The first instalment of the Batchinsky Collection was acquired from Eug ne Batchinsky in Switzerland, in 1976, through the help of Dr. Yury Boshyk, now of the University of Toronto. Material on Ukrainian migr activity from the late nineteenth century to 1956 is also included. There are extensive holdings of, or relating to, particular organizations such as the Union for the Liberation of the Ukraine, the Ukrainian Red Cross Abroad, and the Ukrainian National Republic's Economic Financial Mission to Western Europe. Material on the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is also part of the collection.
Unique items are early pamphlets and runs of journals and newspapers.
The geographic emphasis is on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Only publications and manuscript material concerning Eug ne Batchinsky are collected actively at present. Material known to have been previously separated from Batchinsky's collection is also pursued actively. To date, about 9,000 manuscripts, documents, and annotated early clippings have been microfilmed on fiche. The collection is uncatalogued.