Russian Language and Literature

The Bakhmeteff Archive, the second largest depository of Russian émigré materials outside Russia, was officially founded in 1951.

Founded by Herbert Hoover in 1919, the Hoover Institution Library & Archives are dedicated to documenting war, revolution, and peace in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. With nearly one million volumes and more than six thousand archival collections from 171 countries, Hoover supports a vibrant community of scholars and a broad public interested in the meaning and role of history.

The second part of the Bakhchanyan collections consists of the personal papers of Eduard Limonov. Limonov, a long-time friend of Vagrich and Irene Bakhchanyan, is a well-known Russian and émigré writer and poet. More recently, he has been a leading political opposition figure in the Russian Federation. Limonov's papers reflect the early years of his life in the United States (1974-1980), when, as a struggling émigré, he wrote his first and most famous novel, It's Me, Eddie: A Fictional Memoir (Russian edition 1977, French translation 1980; English edition 1983). This series consists of 362 items. Literary and poetry manuscripts arranged by title comprise the greater part of the papers. Limonov composed most of these materials while living in New York City; however, this series also includes notebooks that he kept while still living in the Soviet Union. Beyond these manuscripts, the papers also feature correspondence with other artists and institutions (organized by correspondent), along with several unpublished photographs and works of art.

Elisabeth Markstein (1929-2013) was highly regarded for her translations from Russian to German, including Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago (under the pen name Anna Peturnig). She was also a teacher and literary scholar as well as a staunch supporter of the dissident writers in the Soviet Union. This collection consists of personal documents, correspondence (family, personal, and professional), papers dealing with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, scholarly research materials, photographs, and finally, audio and computer files. The Solzhenitsyn material, dealing with the publication of his work in the West before and after exile in 1974, is particularly noteworthy because Markstein was a trusted friend of the Nobel prize winner as well as the liaison between the author and his Swiss lawyer, Fritz Heeb.

The collection consists of documents, letters, photographs, and some manuscripts relating to Evgeniia Ginzburg, the author of Krutoi Marshrut, an autobiographical account of the author's experience in the Soviet labor camps. Krutoi Marshrut has been translated into English in two volumes: Journey into the Whirlwind and Within the Whirlwind. The collection also includes materials relating to the life and career of Antonina Axenova (b. 1946), Ginzburg's adopted daughter, who is a stage and film actress. Ginzburg's son, Vasilii Pavlovich Aksenov (1932-2009), a prominent Russian novelist, is also represented, but to a lesser extent.

The personal papers and research materials of the English theater and art critic Huntly Carter (1862-1942). The greater part of the collection consists of correspondence, printed ephemera, and photographs, many collected by Carter in interwar Germany and Russia as part of his research on the fine arts.

The papers consist of manuscripts, letters, and miscellaneous items of Natalia A. Roskina and of her daughter, Irina V. Roskina, as well as 50 photographs of the two women and people they knew such as: Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak, and Evgenii Rein.

The second part of the Bakhchanyan collections consists of the personal papers of Eduard Limonov. Limonov, a long-time friend of Vagrich and Irene Bakhchanyan, is a well-known Russian and émigré writer and poet. More recently, he has been a leading political opposition figure in the Russian Federation. Limonov's papers reflect the early years of his life in the United States (1974-1980), when, as a struggling émigré, he wrote his first and most famous novel, It's Me, Eddie: A Fictional Memoir (Russian edition 1977, French translation 1980; English edition 1983). This series consists of 362 items. Literary and poetry manuscripts arranged by title comprise the greater part of the papers. Limonov composed most of these materials while living in New York City; however, this series also includes notebooks that he kept while still living in the Soviet Union. Beyond these manuscripts, the papers also feature correspondence with other artists and institutions (organized by correspondent), along with several unpublished photographs and works of art.

The second part of the Bakhchanyan collections consists of the personal papers of Eduard Limonov. Limonov, a long-time friend of Vagrich and Irene Bakhchanyan, is a well-known Russian and émigré writer and poet. More recently, he has been a leading political opposition figure in the Russian Federation. Limonov's papers reflect the early years of his life in the United States (1974-1980), when, as a struggling émigré, he wrote his first and most famous novel, It's Me, Eddie: A Fictional Memoir (Russian edition 1977, French translation 1980; English edition 1983). This series consists of 362 items. Literary and poetry manuscripts arranged by title comprise the greater part of the papers. Limonov composed most of these materials while living in New York City; however, this series also includes notebooks that he kept while still living in the Soviet Union. Beyond these manuscripts, the papers also feature correspondence with other artists and institutions (organized by correspondent), along with several unpublished photographs and works of art.