Papers, 1819–1966, 24 ft. In the papers of Claude Fayette Bragdon (1866–1946), artist, architect, author, lecturer, stage designer, and philosopher, there is correspondence of Petr Demianovich Uspenskii, 42 letters, 1920–45, and of Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich, 25 letters, 1922–41. Uspenskii's letters pertain to the translation and publication of his book Tertium Organum and to occult subjects; the Roerich letters pertain to painting and occult subjects, including Eastern religions. Unpublished finding aid (NUCMC 61–1634). Finding aid available: https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/finding-aids/AB81
Dexter Perkins (b. 1889)
Papers, 1905–64, 1 box. History professor. Traveled as a graduate student in Europe before World War I. 3 (of ca. 60) letters are from St. Petersburg, 1 from Moscow, during his stay in Russia, October 1912. The Russian stay is recorded in his autobiography Yield of the Years (Boston, 1969). Unpublished finding aid.
Edward Peck Curtis (b. 1897)
Papers, 1919–75, 1 box. Rochester businessman; secretary to John A. Gade, U.S. commissioner to the Baltic states after World War I. Includes his diary for November 1919-June 1920, several hundred pp., with his record of events and observations of the Baltic region; and a typescript of reminiscences based on the diary, 10 pp., written in 1976. Unpublished finding aid.
Hiram Sibley Family
Papers, in process. Papers of Hiram Sibley (1807–1888), American financier, organizer, and first president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, contain ca. 6 in. of material on the Russian-American telegraph line, on which his company expended ca. $3 million. Includes correspondence, mainly to Sibley, and other manuscript material, plus printed ephemera, documenting the negotiations between Western Union officials and the Russian government. Among the correspondents: Nicholas Abasa (at least 6 letters), Cassius M. Clay (at least 11 letters, 1865–67), and James Thai (at least 7 letters, 1865–66). There are also several family letters written by Sibley during an 1865 trip to Russia.
James Wood Colt (1858-1941)
Papers, 1908–23, 1 box, 61 items. Railroad builder. Ca. 25 items (letters, reports, and contracts) relate to negotiations Colt carried on in 1915 for the sale of Spanish rifles to Russia. 4 items from 1917 concern his investigation of Russian resources. Unpublished finding aid (NUCMC 61–3010).
William Henry Seward (1801-1872)
Papers, ca. 1776–1910, 150 ft. and 11 microfilm reels. U.S. secretary of state, 1861–69. Negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. A small but undetermined amount of correspondence concerns Russian-American relations and the transfer of Alaska. 1 folder (drawer E) holds prints made from a microfilm of material in the archives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including letters from Edouard de Stoeckl in the U.S. to Prince A. M. Gorchakov, the Russian foreign minister, in 1866–68. They concern the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the U.S. Unpublished finding aids (NUCMC 61–1621).
