pathways will be added only as individual volumes are examined; LEMKO.org will not pretend that all fifty volumes have already been fully indexed.
Citation principle: when a Calendar has printed page numbers, cite the number printed in the original volume. A PDF viewer's page count may differ because covers and preliminary pages are included in the scan.
Subject pathway: Stephen Shkimba
Follow the Calendar sources behind the story of the first Lemko commercial recordings in America: 1929 p. 50 · 1930 pp. 32–56 · 1931 pp. 128–129 · 1963 pp. 135–158 · 1970 p. 55.
Page-reference note: Shkymba references use the page numbers printed in the original Calendars; scanned-PDF viewer page counts may differ because covers and preliminary pages are included.
Stephen Shkimba — The Story of the First Lemko Record →
Shkimba primary-source guide →
Early Lemko Recordings →