The bulk of the collection consists of memoirs and manuscripts on historical military themes by Pavel Nikolaevich Chizhov. The memoirs deal with such topics as Chizhov's military education, his military service (garrison duty in Warsaw, the Far East, World War I, and the Civil War in the south), and his life in the emigration.
The papers consist of correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs, and printed materials. Manuscripts include notes taken on a speechby General Lavr Kornilov in August 1917; Kolchinskiĭ's writings on the history of the Pavlovsk Military Academy (including a published book by him); and his diaries from the early 1950s. Also included are Kolchinskiĭ's Russian army documents; items relating to his work in the Belgian Congo during World War II; and several photographs of army officers during World War I.
Typescript of memoirs of Mikhail Nikolaevich Arkhipov. The memoirs deal with World War I, specifically with the Russian campaigns in western Poland and the Carpathians in 1914-1915, and with the effect of the 1917 revolution on the army.
The papers contain manuscripts by Obruchev about his family, and photographs of Russian generals Rennenkampf and Samsonov. Printed materials consist of issues of the periodical "Voennyĭ Sbornik."
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, personal documents, subject files and printed materials. Almost half the correspondence is from Varvara (Vali︠a︡) Shakhovskai︠a︡, his wife, from whom he was divorced in 1932 but whose friendship he enjoyed until his death in 1961. A large portion of the manuscripts is in the form of a diary which, for the years 1919-1920, relates the activities of the Cuirassiers during the Civil War. The subject files deal exclusively with the Cuirassier Regiment and its veterans' organization in emigration. They include minutes, official mailings, regiment songs and poems and copies of the regiment publication, "Vestnik," for the period 1928-1931.
Manuscript and typescript memoirs (in all 600 p.) that deal chiefly with Kamenskiĭ's military education, the imperial court, his service during World War I, his service as General Petr Wrangel's diplomatic courier in 1921-24, and the emigration in France. Part of the manuscripts on World War I consists of copies of his diary. Some hand-drawn maps, photographs, and six copies of the bulletin of the organization of veterans of the Jaeger Regiment complete the collection.
ROVS North America (ROVS-N.A.) Records consist of correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs, organizational records, subject files, and printed materials. There are also papers of the Paris-based Sovet Rossiiskogo Zarubezhnogo Voinstva (Council of the Russian Military Abroad) and other emigre military and political organizations active in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and South America. The cataloged correspondence includes letters by Evgenii Miller, Nikolai Tsurikov, Aleksandr Kutepov and other emigre figures and by Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Barry Goldwater and other prominent American politicians. Arranged correspondence series consist of general office files, Paris-New York files, correspondence of Aleksei von Lampe and Vladimir Vitkovskii and topical correspondence files. Among the manuscripts are short articles and reminiscences by various people. There are photographs of Evgenii Miller, Nicholas II and of emigre organizational gatherings during the 1950s and 1960s. The organizational records include circulars, bulletins, orders, memoranda, reports, publications and financial records for ROVS and the Sovet Rossiiskogo Zarubezhnogo Voinstva. Subject files concern such topics as the Elisavetgrad Military Academy, the Union of the First Kuban Campaign, the Gallipoli societies, the Ingermanlandskii Regiment and the Russian Anti-Communist Center in New York. The printed materials include a book by Boris Kuznetsov and publications and circulars from other emigre organizations.
Svechin's memoirs (3 volumes, dated Nice, 1956-1958) deal with his childhood and military education as well as with his military career from 1905 to 1920. He discusses his training at the Nikolaevskoe kavaleriĭskoe uchilishche and his service in the Russo-Japanese War, World War I and the 1917 Revolution. With regard to the Civil War, Svechin recounts White Army campaigns in the Don region and his association with Generals Krasnov, Wrangel and Hetman Skoropadskiĭ. Svechin also makes brief mention of his emigration to Europe. A number of photographs appear throughout the text. The collection also includes books on military science by Svechin's brother Aleksandr Andreevich who remained in the Soviet Union and actively participated in the formation of the Soviet Army. Also included is a subject file on the fate of A.A. Svechin in the purges of the 1930's.
The collection is composed almost exclusively of manuscripts submitted to Gering for publication in "Voennai︠a︡ Byl"́. These are mostly short memoirs of battles and campaigns, of life in military school, or of peacetime garrison life, by former tsarist officers. These naturally relate chiefly to the last few decades of the tsarist regime, and to the period of the Revolution and Civil War. Some contributions are more scholarly in tone; these include articles on the earlier history of the Russian army and of individual regiments, etc. Few of the manuscripts are more than 40 pages long; most are 1-20 pages. Not all of these manuscripts were published in "Voennai︠a︡ Byl"́; those that were not formed part of Gering's "archive" and have been arranged separately.
The memoirs discuss Epanchin's military service under Tsars Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas II, from the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-88 through the Civil War, and the emigration in Europe. Also included is a photocopy of the memoirs.
