This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
The bulk of the collection consists of documents detailing the emigration and naturalization of Viktor Gorenko. These include a Chinese-issued stateless person passport, letters of reference and employment, and affidavits of support. A large part of the collection consists of newspaper clippings concerning Anna Akhmatova, including obituaries and reviews of translations of her work into English.
The correspondence from Akhmatova herself is limited to brief affectionate notes on the reverse of photographs and empty envelopes addressed to Gorenko. Other correspondence includes a postcard from Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev (Akhmatova's son), a letter from Andrei Andreevich Gorenko (nephew of Viktor Gorenko and Akhmatova) and letters from American academics to Gorenko's widow Catherine.
For preservation purposes, the items in this collection have been placed in plastic document holders and acid-free paper.
The papers are arranged into three series.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Chair of the Bakhmeteff Committee. The RBML approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Viktor Gorenko Papers; Box and Folder; Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
No additions are expected
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
2016-2017-M158: Source of acquisition--Carson Family. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--2017.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Papers processed by Marlow Davis (GSAS), June 2017.
Finding aid written by Marlow Davis (GSAS), June 2017.
2017-06-14 File created.
2017-06-16 XML document instance created by Catherine C. Ricciardi
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Viktor Andreevich Gorenko was born on September 29, 1896, to a Russian noble family. His elder sister was the poet Anna Akhmatova (nee Gorenko). Gorenko graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps in Petrograd in July 1916 and served in the Russian Imperial Black Sea Fleet until the October 1917 Revolution. He fled to the Russian Far East and then to Shanghai, China, where he remained until 1946. Gorenko was admitted to the United States on a 45-day visa in January, 1947. When deportation proceedings were opened against him the following year, he presented a number of documents attesting to his hardworking character and anti-communist sentiments in his defense. Gorenko became a naturalized US citizen in 1959. He received at least two letters from Akhmatova in Leningrad, as well as signed photographs of the author, in the early 1960s. Viktor Gorenko died in New York on February 4, 1976.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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