Page 220 - Ciancia, On Civilization's Edge

was Hoffman, perhaps more than any other Volhynian regionalist, who sought to both gain an

“authentic” record of Volhynian life and engage people in the processes of sharing knowledge with

one another. His intense interest in Volhynia as a historical unit stretched far beyond his work as a

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teacher. During the interwar years, he was involved in the development of the Volhynian museum,
headed the local committee for the statewide Polish biographical dictionary, and collected old Polish-

Ukrainian folk songs, awarding monetary prizes to people who recorded songs from their locality and

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sent them in. Hoffman also used his position as a local delegate for a state archeological
organization (the State Circle of Conservationists of Prehistoric Monuments; Państwowe Grono

Konserwatorów Zabytków Przedhistorycznych) in order to collect evidence of Volhynia’s ancient

history.

Hoffman’s personal files give us a sense of the enthusiasm and curiosity with which he

approached remote localities across the province. In September 1928, when he visited Horochów

county in order to carry out an archeological dig, he found himself intrigued by local legends about a

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site that was “surrounded by secrecy.” Peasants who lived in nearby settlements, he reported, did
not like to venture to the site of the dig, even during the daytime, meaning that the former landowner

had encountered serious difficulties when he tried to sell the land and that Hoffman himself struggled

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to find people who would help him carry out his excavation. The myths perpetuated by local
people, along with the fact that witchdoctors collected herbs from the area each May, led Hoffman to

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conclude that an ancient temple had once stood on the site. His fascination with seemingly

idiosyncratic localities was similarly underlined in his report on the village of Stadniki in Zdołbunów

38 Mędrzecki, Województwo wołyńskie, 151.
39 For more on the collection of Volhynian folk songs, see “Protokół z posiedzenia Komisji oceny wołyńskich pieśni
ludowych, odbytego w Równem w gmachu Kuratorjum Okręgu Szkolnego Łuckiego w dniu 8 marca 1935 r.,”
PISMA KOL 18/23a [no page numbers in file].
40 “Sprawozdanie z dokonanych wykopalisk na polach “Zamczyska” w powiecie horochowskim,” DARO
160/1/77/48.
41 Ibid., 48.
42 Ibid., 49-50.

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