This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
The papers consist of correspondence, manuscripts, documents, subject files, newspaper clippings, printed materials, photographs, and drawings. Most of the correspondence concerns Bilyi's activities as Ataman, and the journal "Kazak"; other correspondence is personal or relates to the activities of anti-Communist groups (such as the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations - ABN). The manuscripts include articles, reminiscences, drafts of appeals and proclamations, and speeches mostly concerning the Cossack movement, Cossack history, and the anti-Communist movement. The documents mostly concern KNOD and related organizations for the period ca.1955-1970; a few relate to the Cossacks in 1919-1945. The subject files contain newspaper clippings, printed materials, notes, and correspondence relating to KNOD, ABN, "Kazak", Ukrainian-Cossack relations, and the Vlasov Movement. The newspaper clippings are mostly from Russian and Ukrainian emigre publications. Printed materials include a set of "Kazak" and ephemera of KNOD, ABN, and similar organizations. There are a few photographs showing Bilyi in Cossack dress and also various Cossack emigre organization activities. The paintings and drawings include portraits of Bilyi and his wife, Tatiana Iurievna Bilyi, in national dress (his Cossack, hers Czech), other Cossack leaders, Cossack heraldry, and a map of "Cossackia."
Series I: Correspondence, 1920-1973
Series mostly consists of the correspondence related to Bilyi's activities as Ataman, and the journal "Kazak". There is also correspondence related to the activities of anti-Communist groups (such as the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations - ABN), and some personal correspondence. Arranged chronologically.
Series II: Manuscripts and Notes
Series includes articles, reminiscences, drafts of appeals and proclamations, and speeches mostly concerning the Cossack movement, Cossack history, and the anti-Communist movement.
Series III: Documents, 1919-1970
Series mostly consists of documents regarding KNOD and related organizations for the period ca. 1955-1970; a few documents relate to the Cossacks in 1919-1945.
Series V: Paintings and Drawings
Ovesize materials.
Series contains clippings, printed materials, notes, and correspondence related to KNOD, ABN, "Kazak", Ukrainian-Cossack relations, and the Vlasov movement. Arranged in alphabetical order.
Series includes newspaper "Kazak", printed ephemera, and newspaper clippings mostly from Russian and Ukrainian emigre publications.
The papers are arranged in seven 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. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Ignat Arkhipovich Bilyi Papers; Box and Folder; Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Papers: Source of acqusition--Mrs. Blokh via V. G. Glaskov; Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1978.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Papers Accessioned 1978.
Papers Processed 10/--/78.
07/22/2020 PDF finding aid converted to EAD and AS record updated, KSD.
Ignat Arkhipovich Bilyi (1887-1973), Supreme Ataman of the Cossacks in Exile, was born on January 1, 1887 in a family of poor cossacks in Kuban region of Russian Empire. As many Kuban cossacks, he considered himself to be ethnic Ukrainian and was a fervent supporter of political unity between Ukraine and Kuban region.
In 1918, he became an active member of the government of the Kuban Peoples Republic, which was an anti-Bolshevik state established by Kuban cossacks and comprised the territory of the modern-day Kuban region in Russia. Before the republic was defeated by Bolsheviks, he was appointed its ambassador to Ukraine and Poland.
He never came back home to Kuban and lived first in Poland and then in the Czech republic where in 1922 he founded the first Cossack newspaper abroad entitled Voice of Cossacks. In 1923, he graduated from the Politechnic Institute in Prague and soon after started the Free Cossacks, a new magazine published twice a month in Ukrainian and Russian.
In the U.S. where Ignat Bilyi immigrated in 1958, he was very active in many anti-Communist groups, namely ABN (Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations ) and KNOD (Cossack National Liberation Movement in the U.S.).
He died on March 28, 1973 and has been buried at Saint Vladimir Russian Cemetery in Jackson, New Jersey.
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.
All links open new windows.