Wall Newspapers of the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology 1940s—1980s: Source Study Characteristics and Information Potential

Abstract

The aim is to introduce into academic circulation a recently discovered corpus of historical sources — wall newspapers from one of the most prominent centers of physical science in Ukraine and formerly a leading institution of nuclear and physical research — the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology (KhIPhT). It also seeks to provide a detailed source-study description of these materials.

The methodology is based on the source-study approach and guided by the principles of systematicity, historicism, and scholarly impartiality. This makes it possible to examine the KhIPhT wall newspapers as an integral complex of interrelated elements, to avoid one-sided or subjective interpretations, and to assess the sources critically concerning specific historical contexts. The research also employs methods of source criticism, classification, and content analysis.

The scientific novelty lies in revealing the information potential of untouched, authentic sources — wall newspapers from the KhIPhT dating from the late 1940s to the 1980s — within a new research paradigm. Special attention is paid to analytical critique of wall newspapers as a unique type of institutional memory documentation. The textual content of the wall newspapers is characterized by genre, and a classification of wall newspapers as a type of written historical source is proposed.

Conclusions. The paper emphasizes the relevance of KhIPhT wall newspapers for expanding the source base and enabling a more in-depth understanding of historical realities in Ukraine under Soviet rule, while also enriching historical knowledge with details of urban everyday life.