Memorial books are special handwritten or printed notebooks in which the names of the dead and the living were written for prayerful remembrance. They were kept in churches, communities or families and used during divine services, memorial days and anniversaries. The main purpose of such books is to preserve the memory of a person. It was believed that the written name read aloud during prayer continues the spiritual presence of a person among the living. Memorial books from the period of World War II often contain the names of those who died in the war, civilian victims or prisoners.
The memorial book of Gavrysh Paraskoviia Andriivna contains the names of her five sons, soldiers of World War II. The section "For health" lists Pavlo and Fedir, who returned from the war; the section "For peace" lists Ivan, Anastasiy, Anatoliy, who died.
In the form of a book of 8 lined sheets in a gray hardcover with an image of a cross and the name in Church Slavonic “Commemoration” framed by a brown geometric ornament. The commemoration book contains two sections: “For health” and “For peace”. Before the second section there is a blue drawing of the “Crucifixion”. On the first spread on the left side there is the name of the owner, on the right side there is the handwritten text indicating the names of those who were prayed for. Some of the pages are not filled in.