A Path to Non-Oblivion: A Brief History of the Bakhmeteff Archive

ABSTRACT

For almost seventy years the Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian and East European History and Culture at Columbia University has been considered an outstanding resource for the study of Russian émigré life. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Bakhmeteff Archive became a critical tool in the process of rewriting twentieth-century Russian history. Unfortunately, in search of “sensational” archival “discoveries,” mythology surrounding the history of the archive blossomed. This article will highlight the most important milestones of the Bakhmeteff Archive and will hopefully inspire scholarly research based on facts rather than mythology quest.

KEYWORDS:

• Russian and East European manuscript collections in the United States
• Bakhmeteff archive of Russian and East European history and culture
• Russia abroad
• President Putin visit to Columbia University

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The Russian Institute, the first academic center in the United States devoted to the interdisciplinary study of Russia and the Soviet Union, was founded at Columbia University in 1946. In 1982, the Institute was renamed the Harriman Institute to honor an extraordinarily generous donation from the family of W. Averell Harriman.

² The Russkii Zagranichnyi Istoricheskii Arkhiv (Russian Historical Archive Abroad) was the first émigré repository of archival material. Founded in Prague in 1922, it functioned under the auspices of the Czech Government until 1945. At the present time its former holdings are divided between several Russian archival repositories. See Fondy Russkogo Zagranichnogo istoricheskogo arkhiva v Prage: mezharkhivnyi putevoditel’ (Moscow: ROSSPEN, 1999).

³ “Columbia University Russian and East European Archive of History and Culture,’ brochure printed by Rausen Bros., 417 Lafayette St., New York 3, N.Y., December 1951, page 14.

⁴ Lev Florianovich Magerovskii was born in Odessa on February 18, 1896. In December 1917, he finished his studies in Petrograd and played a significant role in several anti-Bolshevik actions. In 1920, he fled Russia and settled in Prague where he was active in establishing the Russian Historical Archive Abroad (1922). He worked in the Russian Historical Archive Abroad in different capacities, his last position being a Curator of the Russian émigré serials. In 1945, he fled from Prague to the American zone of occupation in Germany. In 1948, Lev Florianovich moved to New York City and established the Russian Refugees Relief Committee, assisting refugees from Europe in obtaining American Visas. He died in New York in 1986.

⁵ Marguerita V. Freund, Archive administrative assistant, to Professor Temira Pachmuss, then of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 9, 1977, Collection Files, Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

⁶ Philip Mosely to Richard H. Logsdon (1913–1997), Director of the University Libraries, January 28, 1964, Collection Files, Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

⁷ Alexis Carrel Coudert, President of the Humanities Fund, Inc., to the President of Columbia University, September 28, 1971. Collection Files, Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

⁸ Alexis Carrel Coudert, President of the Humanities Fund, Inc., to the President of Columbia University, September 28, 1971.

⁹ Several years ago, during the Russian Art Boom, the collection was cataloged by Dr. Margaret Samu, see https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection, keyword search of “Humanities Fund”.

¹⁰ “Statement on the Bakhmeteff Archive,” June 11, 1977, Central files (1975–1976), Box 768, Folder 12, University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

¹¹ “Press release on Bakhmeteff gift”, October 11, 1973, Central files (1975–1976), Box 768, Folder 12, University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

¹² “Statement on the Bakhmeteff Archive,” June 11, 1977.

¹³ “Statement on the Bakhmeteff Archive,” June 11, 1977.

¹⁴ Pseudonym of Yakov Moiseevich Tsvibak, Russian journalist and writer, for many years editor-in-chief of Russian language émigré newspaper “Novoe Russkoe Slovo”.

¹⁵ Draft of a letter to Andrei Sedykh, September 9, 1981, Collection Files, Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

¹⁶ Russian Civil War (1918–1921) military conflict in which the Red Army successfully defended the newly formed Bolshevik government led by Vladimir I. Lenin against various White Russian and interventionist anti-Bolshevik armies.