From the Field Laboratory of Dreams: The Letters of Kateryna Hrushevska to British Anthropologist Charles Gabriel Seligman (From the Archives of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland)

This published work is based on the letters of Kateryna Hrushevska (1900–1943) to Charles Gabriel Seligman (1873–1940), preserved at the archives of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. The peculiarities of the methods of recording and studying dream interpretation in the early 20th century are considered. Ch. Seligman, as a representative of the «psychoanalytic avant-garde» (E. Linstrum), has taken part in the creation of a database of dream narratives, documenting them across various regions of the British Empire. He has been particularly interested in interpretations of dreams involving raw meat, climbing the mountain, flying, and the naked human body. K. Hrushevska has decided to acquaint Ch. Seligman with Ukrainian field experience in dream interpretation, in particular with the ethnographic records of Vasyl Kravchenko (1862–1945) and Liudmyla Shevchenko (1895–1969), collected mainly in the Volhynian Governorate. In her letters to Ch. Seligman, K. Hrushevska has drawn attention to the specific features of Ukrainian ritual practice (such as the celebration of Christmas and Easter) and the impact of prophetic dreams on community life. Scientific novelty. The letters from K. Hrushevska to Ch. Seligman, sent to London in 1925, are published here for the first time. Conclusions. It has been established that, thanks to the field notes sent by K. Hrushevska, Ch. Seligman incorporated Ukrainian dream narratives into academic circulation. They have formed a part of the foundation for his comparative studies, particularly the work “The Unconscious in Relation to Anthropology” (1928).