Marshall MacDuffie Papers, 1945-1962, bulk 1945-1953

Marshall MacDuffie Papers, 1945-1962, bulk 1945-1953

Summary Information

Abstract

The collection documents American attorney Marshall MacDuffie's work as chief of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration's Mission to the Ukraine, and his trip to the Soviet Union in 1953.

At a Glance

Call No.:
MS#0820
Bib ID:
4078519 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
MacDuffie, Marshall, 1909-1967
Repository:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Physical Description:
5.9 linear feet (11 document boxes 1 record storage carton)
Language(s):
English .
Access:
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 off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Description

Scope and Content

The collection documents Marshall MacDuffie's work as chief of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration's Mission to the Ukraine and his trip to the Soviet Union in 1953. It includes correspondence, manuscript drafts, publications, newspaper clippings, and a large collection of photographs, slides, and negatives.

Arrangement

The collection has been arranged into two series.

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

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 off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

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.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Marshall MacDuffie Papers, 1945-1962; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Related Material

Herbert H. Lehman Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University

Sir Robert G.A. Jackson Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University

Hugh R. Jackson Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University

Research Materials on Leo Szilard, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Ownership and Custodial History

Gift of Rose Keane MacDuffie.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

UNRRA Correspondence, reports, clippings: Source of acquisition--MacDuffie, Mrs. Marshall. Date of acquisition--1968.

Trip to USSR Papers: Source of acquisition--Marshall MacDuffie. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1954.

Trip to USSR Papers: Source of acquisition--Funds provided by the Overbrook Foundation. Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--1968.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

UNRRA Correspondence, reports, clippings Surveyed Julie Miller 05/--/87.

Trip to USSR Papers Accessioned 1954.

Trip to USSR Papers Accessioned 1968.

Trip to USSR Papers Processed 01/--/80.

Trip USSR Papers Revised 11/--/81.

UNRRA and Trip to USSR Papers Combined 2013.

Revision Description

2016-10-28 xml document instance created by Carolyn Smith

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

Biographical sketch

Marshall MacDuffie was born in 1909 to Marshall and Wilhelmina Helmar MacDuffie. He attended Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 1927. He attended Yale Law School, graduating in 1935, and then joined the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, where he practiced until 1941. MacDuffie married Rose Keane Shumlin in 1953.

MacDuffie moved to Washington, DC in 1941 and served on several wartime commissions and boards, including the Board of Economic Warfare in the Middle East. He also served as a director of the European branch of the Foreign Economic Administration Deputy Foreign Liquidation Commissioner (State Department).

In 1945, New York Governor Herbert Lehman appointed MacDuffie to the position of chief of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) Mission to the Ukraine. The region had been hit with heavy losses and destruction during the war, and was also facing drought. Along with deputy Paul F. White and reporter John S. Fischer, MacDuffie traveled to Kiev to oversee the oversee the distribution of $180 million worth of emergency relief supplies, primarily food, clothing, medicine, tools, and agricultural supplies such as seeds and refrigerating machinery. The program struggled with delays, but large numbers of supplies did reach their designated locations.

In June of 1946, a US congressman called for the end of UNRRA aid in Russia on the grounds that US officials were being censored and barred from access to key areas. MacDuffie challenged these claims, insisting that his staff was able to move freely throughout Ukraine to inspect living conditions and the need for rations, and that they were assisted, not hindered, by local authorities. He resigned in protest over the incident, but his statements were supported by UNRRA Director Fiorella LaGuardia, who insisted that the relief efforts would continue. Paul White succeeded MacDuffie as Chair and oversaw the Mission for another year, until its termination in July, 1947.

While involved in the mission, MacDuffie befriended Nikita Khrushchev, then Premier of the Ukraine. Several years later, he wrote to Khrushchev to request a travel visa for a private trip to the Soviet Union to see how the landscape had changed. Despite the tensions of the Cold War, which normally forbade US citizens from visiting the Soviet Union, the request was granted, and in 1953 MacDuffie traveled freely for two months, covering 10,000 miles between Leningrad and the Chinese border. He visited factories, farms, and slaughterhouses, met with many citizens, and kept extensive notes. MacDuffie was interviewed by a number of newspapers upon his return and wrote a book, The Red Carpet:10,000 Miles through Russia on a Visa from Khrushchev, about the experience. MacDuffie also conducted several interviews with Khrushchev, including a three-hour interview in 1956, and wrote other books and articles on Soviet life. He advocated the development of positive relations between the US and the USSR.

In 1955, MacDuffie served five months as chief counsel of the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, but resigned after a dispute. Around the same time, he began receiving letters from US citizens with family members in Russia, who were unable to leave due to the country's anti-emigration policies. Using his connections to Khrushchev and others, as well as his skills as an attorney, MacDuffie helped obtain exit visas for several individuals. He established his own law firm in 1956 and continued to take on such cases, often waiving his attorney fee.

Marshall MacDuffie died in New York in 1967.

Chief of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation (UNRRA) Mission to the Ukraine.

Subject Headings

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.

Genre/Form
Articles
Clippings (Information Artifacts)
Photographic prints
Slides (photographs)
negatives (photographs)
Name
Herbert H. Lehman Collections (Columbia University)
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971
La Guardia, Fiorello H (Fiorello Henry), 1882-1947
MacDuffie, Marshall, 1909-1967
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Ukraine Mission
White, Paul F
Place
Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1945-1991
Soviet Union -- Social conditions -- 1945-1991
Ukraine -- Economic conditions -- 1945-1991
Ukraine -- Social conditions -- 1945-1991
Subject
Americans -- Soviet Union
Books
International relief -- Ukraine
Rationing
World War, 1939-1945 -- Civilian relief -- Ukraine

Series I: UNRRA Mission to the Ukraine, 1945-1950

The series concerns Marshall MacDuffie's service as chief of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration's Mission to the Ukraine. It contains typed copies of correspondence between the mission members and government officials as well as several reports that offer thorough descriptions of the mission's activities, as well as criticism and suggestions for future relief work in Ukraine. It also contains a small number of clippings and biographical information on MacDuffie, including an article on his efforts to reunite Russian families.


Box 11 Folder 1

General, 1945-1946


Box 12 Folder 18

General, 1945-1946


Box 11 Folder 2

General, 1947-1948


Box 12 Folder 19

Operations, Reports, and Histories, undated


Box 11 Folder 3

Operations, Reports, and History, 1950 undated


Box 11 Folder 4

History and Biography, undated

Series II: 1953 Trip to the USSR, 1947-1962

This series documents MacDuffie's trip to the USSR through writings, publications, ephemera, photographs, and slides.


Series II.1: General, 1947-1962

This subseries holds a variety of materials relating to MacDuffie's visit to the USSR. It includes a detailed account of his experience in the report "Russia after Stalin," several articles on Russian culture written for magazines, a copy of his book,The Red Carpet, and handwritten notes about trip, though it is unclear whether these were written while traveling or afterward. It also contains reports and clippings about the region and ephemera collected on the trip, such as tourist brochures, clothing catalogs, booklets on architecture, and newspapers.


Box 1 Folder 1-6

"Russia after Stalin"--Report on 1953 Trip, Copy 1, undated, 1953, undated


Box 2 Folder 1-8

"Russia after Stalin"--Report on 1953 Trip, Copy 1, undated, 1953, undated


Box 3 Folder 1-5

"Russia after Stalin"--Copy 2, undated


Box 4 Folder 1-6

"Russia after Stalin"--Copy 2, undated


Box 5 Folder 1

"Modern French Painting in Russia,", undated


Box 5 Folder 2-5

"My Friend Khrushchev,", undated, (4 folders)


Box 5 Folder 6

"TV Comes to Russia,", undated


Box 5 Folder 7

Handwritten Notes on USSR Trip, 1953


Box 6 Folder 1-2

Handwritten Notes on USSR Trip, 1953, (2 folders)


Box 6 Folder 3-5

Reports and Clippings, 1947-1949, (3 folders)


Box 7 Folder 1-5

Reports and Clippings, 1947-1949


Box 7 Folder 6

Joint Press Reading Service and Moscow Daily Press Review, 1953


Box 7 Folder 7

Moscow Daily Press Review, 1953


Box 8 Folder 1

Notes and Articles on Russian Art and Culture, 1952-1962


Box 8 Folder 2

Tourist Brochures, 1955-1956


Box 8 Folder 3

Russian Newspapers and Tourist Brochures, 1952-1962


Box 8 Folder 4

Architecture--Notes and Booklets, 1953


Box 8 Folder 5

Clothing Catalogs, 1955


Box 8 Folder 6-7

Magazines--Political Commentary and Cartoons, 1953-1959


Box 9 Folder 10

The Red Carpet: 10,000 Miles Through Russia on a Visa from Khruschev by Marshall MacDuffie, 1955


Box 9 Folder 1

Articles on MacDuffie and Russia in Colliers, 1954-1955


Subseries II.2: Photographs and Slides, 1953

This subseries contains photographs and slides taken during MacDuffie's trip though the USSR and depict many aspects of Russian life, including fashion, houses, public architecture, Soviet iconography, entertainment, sports, and others, as well as rural and urban landscapes. They have been arranged by material type.


Prints, 1953


Box 9 Folder 2

Churches


Box 9 Folder 3

Construction Scenes


Box 9 Folder 4

Contact Sheets


Box 9 Folder 5

Entertainment and Sports


Box 9 Folder 6

Gori; Stalin's Birthplace, Stalin's Grave


Box 9 Folder 7

Hermitage and Other Museums


Box 9 Folder 8

MacDuffie and Others


Box 9 Folder 9

Medicine


Box 10 Folder 1

People's Court


Box 10 Folder 2

People


Box 10 Folder 3

Rural Scenes


Box 10 Folder 4

Schoolchildren and Students


Box 10 Folder 5

Shopping Scenes


Box 10 Folder 6

Soviet Iconography


Box 10 Folder 7

Transport


Box 10 Folder 8-9

Urban Scenes


Box 10 Folder 10-11

Photo Sets in Cases


Box 11 Folder 5-9

Unidentified Photographs of Cities and People, circa, 1953


Box 12 Folder 1-7

Unidentified Photographs of Cities and People, circa, 1953


Slides, circa, 1953


Box 12 Folder 8-10

Art


Box 12 Folder 11

Buildings--M


Box 12 Folder 11

Buildings--K


Box 12 Folder 11

Buildings and Streets


Box 12 Folder 11

Buildings and Streets--Kiev


Box 12 Folder 11

Kids--K


Box 12 Folder 11

Houses


Box 12 Folder 11

Houses--TV


Box 12 Folder 11

People--V


Box 12 Folder 12

Gori and Tiflis


Box 12 Folder 12

Church


Box 12 Folder 12

Hotel Room


Box 12 Folder 12

Mejreskevi


Box 12 Folder 12

Snow Scenes


Box 12 Folder 12

People


Box 12 Folder 13

S+B Virgin Mary's Intercession Cathedral


Box 12 Folder 13

P+B Event


Box 12 Folder 13

Moscow Buildings


Box 12 Folder 14

Set 5--People


Box 12 Folder 14

Fashion


Box 12 Folder 14

Circus


Box 12 Folder 15

Tashkent


Box 12 Folder 15

A-ATA--Towns, People, Countryside


Box 12 Folder 15

Kiev Party


Box 12 Folder 15

Child's Party


Box 12 Folder 16

Farm


Box 12 Folder 16

Kiev Farm


Box 12 Folder 16

General


Box 12 Folder 17

Color Photos of Paintings