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Papers of Wardwell. These papers chiefly concern the 1917-1918 American Red Cross Mission to Russia, in which Wardwell served, and his involvement in efforts to support trade with and aid to Russia in 1919-1924; he was chairman of the Russian Famine Fund in that period. There are a few items concerning the 1941 W.A. Harriman-Lord Beaverbrook mission to Russia, in which Wardwell participated. Materials on the Red Cross Mission are chiefly from May-October 1918, when Wardwell commanded it; they consist of correspondence, reports, documents, many photographs, and transcribed excerpts from Wardwell's diary and letters home. Major correspondents include Georgiĭ Chicherin, Lev Trot︠s︡kiĭ, and Raymond Robins. Records of Wardwell's efforts in regard to Russia in 1919-1924 consist of extensive correspondence files with prominent Americans, such as Robins and Herbert Hoover, manuscripts, related printed materials, and Wardwell's diary of his trip to Russia in the fall of 1922.

The papers include correspondence, subject files, photographs, and printed materials. The majority of the collection concerns the mission of the American Red Cross to Russia in 1917-1918; Thacher served as a secretary of the mission. There are letters and telegrams by W.B. Thompson and Raymond Robins, records of supplies, shipments, and distribution reports and over 600 photographs from Russia, China, and Romania. There is substantial correspondence from 1918-1919 concerning Russia, including letters by Louis Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter, and Lillian Wald. A substantial part of the collection concerns Russian war relief in 1941-1942, an area in which Thacher was active. Printed materials include a pamphlet and an article on Russia prepared by Thacher after his return from that country in early 1918.