From the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century to the new millennia, print media has been the dominant form of communication. Humankind was able to distribute text and images that could stir the community into a state of national awareness and societal identity (Anderson Chapter 3). Books, newspapers, pamphlets, cards, and comics were vessels of folk expressions and cultural memories that could be shared among friends, family, and the general public. Throughout that evolutionary period, comics came to be associated with critical reviews and comic relief.

Comics, as we know them now, were preceded in England with the 18^th century ‘readable images’ of William Hogarth, followed in the 1820s by the grandfather of comics and semiotics works of the Swiss schoolmaster, Rodolphe Töpffer – (McCloud 149). Since those early years, there has been an evolutionary process of humorous illustrations, caricatures, and pictorial narratives that evolved into the now familiar comic strip format of sequenced frames and dialogue bubbles on paper. The multimedia format of text integrated with imagery resonated with readers. Subsequently, popularity spread, the market grew, and production responded to meet demand.

As an established craft in Britain and Europe, comics were introduced to North America with the waves of immigration in the late 1800s (Gravett 22-50). Richard Outcault (Hogan’s Alley 1896), Frederick Burr Opper (Happy Hooligan 1900), and Winsor McCay (Little Nemo, 1905) ushered in the era of the comic strip in the United States (Gardner 242). With the success of the medium, numerous other comic strips rapidly emerged. Bud Fisher’s A. Mutt (later Mutt and Jeff) (1907), George Herriman’s The Family Upstairs (1910), Gasoline Alley (1918–), and Little Orphan Annie (1924–2010) offered serialized strips about ordinary people who spoke in a vernacular and shared similar experiences to working-class Americans.

Canadian comics evolved similarly, taking inspiration from varying sources. Scholars typically identify Canadian comics by two geographic/cultural areas of origin. Publications from France and Belgium historically influenced those created in Quebec, and comics created in the rest of Canada, of which the greater percentage were in the English language and more often took inspiration from the UK and the United States. The comics of Québec often referred to as “BDQ” (bande dessinée québécoise), first appeared on the pages of humour periodicals in the 1800s. In the late 19th Century, Henri Julien published two books of political caricatures, L’album drolatique du journal Le Farceur, after which the number of cartoonists began to increase in newspapers in Québec City and Montreal. The first French-language comic to feature speech balloons was the 1904 publication of Les Aventures de Timothée [The Adventures of Timothée] by Albéric Bourgeois. Joseph Charlebois’s popular comic-strip adaptation of Le Père Ladébauche (Father Debauchery) also debuted in 1904 in La Presse. Raoul Barré had the first comic strip to appear in a Québec daily newspaper in 1902, called Pour un dîner de Noël [For a Christmas Dinner”]. In 1912, he also created a strip called Noahzark Hotel for the New York-based McClure Syndicate, which was translated to French for La Patrie the following year. In Quebec, at least seventy French-language humour periodicals appeared and disappeared in the second half of the nineteenth century (Gailliet 2009, 461).

During the same era, Canadian comics in languages other than French flourished out of three major centres – Nova Scotia, Toronto, and Winnipeg. Some of the earliest were those by John Wilson Bengough that appeared in the Puck-inspired humour magazine Grip (1873–1892) and those by Jimmy Frise (Birdseye Central) out of Toronto. In addition, Hal Foster created and distributed Prince Valiant and Tarzan out of Halifax, NS, Nova Scotia-born J. R. Williams created Out of Our Way, and Benjamin Batsford (Unk and Billy) was from Winnipeg (Gabilliet 2009, 462).

Unfortunately, very little information documents the inception of comic books, specifically those with Canadian content, beyond French-speaking and English-speaking ethnic groups. However, many examples indicate that since the mid-1800s, the press in Eastern Europe, including Austria, Poland, and Western Ukraine, incorporated illustrated cartoons into their periodicals. The genre was subsequently imported into North America with the wave of immigrants that arrived at the turn of the century (Sic Transit Pestilentia).

Between 1900 and 1913, Canada’s population exploded as thousands of immigrants flooded the country. Answering the Canadian government’s invitation to populate the West, new arrivals from Northern and Eastern Europe settled in areas around the major cities of Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg (Martynowych 1991, Chapter 2). These new settlers were the ‘others’1, and their so-called ‘ethnic newspapers’ were the cornerstones of immigrant communication. By publishing in the voices of the homelands, the multilingual press could assist newcomers effectively. Weekly papers and yearly almanacs maintained a link with the ‘old country and provided local news in their language and dialects. In addition, most early immigrants were ‘tillers of the soil’, and the periodicals served as a bridge between peasant roots and the unfamiliar urban environment (Balisch 1994, 8-11).

In the early 1900s, Winnipeg, Manitoba, was the epicentre of the Western Canadian newspaper industry and often referred to as ‘Chicago of the North”[1]. And in Chicago style, local newspaper production was in full swing. Between 1882 and 1920, McDermot Avenue was referred to as ‘Newspaper Row’ (Manitoba Historical Society). It was home to Winnipeg’s three major English newspapers: the Manitoba Free Press, the Winnipeg Evening Tribune, and the Winnipeg Telegram. One of the more well-recognized within Winnipeg’s mainstream media was cartoonists Benjamin ‘Ben’ Batsford. Although born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, his cartooning roots are unquestionably Canadian (Strippers Guide). As a small child of 8 years old, Batsford moved with his family to Winnipeg[2] in 1901, where he laid the foundation of his artistic success (D129). In 1908, he sold his first drawing at 15 to the Manitoba Free Press (D46). Several years later, in 1921, the Manitoba Free Press announced that Unk and Billy, a new comic strip by Batsford, would be appearing daily – the Free Press became the first Canadian daily to have a comic strip of its own. Not more than a year later, a New York syndicate picked up Unk and Billy, and Batsford became the first syndicated Canadian cartoonist in the United States (Schuddeboom 2018). Syndicated comics were also popularized by independent newspapers circulating in rural communities. In Manitoba, as early as 1912, smaller towns such as Brandon, MB[3] , also included comic strips in their local papers. Syndicated American comics such as SCOOP The Cub Reporter by Frank W. Hopkins (HOP)[4] appeared in the Brandon Weekly Sun (D8), and lesser-known cartoonists, such as G. Barnes[5], were regular features in the Brandon Daily News (D9).

At the turn of the century, the English language press dominated local media with daily publications in Winnipeg and the area. However, ethnic groups had also carved out a niche with their weeklies. Within walking distance of McDermot Avenue and ‘Newspaper Row’[6] you could find the following multilingual publishing houses (Bowling 1974):

• Heimskringla (Icelandic) est. 1874 (D42)

• Loegberg (Icelandic) est. 1888 (D45)

• Canada Tidningen (Swedish) – est. 1892 (D52)

• Der Nordwestern (German) – est. 1889 (D40)

• Канадійський фармер [Canadian Farmer] (Ukrainian) – est. 1903 (D6)

• Germania (German) – est. 1904 (D41)

• Український голос [Ukrainian Voice] (Ukrainian) – est. 1905 (D48)

• Gazeta Katolicka (Polish) – est. 1908 (D33)

• Yiddish Courier (Jewish) – est. 1910

• Canada Yid (Jewish) – est. 1910 (D147)

Each included humorous contributions in various genres, including short stories, jokes, and comics. Very few made it beyond their local ‘rag’. There were exceptions. Jacob Maydanyk had a strong representation in the Ukrainian diaspora, distributed across N. America, into S. America and Europe. Charles Thorson’s work made an even bigger impact. Born in 1890, he was from Winnipeg’s Icelandic community[7] (D126). (D126). He showed an early aptitude for drawing. In 1909, one of his first editorial cartoons appeared in Winnipeg’s Icelandic newspaper, Heimskringla (D42). Thorson contributed to the Heimskringla and the alternate Icelandic newspaper Loegberg (D45) until well into the 1940s. He also provided cartoons for the Eaton’s catalogue before moving to Chicago, then California. There he created the prototypes for the famous characters: Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd for Warner Brothers and Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs for Disney. In the 1920s, ‘Charlie’ Thorson was a Winnipeg celebrity and frequently socialized with other cartoonists in town at the Weevil Café[8] (D32). in west end Winnipeg (Walz Chapter 1) - quite possibly with his contemporaries, Maydanyk (D139) and Batsford (D129), who lived and worked in the area at the same time.

One of the earliest ethnic publishers in Canada was Frank Dojacek[9] – a native of Bohemia and “an astute businessman [who] recognized the power of demographics” (Martynowych 2011, 6). Located in Winnipeg’s North End (D30a; D30b; D31), he catered primarily to the rapidly growing Ukrainian community and German, Polish, Croatian, and other Central European audiences. In 1919, he became president of National Publishers Ltd. (D131). The company published Канадійський фармер [Canadian Farmer] – Canada’s largest Ukrainian weekly at that time; Der Nordwestern [The Northwestern] – Canada’s oldest German language weekly; and the Hrvatski Glas [Croatian Voice] – a weekly in the Croatian language. Dojacek’s ethnic newspapers conformed to industry standards with front-page headlines, political pages, domestic news, and advertising. He also made a point of including editorial cartoons and comic strips.

As pointed out by Derek Parker Royal, ‘Such art should not be taken lightly, for as history illustrates, the attitudes and prejudices of a culture can be greatly shaped by its caricatures, cartoons, and other forms of manipulated iconography’ (Aldama 2010, ix). Dojacek understood the power of visuals and how stereotypical caricatures and graphic narratives could relay the emotional and political atmosphere of the time. His support went beyond including their work in the newspapers. Dojacek is known to have promoted up-and-coming Winnipeg cartoonists by distributing their self-published books. The most well-known was Jacob Maydanyk, who brought attention to the Ukrainian minority living on society’s fringes, trying to adapt to a new set of societal norms rapidly. The most popular publication at the time was Maydanyk’s 84-page comic book Вуйкова книга: Річник Вуйка Штіфа в рисунках [Uncle’s Book: Uncle Steve’s illustrated yearly almanac] (1930a).

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN HUMOUR

Displacement presented many challenges for early 20^th-century Ukrainian immigrants. The interjection of humour and satire into daily life was a productive way of dealing with the trials and tribulations of resettlement. The most popular sources of comedic escapism were almanacs, also referred to as humour periodicals, dedicated to humour and satire. Comics, in particular, reflected familiarity and provided levity, thus helping new settlers deal with the many anxieties associated with integration into the community (Klymasz 182). In addition to offering a distraction from everyday concerns, comics, particularly those created by Jacob Maydanyk, were also didactic; they recorded the folklore of the time and served as fables or moral compasses that guided settlers through the social customs of their new environment (182-83). Popular titles that early settlers ordered from abroad were Жало [Zhalo/The Sting] (Lviv, c1914), Молот [Molot/The Hammer] (New York, 1924), Оса [Osa/The Wasp] (Chicago, c1931), and Реп’ях [Repiah/Burdock Root] (Paris c1930) (Farkavec 106-108).

Ukrainian Canadian comics are part of a print tradition that emerged with the arrival of immigrants to North America at the turn of the twentieth century. In Ukraine, the leadership role of the press emerged in the 1800s from an existing artisan movement active in the city of Lviv. Journalists, scholars, and politicians worked alongside printers and typesetters, ensuring that articles and images made it to the press, thus mobilizing the intelligentsia and village peasants (Himka 29). In addition, the formation of reading clubs, including “Prosvita” and the “Kachkovsky Society”, reinforced the role of the press in improving social standards and raising global social awareness (59-104), subsequently influencing mass migration to Canada, Australia, and South America.

It was natural to continue the strong tradition of the press as a means to establish communication networks in a new country. The first publications followed formats and carried content common to periodicals published in Ukraine; therefore, editorial cartoons were often included in the earliest Ukrainian language newspapers in Canada, such as Канадійський фармер [Canadian Farmer] – est. 1903, and Український голос [Ukrainian Voice] – est. 1910. In addition to jokes and funny stories, large one-page editorial-type cartoons and one and two-panel comics commonly appeared in Ukrainian Canadian almanacs and magazines. They chronicled comical misadventures of such apocryphal immigrant folk heroes as “Uncle Shtif Tabachniuk”, “Tymko Spylka, and Klym Telebukh (Klymasz 182). Over 40 Canadian titles were published annually over 50 years (Swyripa 1985). Most carried at least one or two pages of humour.

In 1913, Paul Krat published Кадило [Kadylo/The Censer] (Winnipeg 1913-1918) (D133); it was the first Ukrainian language periodical explicitly dedicated to humour and satire to be printed in Canada [1]. The 1915 issue of Ілустрований Калєндар Новин [The Illustrated News Almanac] (Edmonton) was the first Ukrainian Canadian publication to feature stories and faux letters authored under Jacob Maydanyk’s pen name “Uncle Shtif Tabachniuk”. Three years later, Канадийський Русин [The Canadian Rusyn] (D12) published a complete 208-page almanac of humour Калєндар Штіфа Табачнюка на рік 1918 [Steve Tabachniuk’s Almanac for the year 1918] (Winnipeg) which was written and illustrated by Jacob Maydanyk. It also included humorous illustrations submitted by lesser-known Ukrainian Canadian cartoonists, including Ivan Zelez and the brothers Myhalo and Oleksandr Darkovych. Other publishers followed suit with their collections of Ukrainian humour. Among the more popular titles were Веселий Друх [Veseli Druh/The Happy Friend] (Winnipeg 1921), Календар Козака Гарасима Чорнохліба [Kozak Harasym Chornobyl’s Almanac of Humour] (Winnipeg 1921), and Точило [Tochylo/The Grindstone] (Published by Stephan Doroshchuk, Winnipeg 1930-1947) (D57). Dmitrij Farkavec provides a general history and reviews the contents of each of them in his thesis (8-31).

With the help of Winnipeg publisher Frank Dojacek, Jacob Maydanyk published a total of six almanacs of humour, a comic book - Вуйкова книга (1930), and a collection of comics and stories (1958) that all featured Uncle] Shtif Tabachniuk. They became the most widely distributed turn-of-the-century comics in the Ukrainian diaspora – with readership in Canada, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, and Spain (Oseredok-Winnipeg; Prosvita Society – Buenos Aires).

1919JACOB MAYDANYK CARTOONIST

Jacob Maydanyk was drawn into the world of humour and satire as a young boy – well before he immigrated to Canada. During the reading sessions that his father hosted at their home in Svydova and through the Provita Society reading room located in the town nearby, he was introduced to comedic works, particularly those by poet and playwright Ivan Kotliarevsky (Lozowchuk). Maydanyk would have also been exposed to comics during his art training in Poland. The humorous Polish language periodical Szczutek[1] was a popular, regularly published collection of jokes, short stories, funny illustrations, and comics. Distribution extended to Poland, Austria, Ukraine, France, and Germany. Later, the Ruthenian Bookstore in Winnipeg for customers. Likely, Maydanyk was also aware of the comics and caricatures created by Oleksandr Karpenko in Kaluz, Western Ukraine, which mocked the renowned Ukrainian choreographer Vasyl Avramenko[2].

Maydanyk was also an avid reader of English newspapers (Kuchmij T2S4). Although not confirmed by Maydanyk himself, we can conclude by association that he was familiar with the comics that appeared in Canadian publications. From 1912 to 1914, while living in Brandon, MB, Maydanyk contributed editorial cartoons to The Brandon Weekly Sun and would have read SCOOP The Cub Reporter[3], a comic strip by Frank W. Hopkins (HOP) that appeared regularly during those years. Surely, comics printed in the Free Press (later Manitoba Free Press, then Winnipeg Free Press) and the Winnipeg Tribune would have caught Maydanyk’s attention as well.

EDITORIAL CARTOONS

There is no mention or material evidence of book illustrations or comics illustrated by Jacob Maydanyk before arriving in Canada in 1911. However, beginning in 1912, his artistic contribution to Canadian literature and his comics repertoire became significant. The first humorous illustrations by Maydanyk were for the English language press. They appeared when he was a Ruthenian Training School (RTS) student in Brandon, MB (1912-14). While attending the RTS, Maydanyk began to explore the meanings of assimilation and integration within a Canadian context. He first flexed his secular voice on the pages of the local press. He was encouraged by the school principal, James Thomas Cressey, to submit editorial cartoons to one of the local English-language newspapers, The Brandon Daily Sun (Cheladyn 2019b).

Maydanyk was asked to submit caricatures of Clifford Sifton and Provincial Minister of Education G. R. Coldwell (Ewanchuk 1981, 204). When talking to Ewanchuk, Maydanyk explained that The Brandon Daily Sun was backed by the “Conservatives”. Its goal was to grow readership (and voters) from within the Ukrainian Community. Maydanyk was encouraged to create editorial cartoons that thematically catered to the local ethnic population that had immigrated from Eastern Europe. In retrospect, the cartoons reflected homeland concerns – they were often dark and foreboding reminders of the turmoil brewing in Europe before WWI. Maydanyk further explained that in the lead-up to the Manitoba general election (July 10, 1914), Cressey directed him to submit editorial cartoons with Canadian political content, particularly comics that reflected the Conservative party in a good light. For a brief period, Maydanyk also contributed a few pieces to the competition – The Brandon Times – which the Liberal party backed.

Consequently, principal Cressy threatened to expel Maydanyk for contributing to the competition. The connection to the “Times” was quickly curtailed (Ewanchuk 1976, 00:14:20)[1]. Maydanyk complied because he did not want to lose his steady income. He was proud of the fees he was receiving for his cartoons. They ranged between $.50 and $1.00 each and were collected weekly (00:15:00). It was a far cry more than the $.05 per letter that his friends received as scribes or readers (00:10:36). Cartooning was financially profitable and positioned him favourably in the eyes of his peers and community leaders. In many cases, they were editors of Ukrainian-Canadian publications who often turned to Maydanyk to visualize the social commentary on their pages. Unfortunately, most of the original images from the Brandon newspapers no longer exist[2]; a preliminary sketch is a part of the collection in The Maydanyk Digital Archives – Illustrations.

UNCLE SHTIF WRITES HOME

Of all his published illustrations, Jacob Maydanyk is best known for his character Вуйко Штіф Табачнюк/Uncle Shtif Tabachniuk. The name translates as Uncle Steve Tobacco. In this document, he is referred to as “Uncle Shtif”. Images of Uncle Shtif were Maydanyk’s first published illustrations for the Ukrainian language press. Inspiration came while attending the RTS. They appeared in the almanac “Ілюстрований Калєндар Новин – 1915 [Illustrated Calendar Novyn – 1915]” published in Edmonton, AB. Uncle Shtif Tabachniuk was “a stereotypical male immigrant from the labouring class, who experienced life with honest intentions and spoke a macaronic, multilingual Ukrainian dialect” (Farkavec). Three pen and ink images illuminated a series of fictitious letters between Uncle Shtif in Canada, his wife Yavdokha and their children, who were waiting for him back in Ukraine. The submission is iconic in that it marks the first appearance of the character Uncle Shtif. Maydanyk’s section in the 1915 almanac Novyn was extremely popular and reprinted twice to keep up with the demand. Unfortunately, as was told to Michael Ewanchuk, Maydanyk was not impressed that he went uncredited and unpaid for contributing to that Ukrainian publication. As a result, he minimized his contributions to the Ukrainian press for a few years, supplementing his teacher’s pay by painting churches and submitting comics to the English language press (Ewanchuk 00:31:12).

IMPROV AND STAND-UP COMEDY

From 1915 to 1917, Maydanyk did not publish any new illustrations. World War I had broken out, Ukrainian language newspapers and periodicals were censored in Canada, and the inclusion of images was discouraged (Marynowych 1991, 330-3). Labelled an “enemy alien”, Maydanyk did not want to draw attention to himself for fear of being arrested.[1] However, due to four contributing factors, Uncle Shtif’s popularity grew. The first was the continued circulation of the issue of Novyn – 1915 (due to the popularity of Uncle Shtif, it went into reprint twice). Uncle Shtif’s popularity was also stoked in Ukrainian Bloc communities on the prairies by the staging of the play “Manigrula”. Also, Maydanyk continued to publish Tabachniuk stories without images, and stand-up comedy gigs, performed in Manitoba communities, were added to Maydanyk’s repertoire of social media of the time.

Live performances were advertised in Ukrainian Voice, and I happened upon a newspaper review of an “Evening of Humour” performed in March of 1918 in Oakburn, MB.[2] (D150). A stand-up comic was travelling the prairies impersonating Maydanyk’s Uncle Shtif Tabachniuk. He made a stop in Oakburn, regaled the audience with stories, and addressed the audience, preaching against alcohol abuse and sharing a message to correct bad habits through his humour. The previously printed Tabachniuk narratives/faux letters that had appeared in “Novyn – 1915”[3] were the inspiration. In an interview with Kuchmij, Maydanyk confirmed that he was the producer of the stand-up comic tour and summarized the experience as follows:

Jacob Maydanyk:

I was doing concerts about Tabachniuk - not a play. Yes, it was stand-up comedy on subjects such as prohibition. It couldn’t be me; it had to be Tabachniuk that would tell them about prohibition so that they would listen and follow the rules. So, we used comedy. We would advertise that Tabachniuk was coming. If we hadn’t said so, no one would have come. They were curious. No one could have guessed that he’d be so popular. It was in places close to Olha [MB]. There was one guy, a “diak” [church cantor], who looked like Tabachniuk. He was even a bit of a drunkard. He hung out with us, so he agreed to be Tabachniuk. And we advertised that the priest, Daramaretsky (sp?), was coming. The audience was anticipating an exciting argument.

The diak did well, I prepped him to play the role - of what to say about alcohol, and I coached the priest. The priest did well and dressed the role. Yavdokha (Tabachniuk’s wife) came, and they played an unscripted argument about drinking during the prohibition. She was worried about what would happen if her husband [Tabachniuk] was arrested for drinking. The women in the audience sided with Yavdokha. And, the men learned to honour their wives, not to argue, not to drink. So, it was better to listen to the dumb Tabachniuk. They didn’t want to listen to an intellect. You couldn’t call them to a lecture. It worked out well. We had to deal with people that came from afar. This enticed them. And everyone would come.

After that, the worst insult was to call someone a “Tabachniuk”. You could say “bloody pig”, etc., but “Tabachniuk” was the worst. No one wanted to be like Tabachniuk. So, the stand-up shtick did well. (Kuchmij, Tape 7 Side 14 – English transcript)

*Note: Photos of a rehearsal for one of the stand-up performances can be found in The Maydanyk Digital Archives - Kuchmij Photo Album.

ALMANACS (HUMOROUS PERIODICALS)

Although the war was still on, at some point in 1917, Frank Dojacek (publisher) offered to help Maydanyk print and distribute his first humorous periodical, Гумористичний калєндар Вуйка на рік 1918 [Uncle’s Humorous Almanac for the year 1918]. It was released in January of 1918 and was intended to become an annual serialized almanac of humour. The majority of the illustrations were Maydanyk’s own. Building on the familiar, he included one-frame editorial cartoons and comical illustrations that supported the text. The almanac included Maydanyk’s first comics[1] - nine stories with sequential illustrations (24-29; 42-47; 55-58; 74-77; 90-94; 117-118; 122; 125-126; 139-140). They were formatted as a series of square panels, each with a scene depicting the visual progression of the narrative. There were no dialogue bubbles. The text came from the lyrics of a folksong printed between the panels, a format reminiscent of nineteenth-century picture stories (McCloud 149). This inaugural issue appears to have been very popular as it was reprinted twice, each with a different colour cover and slightly varying dimensions.

Unfortunately, in November of 1918, on a business trip to Winnipeg, Jacob Maydanyk was arrested. The authorities identified him as an ‘enemy alien’ and intended to send him to one of the internment camps. Fortunately, while being processed at the Osborne barracks, an armistice was called, and everyone was released. The event shook him, and for several years he held back on creating new humorous and satirical illustrations, focusing instead on his religious artwork.

Over the next few years, as proprietor of Providence Church Goods (see Supported by his Faith in Appendix 2 – Who Was Jacob Maydanyk), Maydanyk began receiving letters asking about Uncle Shtif. In 1925, to appease his fans, Maydanyk turned again to humour. He resurrected Uncle Shtif and began publishing anew. Maydanyk edited and self-published seven almanacs of humour that averaged 150 pages each. Uncle Shtif Tabachniuk’s name was incorporated into each title, and the content featured Uncle Shtif and his Ukrainian Canadian community. Each of these publications was a collection of humorous short stories and jokes. They also included one- and two-frame comics that poked fun at immigrant life in Canada while satirizing the time’s political, social, and religious atmosphere (Farkavec 2).

In the almanacs, visualizations of Uncle Shtif were limited to single-panel illustrations or caricatures that accompanied a written tale of Tabachniuk’s capers. Comic strips were not part of Maydanyk’s repertoire until he published Uncle’s Book in 1930. Maydanyk did not write and illustrate the issues himself. Instead, it was a collaborative effort between him and other Ukrainian Canadian artists[2]. Also, although Maydanyk acknowledged in the interviews that he was the editor, it was never fully admitted in print. Instead, it was Uncle Shtif Tabachniuk who always received credit as being the ‘Editor’ of each almanac, and each editorial forward was even signed by “Вуйко Штіф” [Uncle Shtif]. Maydanyk only received credit for his specific stories and illustrations as they appeared. Notably, Maydanyk’s work is easy to identify in each publication because, contrary to the norm then, he tended to sign or initial the bulk of his work, including his religious paintings. Illustrations by other artists can be identified either by style or credited appearance of the same image in other publications[3].

To physically produce the almanacs, Maydanyk approached various printing houses based in North End Winnipeg. The Ukrainian Labour Temple (located at Pritchard and McKenzie), the “Ukrainian National Press”[4], and “Канадійський Фармер” [Kanadiys’ki Farmer/Canadian Farmer] were his ‘go-to’ printing houses. The church goods store handled the distribution. Some of the almanacs he financed himself; others were printed with the support of Winnipeg businessman Frank Dojacek[5], who owned Канадійський Фармер [Kanadiys’ki Farmer/Canadian Farmer]. Dojacek also owned and operated Ukrainian Booksellers and Publishers Ltd (est. 1905), a store and mail-order company that catered primarily to the rapidly growing Ukrainian community but also targeted German, Polish and other Central European immigrants (Martynowych Essay 7). Dojacek understood this power of visuals and how stereotypical caricatures and graphic narratives could relay the emotional and political atmosphere of the time. His support for Winnipeg cartoonists went beyond including their work in his newspapers. Dojacek also promoted many up-and-coming illustrators, including Maydanyk, by printing and distributing their self-published books (Library and Archives Canada – Dojacek Fonds).

The Uncle Shtif publications edited by Jacob Maydanyk:

Maydanyk, Jacob, ed. 1918. Штіф Табачнюк [Steve Tabachniuk]. Winnipeg: ‘Vuiko’.

Maydanyk, Jacob, ed. 1925. Гумористичний калєндар Вуйка на рік 1925. [Uncle’s Humorous Almanac for the year 1925]. Winnipeg: ‘Vuiko’.

Maydanyk, Jacob, ed. 1928. Гумористичний калєндар Вуйка на рік 1928 [Uncle’s Humorous Almanac for the year 1928]. Winnipeg: ‘Vuiko’.

Maydanyk, Jacob, ed. 1929. Гумористичний калєндар Вуйка на рік 1929 [Uncle’s Humorous Almanac for the year 1929]. Winnipeg: ‘Vuiko’.

Maydanyk, Jacob, ed. 1930b. Гумористичний калєндар Вуйка на рік 1930 [Uncle’s Humorous Almanac for the year 1930]. Winnipeg: ‘Vuiko’.

Maydanyk, Jacob, ed. 1931. Гумористичний калєндар Вуйка на рік 1931 [Uncle’s Humorous Almanac for the year 1931]. Winnipeg: ‘Vuiko’.

From the letters and notes left to Oseredok, we know that in the mid-to-late 1920s, the Uncle Shtif Tabachniuk almanacs became popular among Ukrainian immigrants living beyond Canadian borders. As a result, Oseredok’s Maydanyk Collection includes numerous orders from the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, the United States, Argentina[6] , Brazil, and Spain[7]. Maydanyk originally planned to capitalize on the popularity and publish an “Uncle” almanac every year (Farkavec, 21). However, distracted by Providence Church Goods, his intentions to publish a yearly almanac did not fully materialize. Instead, he turned to other print media – specifically newspapers, to fill the gaps between book publications.