Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

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.

Ivanov's manuscript memoirs (550 p.) touch on the following topics: the attempts by the Duma to convince Nicholas II to abdicate in February, 1917; Petrograd in 1917-1918; the Civil War on the Northwest Front, including relations between the Whites and the new Estonian republic (Ivanov also discusses the Northwest Front of the Civil War in a book "O sobytiiakh pod Petrogradom v 1919-om godu" Berlin, 1921.); his internment in the French concentration camp at Vernet in 1939-1940; German use of former White soldiers during WW II; and the war in the Smolensk area in 1942-1943. Notably collection includes typescritp draft of Grand Dukes' Mikhail Aleksandrovich, Kirill Vladimirovich and Pavel Aleksandrovich Manifesto of March 1 1917 (manifesto on granting constitution) with N. N. Ivanov's holograph notes and P. Miliukov's signature. There is also a letter to Ivanov from General Johan Laidoner, commander of the Estonian army.

One letter, manuscripts, and printed materials of Aleksei Fedorovich Girs and of his wife, Liubov' Aleksandrovna Girs. The letter, dated 1914, when Girs was governor of Minsk, is addressed to N. A. Maklakov. Aleksei Gir's memoirs cover such topics as his service in Estland; Petr Stolypin; the "Jewish question;" Tsar Nicholas II; and independent Estonia, where he lived in 1918-1924. There are also two reports by Girs from the time of his service in Minsk. ́Liubov Girs is represented chiefly by diaries from 1901-1918, particularly on Odessa in 1905-1906; Stolypin's murder in 1911; and Nizhny Novgorod in 1917. Among the printed materials are announcements of Gir's accession to the Minsk governorship in 1914-1915.