The Huntington Library

Resources (19)

• Andrew Johnson (1808-1875)

  U.S. president. Letter of 20 June 1867 authorizes his Secretary of State W. H. Seward to seal the proclamation of the treaty ceding Russian possessions in North America to the U.S.

• Armenian Manuscript

  Four Gospels dated 1724.

• Beaufort Collection

  Report, by Alexander Dalrymple, first hydrographer of the British Admiralty, on the Russian Empire, 1779–1808, 12 pp. The report, dated 3 March 1808, shows the empire's vulnerability in Siberia and the Far East; comments on the possible seizure of Kamchatka, Russian fur trade, and the possibilities of a British assault on Russian Pacific and North American possessions; and estimates Russia's military and population strength in Siberia. (In part, NUCMC 71–1045)

• Charles Henry Janin (1873-1937)

  American mining engineer. Personal and business letters, reports, photographs, and account books, 1915–36. Most relate to mining operations (gold and platinum) in Siberia; some letters, articles, and notes concern Russian politics and domestic affairs.

• Charles Ross Parke (1823-?)

  Doctor. Parke served Nicholas I as a surgeon in the Crimean War. His diary for 1855–56, ca. 150 pp., describes his experiences in the Russian army. A 1905 letter from Count Sergei Witte thanks Parke for his service to Russia; a newspaper clipping recounts his career.

• Ellesmere Collection

  Papers of the Egerton family, Earls of Ellesmere, 1150–1800. Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley, was lord keeper of the great seal under Elizabeth I and lord chancellor of England under James I for almost 20 years. He was thus intimately concerned with diplomatic affairs. His greatgrandson, John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgewater, was first lord of trade and also a member of the Privy Council of William III. Among the papers are: copy of a letter from Tsar Boris Godunov to Queen Elizabeth I dated December 1598; "A Declaracion of the proceeding of Mr. Fraunces [Francis] Cherry sent as a messenger by her Majestie Elizabeth I, Queen of England, to the Emperor of Muskovia," 24 March 1598/99; "Reasons to induce his Majestie [James I] to the loan of monie unto the great Emperor of Russia, now required by his Ambassador Alexsey Evanour," 5 May 1614; "An Information to the Right Hon. Lords of the High Court of Parliament concerning the state of the Russia trade" [reign of James I]; and notes by John Egerton concerning trade with Russia in William III's reign.

• Frederick Jackson Turner (1861-1932)

  American historian. Letter from Thomas Powderly Martin, a YMCA worker in Vladivostok, 9 September 1918, describes events in Russia (Vladivostok) during the Revolution and Civil War.

• Galvez Collection

  4 letters and reports discussing Russian interest in settlements in California during the 1760s, sent by Carlos F. de Croix to Jose de Galvez, Marques de la Sonora (in Spanish).

• Guerra Family

  Correspondence, 1810–41. Photocopies of letters written in Spanish. About 35 of them mention Russians in California, Russian ships and shipping, and a Russian expedition to San Francisco. (Originals of the letters are in the Santa Barbara Mission Archive and Library, Santa Barbara, California [q.v.])

• Henry Clay (1777-1852)

  Statesman, senator, Secretary of State (1825–29). Correspondence with and reports from Russian envoys to the United States regarding Russian-American relations and trade, damage claims of American merchants and ship owners against the tsarist government, and Russian Pacific Coast settlements (Treaty of 1824). There are references to Baron de Tuyll, Russian Envoy Extraordinaire and Minister Plenipotentiary to the U.S.; Count Khristofor Andreevich Lieven, Russian ambassador to London, 1812–34; Baron Pavel Alekseevich de Krudener, also Envoy Extraordinaire and Minister Plenipotentiary to the U.S.; Count Karl Robert Nesselrode, foreign minister of Alexander I and Nicholas I; Baron de Mallitz, Russian charge d'affaires; Madame Daschkoff (Dashkova); and the 1826 Convention of St. Petersburg.

• Jack London (1876-1916)

  American writer. Correspondence. About 14 items concern the Russo-Japanese War in 1904; letters from 1913–15 refer to Russian socialism.

• Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1808-1890)

  Spanish official and soldier. Includes his correspondence and reports relating to an investigation of Russian activities in and around Fort Ross, California, 1830s.

• Raphael Pumpelly (1837-1923)

  Papers, 1839–1916, ca. 3,500 items. American mining engineer. He worked in Russia, Japan, and China. 1 volume contains notes on his trip from St. Petersburg to Peking via Siberia and Mongolia in 1864. More of his notebooks and some diaries of his wife, Eliza S. Pumpelly, describe a Trans-Caspian expedition in 1901–02. (NUCMC 71–1083)

• Robert Alonzo Brock (1839-1914)

  Historian and collector. Transcript of a toast "made by American Minister to Russia Colonel Charles Steward Todd in response to a toast in Amity with Russia" (1843), the latter apparently made by a Count Worozow Daschkoff (Vorontsov-Dashkov).

• Samuel Cooper (1725-1783)

  Scholar and Congregational minister. Letter (1 February 1781) from James Lovell discusses Russian and Danish neutrality in the American Revolutionary War.

• Stowe Collection

  Includes "A Short Account of the Revenues of the [Russian] Empire," ca. 1763, handwritten 4 fols.; a "Declaration on the use of the Sib[erian] Corps of 45,000 men," dated 29 June 1799, a copy; and the "Account of his mission to the Southern parts of Russia," August 1806, by the British envoy William Eton. Eton's mission was to purchase naval stories for Malta and to obtain information on commerce in southern Russia. The Stowe collection also contains papers of George Grenville (1712–70), British prime minister in 1763–65: 8 vols, (secret and confidential letterbooks) of diplomatic correspondence and dispatches, 1761–62. Each book is approximately 250 pp. Some letters, in French and English, speak of Peter III, the Seven Years' War, and Russo-British relations.

• Thomas Hastie Bell (1867-1942)

  Author. Correspondence with and about Catherine Breshkovsky (Ekaterina Breshko-Breshkovskaia), his biographical essay on Breshkovsky in 1934, 11 pp., photocopy, and information on post-1917 Russian relief work and Soviet Russia. References to Alexander Kerensky and to the anarchists Peter Kropotkin and Alexander Berkman. About half the materials are photo reproductions.

• Walter Scribner Schuyler (1850-1935)

  Papers, 1817–1932). Brigadier general. Served with the Russian army in Manchuria in 1904. Detailed report by him on the Russian army in Manchuria, an order from General Alexei Nikolaievich Kuropatkin to Manchurian forces, 19 September 1904, and descriptions of the Battle of Mukden. Many years earlier, as president and general manager of the Sierra-Alaska Mining Company, Schuyler traveled in Russia. Letters to his family, 1875, describe Russian society and manners.

• William Alexander Leidesdorff (1810-1848)

  Ca. 5 letters concern John A. Sutter (of gold rush fame), his property dealings with the Russian-American Company and its representatives, and his debts to the company (1840s). Some letters are to Tobenhoff.