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The collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, memoirs, diaries, notes, subject files, documents, photographs, and printed materials. Most of the material in the collection concerns Nikolaev's tenure as military attachʹe at the Russian embassy in Washington. Cataloged correspondents include Mikhail T. Florinsky and Geroid T. Robinson. There is a typescript by Vasiliĭ O. Kli︠u︡chevskiĭ, "Kratkoe posobie po russkoĭ istorii." Among the correspondence are cablegrams and official communications to the Russian embassy during World War I and the revolutionary period. Manuscripts, mostly by Nikolaev, concern contemporary and historical military topics. Diaries and memoirs deal with Nikolaev's travels to Europe during World War I and his activities as military attachʹe. Among orders granted to Nikolaev is the "Order of the Sacred Treasure," signed and sealed by the Japanese Emperor Meiji (1911). Printed materials include many articles by Nikolaev.

The collection consists primarily of manuscripts by Bragin, including his memoirs, which describe his military service during the Boxer Rebellion, the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War. The documents and subject file relate to his service as head of the White military mission to Iran in 1920. Printed materials are largely clippings from and copies of emigre periodicals, with articles by Bragin.

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.

Her memoirs recount her childhood and education in Russia as a member of a Baltic-German family, her life in Finland after the February Revolution, her service as a nurse in St. Petersburg during World War I, and as a member of a Red Cross mission charged with caring for prisoners of war in Kiev and Moscow during the Civil War. She also describes her arrest and imprisonment in 1919 as well as her brother's experiences in Li︠u︡bi︠a︡nka prison during World War II. The memoirs (416p.) are in the form of a carbon copy typescript and are accompanied by original photographs. Also included in the collection are reprints of several articles published by her husband, Helmuth Stegman, in the 1960's.

The collection includes more than 100 letters to Benningsen from P.P. Ignatév, the last Minister of Imperial Russia, written in 1920-1921; and correspondence between Benningsen and his wife, Ekaterina Platonovna Benningsen, and Ksenii︠a︡ V. Denikina. Several manuscripts by E. P. Benningsen are also included: a long memoir which treats the history of the Benningsen family, his own government and Red Cross service, the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War, and emigration in France and Brazil. There are copies of his lectures and articles on historical topics; a lengthy essay on the character of modern politics called "Ce que la vie m'a enseigne"̀; and a number of reviews of books dealing with Russia. There are two sets of subject files: one containing materials relating to the activities of the "Soi︠u︡z Pazheĭ" (an emigre organization of former members of the Corps of Pages); the other, materials relating to the efforts by former officers of the Kavalergardskiĭ Regiment to recover a trove of silver objects belonging to them that they had deposited in the State Treasury at the beginning of World War I and which finally ended up in Belgrade. A brief biographical note on her husband by Ekaterina P. Benningsen and a few photographs complete the collection.

The collection consists of a small amount of correspondence (1942-1948) which revolves almost exclusively around Ernest Rope's efforts to teach Russian affairs at U.S. universities; one folder of personal documents, including letters of appointment, citations of merit, identity cards, and other items; manuscripts of articles and of a book length volume entitled "The Russia I have known;" and a diary, together with a photo-album, detailing his work in northern Russia and Estonia on behalf of the YMCA. The diary abounds with references to political and military events in northern Russia during the years 1919-1921.

Photocopies of typescripts of reports and letters. These reports and letters, some of them in extract form, cover from September 1916 to April 1918, and total 623 pages. Also included is an offprint of an article by Ioanis Sinanoglou that was partly based on this material.

The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts by Messner and others, memoirs by Messner, photographs and printed materials. Manuscripts by Messner include a typescript (275 p.) entitled "Nekotorye prichiny porazhenii︠a︡ Germanii v voĭnu 1939-1945 g.g." Messner's memoirs (3293 p. and 350 p.) cover the years 1914-1973. Included among them are clippings, photographs, mimeographed materials and pamphlets. The majority of his memoirs concern World War I and the Civil War. Photographs are mostly copies. Printed materials consist mostly of clippings of articles by Messner in South American monarchist periodicals.

The collection includes copies of official communiques sent and received by the Russian Imperial Embassy in London for the period 1886-1890 and 1919-1922; copies of reports forwarded by E.V. Sablin to the Council of Ambassadors in Paris, for the period 1922-1937; correspondence grouped around specific subjects; "case files" containing letters from and on behalf of individual Russian emigres wishing to enter Great Britain or to adjust their immigrant status; and letters received by E.V. Sablin and his wife Nadezhda Ivanovna from various persons, together with carbon copies of their replies. The most voluminous correspondence is between E.V. Sablin and V.A. Maklakov, V. Dobuzhinskiĭ, Joseph P. Kennedy, Aleksandr F. Kerenskiĭ, Vladimir V. Nabokov, Fedor I. Shali︠a︡pin, Petr and Gleb Struve, Adri︠a︡na V. Trykova-Williams etc. The remainder of the collection consists of manuscripts of articles and speeches both by Sablin and by others; public statements issued by Sablin in mimeograph form; miscellaneous mimeo material; clippings from both the Russian emigre press and British and French newspapers of articles by and about Sablin; as well as miscellaneous clippings, books, booklets, leaflets, performance programs, newsletters, Russian language newspapers published in England, photographs and several drawings and watercolor sketches.

The papers consist primarily of the Kosatkin-Rostovskiĭ's memoirs. His manuscript memoirs (150 p.) discuss his life up to 1906. Her typescript memoirs (440 p.) discuss her childhood, career as an actress in St. Petersburg, 1917-1918 in Petrograd, and the emigration in France. Also included are his diary for June-July 1940; a few letters written to him; clippings of his newspaper articles (many signed with the pseudonym "Antar"); and a book with his poetry and with essays dedicated to him; "Krestnym putem k voskresenii︠u︡" (Paris, 1948).