Collection ID: 4078315 BA#0023

Collection context

Background

Scope and Content:

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, subject files and printed materials. The greater part of the collection concerns the period 1917-22, with a substantial amount of material on the Humanities Fund and Bakhmeteff's friendships with prominent Americans. Cataloged materials include 50 or more letters from John Spargo, Vasilii Maklakov, Ekaterina Kuskova, Frederic Coudert, Georgii L'vov and Michael Karpovich (the last largely concerning the Humanities Fund); there are also a few items by Louis Brandeis, John Foster Dulles, Samuel Gompers, Colonel Edward House, Charles Lindbergh, and Thomas Masaryk. Extensive files of arranged materials include hundreds of letters by Arkadii Zak (who headed the Russian Information Bureau in New York, 1917-22), items to and by Sergei Uget, and official telegrams from 1917-22. There are manuscripts in the collection by Bakhmeteff, Spargo, Uget and Sergei Prokopovich. Subject files chiefly cover the Civil War period, the Paris Peace Conference, the Humanities Fund and Soviet Russia in the early 1920s. Printed materials include pamphlets, journals and clippings. There are also bound reports by different departments of the Russian embassy and mission from 1917 through the 1920s. In addition, the collection contains an oil portrait of Bakhmeteff by the artist Nicolas Becker.

Biographical / Historical:

Ambassador of the Russian Provisional Government to the United States (1917-22), engineer, Columbia professor, businessman, and founder of the Humanities Fund.

Acquisition information:

Papers: Source of acquisition--Humanities Fund via firm of Coudert Bros. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1974.

Books: Source of acquisition--Carol Herrera. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1984.

Oil painting: Source of acquisition--Julia A. Bazavoff. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1982.

Processing information:

Papers Processed 03/--/83.

Papers Revised 04/--/86.

Books Revised 04/--/86.

Oil painting Revised 03/--/83.

Arrangement:

Selected materials cataloged; remainder arranged.

Accruals:

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Rules or conventions:
appm

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection is located on-site.

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
6th Floor East Butler Library
535 West 114th St.
New York, NY 10027, United States
CONTACT:
(212) 854-5590
rbml@library.columbia.edu