Todorovich Family Papers, 1929-1989

Summary Information

At a Glance

Call No.:
BA#630
Bib ID:
7228617 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Todorovich, Ljubica, 1919-2016; Todorovich, Boris J., 1913-1984
Repository:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Physical Description:
7 linear feet (15 manuscript boxes, 2 flat boxes)
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.

Material is unprocessed. Please contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

This collection has no restrictions.

This collection is located on-site.

Description

Summary

This collection consists of correspondence with prominent Serbian and American officials, diaries kept during World War II, manuscripts, drafts of lectures, photographs and lectures of Boris and Lljubica Todorovich. 

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.

Material is unprocessed. Please contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

This collection has no restrictions.

This collection is located on-site.

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); Todorovich Family Papers, Box and Folder; Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and 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.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2008.2009.M133: Source of acquisition--Ljubica Todorovich.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Collection-level record describing unprocessed material made public in summer 2018 as part of the Hidden Collections initiative.

Biographical / Historical

Ljubica Todorovich, nee Pekić, (1919 - 2016), American painter, was born in Pennsylvania. Both her parents, Branko and Anka Pekić were from Serbia, and she always considered Serbia her spiritual homeland. Her uncle, Count Čedomilj (Cheda) Mijatović was a leading statesman and author. The family was very close to Nikola Tesla.

Ljubica studied painting at Carnegie Mellon Institute, SUNY Purchase and The National Academy of Art. Her award-winning work has been widely exhibited in New York, Florida and Europe. She was an elected member of the London-based society of Serbian Writers and Artists Abroad.

Ljubica was active in public service since World War II. She was a founding director of the Njegos Endowment for Serbian Studies at Columbia University. At the end of World War II, she was in the Field Service Division of UNRRA and helped facilitate the movement of over two thousand people to overseas posts. Before this, she worked with Ruth Mitchell, sister of General Billy Mitchell, raising funds for Serbian orphans. After her marriage to Boris Todorovich, she remained active in Serbian affairs. She played a key role in the preparation of her husband's memoirs of his World War II experiences, Last Words, which was published by Walker & Company in 1989. She then had his WW II diaries published in Belgrade, Serbia under the title of Final Report.

In 1947, she married Boris Todorovich (1913-1984), former captain of the Royal Yugoslav Army during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. Captured by the Nazis in 1941, he managed to escape and joined forces with General Mihailović in Nazi-occupied Serbia as a liaison to the Allied Mission. Mihailović later sent him to Washington D.C., where Todorovich became an embassy military attache until 1945. He never returned to his homeland and settled in the United States. A recipient of the National Sales Achievement Award sixteen times and the National Quality Award twenty-two times, Boris was a member of the New York Estate Planning Council, the American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters. He founded and operated Boris Todorovich Consultants, Inc, a company engaged in estate and business planning. He also found time to be an author, lecturer, and educator.

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.

Name
Todorovich, Boris J., 1913-1984 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Todorovich, Ljubica, 1919-2016 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID