The Department of Manuscripts and Textual Studies was founded in 1926, concurrently with the T.H. Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Many outstanding Ukrainian scholars have worked during the Soviet period and after independence in 1991, including Jeremiah Izenshtok, Agapy Shamray, Sergy Zubkov, Mykola Syvachenko, Fedir Pogrebennik, Mykhaylyna Kotsubynska, and others. Research in the department focuses on working with manuscripts that are kept in the institute’s repository. The Department of Manuscripts and Textual Studies collects manuscripts and archives of Ukrainian writers, catalogues them, and sometimes prepares these materials for publication. At the moment, the department has the biggest special collection of materials on Ukrainian literature. In 1999, the institute published a finding aid of its collections, and publishes annually a list of processed materials that updates the institute’s holdings. This institution has the status of a national heritage repository, and thus receives funds from the state to ensure its facilities are up to date.