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The papers consist of correspondence and notes. The correspondence is made up of letters to I︠A︡khontov concerning his memoirs about the Council of Ministers from pre-revolutionary officials, including Vladimir Kokovt︠s︡ev, Pavel Ignatév, and Vsevolod Shakhovskoĭ. The notes are minutes taken at the meetings of the Council of Ministers; these exist as both the original handwritten notes and as typed copies. Finally, there is a brief memoir by I︠A︡khontov concerning World War I, and a printed copy of the announcement by Nicholas II that World War I had been declared.

The papers include manuscripts on Turgenev, Fet, Blok, Bolshevism, WWI, and enlightened absolutism, copies of correspondence between Turgenev and Fet, and of letters from I︠A︡.N. Polonskiĭ, Nicholas II, P. Annenkov, and others. Also included are a printed article about a lecture on Polonskiĭ and Fet given by Nikolśkiĭ to the Pushkin Circle of Petrograd University, and a brochure of L'Institute d'Etudes Slaves (Paris).

Document signed by Tsar Nicholas II, appointing one Fedor Ganzen as Russian Consul-General in Genoa. The document is dated 1906, and is also signed by Aleksandr Izvolśkiĭ, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Correspondence, manuscripts, photographs and subject files of Witte. The correspondents include Ivan S. Aksakov, Tsar Aleksander III, Tsar Nicholas II, Konstantin P. Pobedonost︠s︡ev, I︠U︡riĭ Samarin, Lev N. Tolstoĭ and Kaiser Wilhelm II. The manuscripts, which constitute over half of the collection, consist of Witte's memoirs and of his work on the Russo-Japanese War, and include a signed typescript essay by Lev N. Tolstoĭ. The photographs depict the signing of the Portsmouth Treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War (Portsmouth, N.H.). The subject files, which are primarily typescript copies of documents, refer to such topics as the various assassination attempts on the tsars, questions of agrarian reform, relations with Germany, and the siege of Port Arthur. There is also a framed pen and ink drawing depicting an event in Witte's public career.

Collection includes 67 letters and telegrams, by Alexander's older brother Nikolaĭ; 65 letters and notes, some copies, by Nicholas II, from 1902-1913; a drawing and notes by Alexander III; and drafts of letters by Meshcherskiĭ. Also included is a group of letters in different hands hitherto identified as having been written by Nikolaĭ, Duke of Leuchtenberg, to Meshcherskiĭ.