- Walter (Volodymyr) Klymkiw was born in Saranchuky, Ukraine in 1926. Emigrating to Canada in 1928, he and his parents settled in Winnipeg. In 1950 he earned a B.A. in English and History at the University of British Columbia. He returned a year later to Winnipeg, and received a teaching certificate from the University of Manitoba. In 1951 he began conducting the Ukrainian National Federation Choir (renamed the Olexander Koshetz Choir in 1967) of Winnipeg, under the guidance of Tetiana Koshetz and Pavlo Macenko. Upon receiving his teaching certificate, Klymkiw began his career as a history teacher in 1953 at Glenwood Junior High School. He continued to teach at several schools until his retirement in 1983. Retirement allowed Klymkiw to devote more time as choral director of the Olexander Koshetz Choir. During his nearly fifty years with the choir, Klymkiw and his choir toured throughout Canada, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Western Europe, and South America. Besides his choir, Klymkiw and his wife devoted much of their time to various community activities. The digitized material from the Klymkiw Family fonds consists of geneological information and photographs of family members and of certain Ukrainian national organizations.
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Archives & Special Collections
Archives & Special Collections is a department of the Libraries and is located in Room 330 on the third floor of the Elizabeth Dafoe Library. Since its establishment in 1978, the Archives' mission has been to acquire, catalogue and preserve university records and special research collections which further the educational aims of the University of Manitoba, and to promote and provide wide access to them. The Archives' wide-ranging collection mandate includes the acquisition of the records of the University of Manitoba, Canadian Prairie Literary Manuscripts, the Archives of the Agricultural Experience and rare books in the areas of western Canadiana, early Arctic exploration, early Native language syllabics, spiritualism, church history and philosophy, and agriculture among others.