In the Donetsk Region, a review is being conducted of the first year of a large-scale, region-wide initiative – the local history project «Donetsk Region on the Map of Time». The project, coordinated by the regional children’s library in close collaboration with the local community, aims to create a single digital resource that brings together the multifaceted history, cultural heritage and unique character of the local communities in Donetsk Oblast.
Over the course of a year of active work, the project has evolved into a powerful unifying platform. The region’s communities themselves have actively participated in the collection, systematisation and verification of information about their home towns and villages. A key factor in the initiative’s success has been extensive inter-agency and cross-sectoral cooperation: specialists from libraries and museums, local history researchers, representatives of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Regional State Administration, educational institutions, civil society organisations and concerned local residents have joined forces to preserve historical memory.
A key achievement of the first phase was the creation of the «Communities» section, which serves as a digital mosaic of the region. The page features interactive profiles of 46 territorial communities in Donetsk Oblast that were developing in the territory under Ukrainian control prior to the full-scale invasion.
We invite everyone interested in the history of their native region to visit the «Communities» section on the «Donetsk Region on the Map of Time2 platform https://surl.li/mgzbet and explore in detail the historical timeline of every corner of our region:
• Historical roots: from the founding of Cossack winter camps and the first steppe farmsteads to the industrial boom and the formation of modern local self-government;
• Local identity: authentic legends, cultural codes and unique facts that shape the character of each settlement;
• The face of the region: the life stories of outstanding figures from the past and the exploits of modern-day heroes who held the civil, voluntary and cultural fronts;
• The energy of change: stories of successful community initiatives that have transformed the lives of residents at the turn of the eras.
A logical next step following the creation of general profiles is to move towards more detailed and thematic content on the platform. At present, specialists from the regional children’s library are actively working on the «Literary Local History» section. Valerii Romanenko, a leading expert, head of the Donetsk Regional Organisation of the National Union of Local Historians of Ukraine and a member of the National Union of Writers of Ukraine, has been involved in providing methodological guidance and shaping this area.
The «Donetsk Region on the Map of Time2 project is open to collaboration. If you have any materials relating to the history of settlements in the Donetsk Region – such as memoirs, archival documents, old photographs, publications, family histories or other local history information – you are welcome to share them for further processing and preservation. Materials can be sent to the Methodology Department of the Donetsk Regional Children’s Library at the following email address: [email protected].
Each piece of material is part of our shared history. By joining this project, we are helping to preserve the memory of the towns and villages, the people, the events and the cultural traditions that shape the unique character of the Donetsk region.
We invite you to explore «Donetsk Region on the Map of Time», share your own materials and, together, fill the digital space with stories of our region.