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Alyce Batchelder Collection of George Grebenstchikoff

 Collection
Call Number: GEN MSS 589

Scope and Contents

The papers in this collection document the work of Alyce Batchelder as well as the correspondence and writings of George Grebenstchikoff. Alyce Batchelder's correspondence documents her work as literary executor for the George Grebenstchikoff estate after Grebenschikoff's death. George Grebenstchikoff's papers document a variety of personal and professional domains, including his activity to honor the Russian writer Ivan Bunin and his account of a lawsuit brought against him by Harold Hecht. The collection also contains a few early letters to George Grebenstchikoff's wife Tatiana that date from the years before her emigration to the United States.

Dates

  • 1898 - 1995
  • Majority of material found within 1947 - 1967

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials in Russian and English.

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Alyce Batchelder Collection of George Grebenstchikoff is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Alyce Batchelder, 2002.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into four Series: Correspondence, Writings, Other Papers, and Personal Effects.

Associated Materials

The University of Minnesota Immigration History Research Center has a significant collection of the papers of George and Tatiana Grebenstchikoff.

Extent

4.69 Linear Feet (7 boxes)

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.greb

Abstract

The papers in this collection document the work of Alyce Batchelder as well as the correspondence and writings of George Grebenstchikoff (in Russian, Georgii Grebenshchikov). Alyce Batchelder's correspondence documents her work as literary executor for the George Grebenstchikoff estate after Grebenschikoff's death. George Grebenstchikoff's papers include professional correspondence and a collection of Russian medals. Correspondents include Dmitri Alexandrow, Pearl S. Buck (letters related to the Russian writer Ivan Bunin), Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, George Sabo, Igor Sikorsky and Maurice J. and Lilli Swetland. The collection also contains a few early letters to George Grebenstchikoff's wife Tatiana that date from the years before her emigration to the United States. Realia in the collection include Russian military and religious medals.

George Grebenstchikoff, 1882-1964

George Grebenstchikoff (in Russian Georgii Dmitrievich Grebenshchikov) was born May 6 (April 24 Old Style) 1883 in the Tomsk Oblast of Russia. In 1917 he married Tatiana Denisovna Stadnik, whom he met when she acted in a play he wrote. He published segments of his serialized novel Churaevy before emigrating to Paris (1920) and then the United States (1924). In 1925 he and Ilia Tolstoi founded the Churaevka artists' colony in Southbury, Connecticut, where Grebenstchikoff also directed the Alatas publishing house. The Grebenstchikoffs later moved to Florida, where George Grebenstchikoff taught creative writing and Russian literature at Florida Southern College from 1941 to 1952.

In addition to Churaevy, Grebenstchikoff's principal writings include the novel The Turbulent Giant (1940) and Egorkina zhizn' (published posthumously in 1966), an autobiographical work.

Alyce Batchelder befriended George and Tatiana Grebenstchikoff in Lakeland, Florida and became the literary executor for the George Grebenstchikoff estate in 1965.

Title
Guide to the Alyce Batchelder Collection of George Grebenstchikoff
Status
Under Revision
Author
by Lisa Conathan
Date
2007
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

Contact:
P. O. Box 208330
New Haven CT 06520-8330 US
(203) 432-2977

Location

121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours

Access Information

The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.