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The memoirs cover Smirnov's singing career, including his childhood in Russia, the early part of his career in Moscow and St. Petersburg (he made his debut in 1904), and his performances and travels in Western Europe, North and South America, and Russia and the Soviet Union.

The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, clippings, books and periodicals. There are two letters from Aleksandr Glazunov and one each from Aleksandr Grechaninov and Nikolaĭ Metner. The manuscripts deal with both cultural affairs and the Russian Revolution. Among the cultural topics are essays on music, Isadora Duncan, Maksim Gorḱiĭ and literary affairs. There are articles about general aspects of the Revolution and about such individuals as Lenin, Stalin, Chicherin, Dzerzhinskiĭ and Kamenev. Many of the articles are memoiristic in nature, particularly those about life in Moscow and in the provinces during the Revolution, Dzerzhinskiĭ and Kamenev. There are clippings of articles written by Sabaneev and a number of books and periodicals either written by Sabaneev or containing articles by him.

These memoirs, in three notebooks(163 p.), were apparently the manuscript of the second part of her memoirs"Moĭ put ́s pesneĭ" (1930); they cover pages 7-98 of that work, from 1909 to World War I. The manuscript is in an unidentified hand, with extensive corrections and additions in, apparently, two other hands.