Search

Memoirs of Vasilćhikova. The memoirs include a nineteen-page essay about the Tsarina and a twelve-page essay about Tsar Nicholas II. Both essays are handwritten and in French. Included with the essays are two postcards: one with a photograph of Marii︠a︡ Vasilćhikova and one with a portrait of her.

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs, printed materials, and coins of Marii︠a︡ A. Svi︠a︡topolk-Mirskai︠a︡ and her son Nikolaĭ V. Svi︠a︡topolk Mirskiĭ. The correspondence is primarily from members of the Imperial family (such as Grand Duke Nikolaĭ Nikolaevich and dowager Empress Marii︠a︡ Fedorovna) to Marii︠a︡ Svi︠a︡topolk-Mirskai︠a︡. Most of it dates from the 1920's and 1930's and much of it is mounted in scrapbooks. The manuscripts include Basil Strandman's "Balkan Reminiscences." Among the documents are diplomas, certificates, passports and Imperial decrees dating back to 1832. The photographs include a photograph of Metropolitan Evlogiĭ and several dozen copies of Imperial family photographs. There are also many photographs of paintings, icons and architecture. The subject files consist of materials relating to the Notbek family, the Mariĭnskoe Sestrichestvo (to which Marii︠a︡ Svi︠a︡topolk-Mirskai︠a︡ belonged), and the Iverskai︠a︡ Church in Belgrade. Among the printed materials are 12 issues of "Khudozhestvennye Sokrovishcha Rossii" (1901)"Mʹemoires du regne de Catherine.."(Amsterdam, 1729), and "Thʹeâtre de l'Hermitage de Catherine II.."(Paris, 1799?).

Correspondence, documents, diaries and notebooks, photographs, printed materials and memorabilia of Olga Ivanovna Subbotina (or Soubbotine, 1886-1963), her grandmother, Mariia Sergeevna Benckendorff, and her sister, Elizaveta Ivanovna Taube (Mrs. Harold Roberts). The correspondence includes letters and telegrams of Aleksandra Fedorovna, Empress of Russia. The letters of Mariia Benckendorff's son, Vasilii Dolgorukov, provide information about the Imperial family in 1916-1918. There are diaries and notebooks of Marii Benckendorff, Pavel Konstantinovich Benkendorff, Ol'ga Subbotina and Elizaveta Taube. Among the documents are IDs, birth and marriage certificates, passports, wills, etc. Financial and legal documents include a file entitled "Claim against the National Bank of New York", which contains material about the exile of the Imperial family to Tobolsk and Ekaterinburg, as do other folders. There are photographs of immediate and extended family members, Nicholas II and his family and European royalty. There is also family and Alexandra Fedorovna's, Empress of Russia, memorabilia.

There is one letter by the artist Dmitriĭ Stellet︠s︡kiĭ, and considerable correspondence of Chernysheva-Bezobrazova and of her relatives, including her parents and members of the Shcherbatov and Uvarov families. Most of the correspondence is from the periods of World War I, the Civil War, and the emigration (ca. 1914-1935). Chernysheva-Bezobrazova's manuscript memoirs deal with such topics as her family, cultural life in pre-revolutionary Moscow, the Civil War in the south, and the emigration in France. Printed materials include fliers from the Don region during the Civil War, and the program of V. M. Purishkevich's Narodno-Gosudarstvennai︠a︡ Partii︠a︡ (National State Party, 1919).

Lists, subject files, photographs, etchings and printed materials relating to the Pazheskii Korpus (imperial Corps of Pages), a school for the sons of the Russian nobility founded in 1802, and the Soiuz Pazhei (Union of Pages), the emigré alumni organization founded in 1920. The materials were collected by representatives of the Union of Pages. The collection consists chiefly of mimeographed newsletters, books, printed mementoes, such as programs, menus, tickets, and school forms, and of pictorial materials, especially photographs and etchings. The great majority of the materials pertain to the Imperial Corps of Pages and to Russia's imperial family, and include many unusual photographs portraying school life and the life of the family of Nicholas II. There are also old photographs of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Tsarskoe Selo, printed reports of the State Council for 1894-99, newsletters published by the Union of Pages and miscellaneous Russian and foreign publications, originally part of the library of the museum of the Union of Pages in Paris.

These typescript memoirs discuss her childhood at diplomatic posts (Japan, Washington, Netherlands), and in France and Russia; and her adult life up to 1920. A great deal of attention is devoted to life in the Imperial court and aristocratic social circles.

The collection primarily consists of unpublished manuscripts by Shavelśkiĭ. There are also letters from Shavelśkiĭ to his daughter (Marii︠a︡ Novit︠s︡kai︠a︡), several photographs of Shavelśkiĭ, clippings and miscellaneous printed items. Shavelśkiĭ's manuscripts include his memoirs (1920) which describe church affairs in Russia, World War I, the Imperial family and the 1917 Revolution; "Nabroski s natury" (1947), a series of brief essays and stories; "Pokhod protiv Rasputina" (n.d.); "Russkai︠a︡ t︠s︡erkov ́pred revoli︠u︡t︠s︡ieĭ" (1937); and "V dobrovolćheskoĭ armii" (1943), which describes Shavelśkiĭ's service as an army chaplain. Other manuscripts include brief sketches of Shavelśkiĭ by Feodor Bokach and N.N. Glubokovskiĭ.

Shaĭkevich's (neʹe Ostrovskai︠a︡) handwritten memoirs (fifteen small notebooks) discuss her family and guests at her home, including Prince Sergeĭ Volkonskiĭ, Nikolaĭ Berdi︠a︡ev, and Maksimili︠a︡n Voloshin. She also discusses prominent Russian and Jewish families at the turn of the century. The memoirs conclude with her emigration to Latvia, Germany, and France. The essay "Poslednii︠a︡ stranichki" and her minor manuscripts are also autobiographical in nature.

The memoirs of Ivan Mikhailovich Shadrin. Manuscripts — Miscellaneous; "Odisseia Russkoi Eskadry s Russ. Bezhentsami ot Kryma do Bizerta"; "Prazdnovanie 300 letlia Imp. Doma Romanovykh"; "Pridvornaia Pevcheskaia Kapella i Imperatorskii Dvor"; "Velikaia Voina, 191U-191T"

The collection includes cataloged photographs (Nicholas II, Grigoriĭ Semenov) and arranged correspondence to both Semchevskiĭ and his wife. The main item in the collection is Semchevskiĭ's eight-part memoir which describes his childhood in Tbilisi, his service as kamer-pazh (page of the bedchamber) to Nicholas II and his military career in World War I and the Civil War. It also describes Semchevskiĭ's life as an emigre in Berlin, where he ran a bookstore, in England, where he manufactured motorcycles, in Austria, where he worked at an oil refinery, and eventually in the United States. There are also documents (such as military records and passports) and a photograph of Semchevskiĭ and his wife taken in 1921.