Review of the personal collection of A. A. Bashmakov and M. N. Bashmakova in the Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian & East European Culture

Beklemisheva Mariya Mikhailovna ORCID: 0000-0002-6648-6395 PhD in History Teaching assistant, Department of History and Cultural Studies, National Research University "Moscow Power Engineering Institute"; Researcher, Center for the Study of the History of the Great Patriotic War, The Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences 117292, Russia, Moscow, Dmitry Ulyanov str., 19, room 38 mariabekl@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The study and introduction into scientific circulation of the archival heritage of figures of Russian emigration – scientists, writers, journalists, political and public figures – is an urgent task for Russian historical science. As archivist A. S. Lovtsov notes, information about the location of documents of Russian origin abroad makes it possible to present in the most complete form the entire range of sources from the era of wars and revolutions, restore or replenish missing data from many funds, and make the source base of historical research as representative as possible^[1]. In Russian historiography, there is an overview of P. N. Milyukov's personal fund in the Bakhmetyevsky Archive^[2], however, the vast majority of the rich collections of this archive still need to be described. One of these funds is the personal fund of A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov.

Russian jurist, publicist, journalist, ethnographer Alexander Alexandrovich Bashmakov was born on December 25, 1858 in Odessa. In 1881, he graduated from Novorossiysk University with a PhD in law and from that moment connected his life with the practice of law. He was known to his contemporaries not only as an employee of N. A. Manasein and later P. A. Stolypin, but also as a publicist who defended the importance of the "Slavic idea" for Russia and often criticized the Russian Foreign Ministry. During the Civil War, A. A. Bashmakov was the head of the Office of the Warehouse Management of the Southwestern Front of the Russian Red Cross Society and carried out special assignments for this organization.

In 1920, together with the retreating troops of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, A. A. Bashmakov evacuated to Constantinople, and then to Yugoslavia, where the first 5 years of his emigration took place. In September 1924, together with his wife, he moved to Paris. Having found himself in the Caucasus during the Civil War, he became interested in Caucasian studies, working in the local library in Tiflis, which was famous for the richest department in this scientific discipline. This determined his interests as a scientist: in France, A. A. Bashmakov became a major ethnographer, lectured at the School of Anthropology. An associate of A. A. Bashmakov, G. K. Graf, recalled about him that he was a scientist in his psychology, i.e. alien to ambition and worldly interests^[3]. Appreciated by French scientists and deeply respected by Russians, he had great acquaintances among the French and knew the French language perfectly. In addition, A. A. Bashmakov became a prominent figure in the legitimist movement, which recognized Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich as Emperor-in-exile Kirill I. For 9 years he served as deputy to the august representative of Kirill Vladimirovich in Paris (sometimes his position is referred to simply as "representative of Kirill Vladimirovich in Paris"), since 1925 being a member of the "Sovereign's Conference".

A. A. Bashmakov, like his wife Maria Nikolaevna, a well-known philanthropist, was engaged in public activities: he was a member of a number of societies, including the chairman of the Suvorov Committee, designed to preserve the memory of the great commander.

A. A. Bashmakov passed away on August 1 (14), 1943, and was buried at the Saint-Genevieve-de-Bois cemetery together with his wife M. N. Bashmakova.

A. A. Bashmakov's wife Maria Nikolaevna, nee Gruzinova, in her first marriage Gonetskaya (1870-1959), was a graduate of the Catherine Institute in St. Petersburg, graduated from the Sisters of Mercy courses during the First World War, worked in hospitals and the Red Cross. In exile in Belgrade, she became the head of the women's Institute, in Paris she worked for the news agency L'imformation and gave private lessons. Russian Russian Cultural Heritage Protection Society's chairman of the Ladies' Committee and a member of the committee to raise funds for the renovation of St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, for which she received special thanks from the Russian emigration in Paris. She was a stepmother to A. A. Bashmakov's children from his first marriage.

The documents of the emigrant archive of A. A. Bashmakov and his wife Maria Nikolaevna are kept in the Bakhmetyev Archive of Russian and Eastern European Culture at Columbia University, New York, USA (Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Columbia University. Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian & East European Culture)^[4]. It is the second largest repository of Russian documents outside Russia and the former Soviet Union after the Hoover Institute. Part of the documents of the personal fund of A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov in 1956-1958 was acquired by the Bakhmetyevsky archive from the widow of A. A. Bashmakov, M. N. Bashmakova. Another part was donated to this archive in 1960 by Fr. Alexander Chekan. The entire personal fund of the Bashmakovs has about 5 thousand storage units located in 23 boxes.

The fund we are considering has practically not become an object of study for historians. In his article "Documents of members of the Russian Imperial House in the archives of the United States", A. N. Zakatov mentions this fund, noting that it contains letters and other documents of Kirill Vladimirovich^[5]. Very brief information about its contents is presented in the publication by V. L. Gentshke and I. V. Sabennikova "Documents of Russian historians-emigrants in the archives of Great Britain and the USA"^[6] according to the inventory of the fund published on the archive's website. I have not had to deal with detailed publications or citations of any documents of this fund, therefore, it seems an urgent task to present it to Russian researchers.

Most of the documents of the A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov foundation are related to their life in exile in Paris: there is extensive family correspondence, correspondence of A. A. Bashmakov on ethnography, letters to A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov from figures of Russian emigration and public organizations, manuscripts of A. A. Bashmakov's works written in exile. Russian Russian Museum has also preserved the passport books of A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov, access documents for different years, certificates, photographs, etc. Box 5 contains a number of documents addressed to M. N. Bashmakova: letters of thanks from the Society for the Protection of Russian Cultural Values and correspondence with various persons about the activities of this society; congratulations from figures of the Russian emigration in connection with the centenary of the birth of A. A. Bashmakov (1958) and much more. Due to the loss of documents due to constant relocation during the Civil War and emigration to Serbia, the documents of this life stage of the spouses are much less represented, which, however, does not detract from their value, since this period of their life is very poorly represented in Russian archives.

The first 5 boxes contain mostly unsorted family correspondence. The first box also contains cataloged correspondence consisting of letters from P. N. Krasnov and 1-2 copies of letters from Henry Field, P. N. Wrangel and B. K. Zaitsev and others – mostly thanks. Correspondence with General P. N. Krasnov, who lived in France since November 1923, is based on the issue of publishing his novel "From the Double-headed Eagle to the Red Banner" in French. A. A. Bashmakov and his wife were engaged in translating the novel into French^[7]. The author was very grateful to A. A. Bashmakov for his assistance in publishing this work by Payot publishing house in Paris, which was carried out, however, much later, in 1929.^[8] Consisting of 4 volumes, the novel was of considerable interest to the Russian emigrant public, however, not all publishers agreed to publish it in full, and he I came out with abbreviations. On November 5, 1924, P. N. Krasnov wrote to A. A. Bashmakov: "Knowing perfectly well that such a large novel for material reasons cannot be published immediately without a certain risk, I have taken steps to gradually publish it. Currently, the translation of volume 4 is being completed, which will probably be released by Christmas as an independent novel called "Sous les drapeaux rouges" ("Under Red Flags" – M. B.) in the edition of O. L. Dyakova in Germany. In case of material success of this publication, the translation of the remaining volumes will be started"^[9]. There are also a number of other documents in the case related to the publication of the novel in French: copies of letters from A. A. Bashmakov to Dr. Leites, the owner of the rights to publish the novel by P. N. Krasnov; letters from K. Leites to A. A. Bashmakov, correspondence between A. A. Bashmakov and Payot, etc.

In the same box, in a separate folder, two letters from E. K. Miller to A. A. Bashmakov are stored, in which the author discusses the relationship between legitimists and members of the Russian General Military Union (February 10 and March 22, 1934), such an important issue for A. A. Bashmakov as a member of the "Sovereign's Conference". E. K. Miller was upset the political separation of the representatives of the ROVS and the legitimist movement, the "Kirillovites" and "Nikolayevets" that took place in Harbin, as well as the desire of the legitimists to subordinate the members of the ROVS to their ideology. "The actions of the Office (Kirill Vladimirovich – M. B.), which constantly refers to the will of the "Emperor" in such ugly acts," wrote E. K. Miller, "cannot but arouse the most negative attitude towards themselves and, as if on purpose, undermine all attempts to establish peace between organizations that, by their essence and origin, should they would have lived peacefully side by side, in a good-neighborly way, respecting the opinions of others and remembering that first of all they were Russian officers who did not accept Bolshevism"^[10]. There are no copies of A. A. Bashmakov's reply letters to E. K. Miller in the file.

In the folder with unsystematic correspondence ("Correspondence") of box 1 there are letters from A. A. Bashmakov to his wife in French (1919-1927), undated notes left by the spouses to each other, reflecting the tender relationship between them. It also contains individual documents, for example, the certificate of the Russian Red Cross Society, given by M. N. Bashmakova (1920), with biographical information about her; post-telegrams of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich and Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna with gratitude for birthday greetings; dozens of letters from Svyatoslav Alexandrovich Bashmakov, brother of A. A. Bashmakova, from Bulgaria. Of particular note is a typewritten letter from N. E. Markov to A. A. Bashmakov from Frankfurt am Main on August 23, 1939. In it, N. E. Markov thanks the addressee for providing a bibliography on the origin of the Armenian people and asks to notify him in case of publication of new works. N. E. Markov expressed confidence that the coverage of the issue of the origin of the Armenians will help to form a correct view in Nazi Germany of them as a non-Semitic people. Since 1936, he worked in the editorial office of the anti-Semitic weekly World Service in Germany^[11], studying Jewish and Masonic issues and publishing bulletins on them in various languages, including Russian. On this occasion, he wrote to A. A. Bashmakov: "I had the idea of sending you these ballots, but I have so far refrained, bearing in mind that these ballots will be accepted as acts of anti-Semitic propaganda and will unwittingly cause you trouble. Personally, I am satisfied with this kind of activity, because I have to work in the very field that has always interested me and in which I have some awareness"^[12]. M. N. Bashmakova noted in her memoirs that A. A. Bashmakov thus saved Armenians from persecution. He never told anyone about it, and the letters were hidden by Maria Nikolaevna in a safe^[13]. A. A. Bashmakov also provided N. E. Markov with information about the non-Semitic origin of the Karaites, and since his book "50 Centuries of Ethnic Evolution around the Black Sea" was written two years before the war, as M. N. Bashmakova pointed out, he could not be suspected of falsifying facts in any way.

The documents in boxes 2-5 are also a placer. Russian Russian and French letters were deposited in them: Constance Evgenievna Obrucheva M. N. Bashmakova from Belgrade; A. A. Bashmakov's son Vladimir Alexandrovich (1884-1936), sent by Bashmakov to Paris, in Russian and French; A. A. Bashmakov's daughter Nadezhda Alexandrovna from Soviet Russia, addressed to Paris and brother Vladimir in Serbia, in Russian and French letters and postcards from Mikhail Andreevich Shcherbinin (1856-1941)– the stepbrother of A. A. Bashmakov on his mother's side (also in Russian and French, from Chicago); letters from A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov to their children, letters from relatives and friends and separate letters from organizations. In some cases, the correspondents of the letters could not be identified. The set of these documents reflects the contacts of A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov in France and abroad, their family ties, financial situation, organization of life and daily life of spouses and their children. It should be noted that A. A. Bashmakov's eldest son Georgy (Yuri) Alexandrovich (1883-1934) and daughter Nadezhda Alexandrovna (1885-1938) lived in the USSR. Speaking about this, A. A. Bashmakov wrote to his son Volodya in Paraguay on April 24, 1927: "It is so important, without missing long intervals, to write off continuously, bearing in mind that you and we are the last fragment of the family who were given to survive far from the cruel yoke of enemies. Your brother and your sister have remained forever dear to my heart, along with you, but I dare not write to them, no matter what Nadia thinks about the safety of such correspondence, and a purely external (not mental) gap created by the Bolsheviks has formed between them and us"^[14]. Despite this, Nadezhda Alexandrovna conducted extensive correspondence with her father, stepmother and brother, passing letters through her friend in Paris, Anna Petrovna Zhikhareva. Her letters reflect Soviet everyday life in Leningrad in the 1920s - 1930s and are a valuable source for reconstructing the biography of "former people" in Soviet Russia during this period. In 1935, A. P. Zhikhareva gave A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov a letter from Nadezhda Alexandrovna, in which she informed about her arrest and expulsion from Leningrad (the letter is missing in the archive). M. N. Bashmakova wrote about this to Vladimir in Paraguay: "I am enclosing an extremely sad letter from Nadia; it really, really alarmed us – she was expelled, deprived of earnings forever, was very ill with malaria, Alek (son of Nadezhda A. A. Voeikov – M. B.) also lost everything. This happened probably a year ago^[15]; A. P. Zhikhareva, who gives us Nadia's letters, understands that during one of the purges she was sent from St. Petersburg to the mouth of the Lena to Tulun, and then to the Caspian Sea somewhere near Astrakhan. V. F. (in the letters there is the name of a certain Vera Fedorovna is M. B.), also exiled, but exiled to Siberia, and O. M. Ryndina is also a lady exiled from St. Petersburg. Oh my God! When will this hell end? Nadia is a great stoic; in other letters to A. P. Zh [ihareva] she writes (A. P. read it to us) that Alek does not grumble, does not lose heart. What a good fellow! He has the legacy of A. A. [Bashmakov] – the inflexibility of the spirit, despite all the difficulties of life. I respect such people; life is so short that we must overcome it in every possible way until death conquers us and gives us eternal rest"^[16]. Maria Nikolaevna was going to send money to Nadezhda, having previously found out from A. P. Zhikhareva whether it was dangerous. However, the Astrakhan exile could not protect N. A. Bashmakova from the increased repressions. On January 17, 1938, she was sentenced to capital punishment for "counterrevolutionary activities" and shot in Stalingrad. A. A. Bashmakov did not know about the death of his relatives: daughter in 1938, grandson in 1937, eldest son in 1934. This is evidenced by the draft of his petition to the future legitimate (restored imperial) government in In Russia, the recognition of the only grandson as his legitimate heir^[17]. The son of N. A. Bashmakova, A. A. Voeikov, died in an Astrakhan prison in 1937.^[18]

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Bashmakovs knew practically nothing about the life in Soviet Russia of their eldest son, Georgy Alexandrovich, who took monastic vows. In the fund under consideration, only a copy of his letter, made by Nadezhda, has been preserved, in which he asks his father A. A. Bashmakov to bless him for a "new life in Christ Jesus"^[19], to which consent was given. Apparently, this was the only letter that Nadezhda mentions, sent to her in the spring of 1928 and copied by her for her parents. In 1933, Georgy was sentenced to death under Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and executed in February 1934.

It is necessary to dwell on the epistolary legacy of the younger son of A. A. Bashmakov, Vladimir Alexandrovich, an artillery officer, a participant in the White Movement and the Chaka War. His first letter was dated 1919, and his last was dated September 16, 1935. There are about 118 letters in total, of which 91 are in French, 24 in Russian and 3 using both languages. This set of letters reveals Vladimir Alexandrovich as a person, allows us to shed light on the details of his promotion in Serbia and Paraguay. In addition to letters, there are his writings on the occult, short stories, a "Course of esoteric initiation" (14 lectures), rewritten by the hand of Vladimir's wife O. A. Turchaninova, as well as a copy of the diary – chronology of the First Kuban campaign and subsequent battles^[20].

Olga Turchaninova's letters, which she sent to Paris, are also preserved in the archive. Olga apparently took her own letters to Volodya, letters from A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov addressed to her and Volodya, photographs – all this with her when leaving Asuncion for Belgrade after the tragic death of her husband in 1936, as it was dear to her heart, and handed it over to his parents. This is how they subsequently ended up in the archive fund we are considering.

The complete manuscripts of the memoirs of M. N. Bashmakova and N. A. Bashmakova, deposited in the Bakhmetyevsky archive (box 15), are of great value^[21]. Nadezhda Alexandrovna's memoirs are devoted to her early childhood (late 1880s - early 1890s). The idea of an autobiographical story about childhood and youth in three parts appeared in October 1928, when Nadezhda lived in Leningrad. Unfortunately, only one part was written, the first, with a volume of 90 typewritten pages. In addition, a number of pages have been damaged by rodents, which is why a small part of the text has been lost. Such damage is typical for documents stored in South America, so there is reason to believe that this is the only copy of the manuscript available to us was sent to Vladimir Alexandrovich in Paraguay, and then, along with the rest of the documents, was returned by Olga Turchaninova Bashmakov.

In her memoirs, Nadezhda describes in detail the situation and life, as well as the nature of the areas where her family had to live in connection with her father's service (Dubno, Libava, Luga). She gives a psychological image of her older brothers and relatives, describes relationships with parents and peers, the problems of raising and educating children in the family. For a modern researcher, memories can be useful as a source in such an interdisciplinary and relatively new field as the history of childhood. The manuscript of the memoirs was highly appreciated and discussed in the private correspondence of relatives, sent to Bashmakov in Paris and to his brother Vladimir Alexandrovich in Paraguay. During 1930-1934, A. A. Bashmakov compiled notes to it, clarifying the information provided by his daughter, recalling the people mentioned by her, commenting on the circumstances of private life. By the nature of the notes, it is clear that they were compiled not only for loved ones, but also for people outside the family circle: the commentator writes in detail about his service in Russia, lists his writings and even the classification indexes of his journal in the National Library of France. The notes allow us to reconstruct a number of interesting details of the pre-revolutionary biography of A. A. Bashmakov and his family. Together with the manuscript of N. A. Bashmakova's memoirs, several photographs of V. A. Bashmakov from Paraguay are kept: his house; himself sitting by the campfire; his tombstone in the cemetery in Asuncion and several of his letters.

Box 15 also contains a copy of the Russian version of M. N. Bashmakova's memoirs "The Experience" (typewritten with handwritten edits, 213 pages, 1958). Initially, the memoirs were published in French^[22]. The author tells about the history of his family, studies at the Catherine Institute, meetings with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and other members of the imperial family, about the activities of her first husband D. I. Gonetsky (1861-1909), his work in the Red Cross, detour of Russian prisoner of war camps in Austria, serving in the Volunteer Army, obtaining the post of head of the Serbian Institute in Belgrade, work in exile. The author of the memoirs has experienced the most dramatic periods of Russian and European history: revolutions, the First World War, the hardest trials of the Civil War, the hardships of emigration and, finally, the Second World War. M. N. Bashmakova's son died of typhus at the beginning of the First World War, the only daughter emigrated to South America, was disabled. Maria Nikolaevna expressed her life position in the introduction to her memoirs: "Yes, [I] lived a long life, there were bright pages, moments of acute happiness and even long-lasting happiness, which I did not notice, thinking that it was necessary and would always be so, and then a lot, a lot of grief, deep, heavy grief. Looking back, it seems to me that only one thing is strong: in whatever circumstances I was, at the head of a big business and responsibility, in an ordinary life filled with petty fuss, I had to fulfill my duty, which I tried to do as much as I could, even sometimes beyond my apparent strength. In this I found and find justification for my life and moral satisfaction"^[7]. The memoirs contain excerpts from the diary of M. N. Bashmakova for June 1940 about the advance of the Wehrmacht in France, the events of August – September 1944 and the events of May 1945.^[23] (there is no diary in the archive). Drafts of appendices to the memoirs are separately placed in neighboring folders: "The Case of the Gruzinov Brothers" (a manuscript by an unidentified author and a typewriter of the same content – brief information about the service of the Don Cossacks Yevgraf, Peter, Roman and Afanasy Gruzinov, ancestors of M. N. Bashmakova on her father, under Catherine II and Paul I, and the execution of Yevgraf Gruzinov); letter from A. A. Bashmakov to N. A. Maklakov on the occasion of his resignation; information about the Bashmakov family; excerpt from S. F. Platonov's memoirs about his student years at St. Petersburg University with mention of A. A. Bashmakov; note in the journal "Russian Thought" about the posthumous awarding of A. A. Bashmakov with the prize of the French Academy (June 1949); Curriculum vitae A. A. Bashmakova et al.^[24] A number of documents have been translated into French for subsequent publication. These documents are not attached to the Russian version of the memoirs.

Some documents of the foundation tell about the pre-revolutionary activities of A. A. Bashmakov. In particular, the fund has his "Certificate of Writings", published from the autumn of 1880 to June 1933^[25], an autobiography of 1937 and other autobiographical notes, as well as biographical articles compiled by M. N. Bashmakova for publication of obituaries in newspapers or magazines after his death. The list of works by A. A. Bashmakov is of considerable interest, especially the part of it that was not published by the author in pre-revolutionary Russia. After the publication of the last printed list of his works in 1911,^[26] A. A. Bashmakov was forced to take a break during the last years of official service and all sorts of life vicissitudes. It was only during his emigration to Paris in 1930, partly from memory, partly from preserved manuscripts, that he resumed recording works, but with large omissions. A total of 572 works were recorded in the list compiled in emigration, including oral speeches, the texts of which were not published^[27].

In box 9, the texts of speeches by A. A. Bashmakov, delivered at various meetings, were deposited. In particular, these are sketches of speeches "Suvorov's testaments" for the solemn meeting of the Suvorov Committee on November 23, 1930; "Save the Russian army! An appeal to the Serbian people" (1921, the addressee is not specified); "The Crisis of the Slavic Idea", subsequently published in the Jubilee Collection of the Slavic Charitable Society in Bulgaria (1924); speeches on the death of fr. George Spassky, reflections on the revolution in Russia, etc.^[28] In addition, in box 6, in a separate folder, his "Conversation about Eurasianism" is preserved – apparently, a sketch for a future publication in which he criticizes the positive attitude of Eurasians to the revolution, disregard for the "old", imperial Russia, which he I couldn't accept it in any way. At the end of the essay, A. A. Bashmakov appealed to them: "Break the ties that bind you to the revolutionary ideology. Tear them up due to the logical bias of your origin, your pedigree, as the spiritual grandchildren of Slavophilism. Understand that solidarity with the "historical", so-called "old Russia", does not mean denying progress and refusing to cure ulcers and social ills"^[29].

Speaking about the personal fund of A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov, it is impossible not to mention the richest set of documents reflecting Bashmakov's work on ethnography in France in the 1920s - 1940s. Boxes 10-14 contain the texts of lectures he gave at the School of Anthropology in 1932-1940, notes on the works of N. Ya. Marr, chapters Apparently, an unpublished book from 1927 reflecting A. A. Bashmakov's interest in the history of the peoples of the Caucasus and the Black Sea region. Box 3 contains a folder with extensive correspondence between A. A. Bashmakov and anthropologist and ethnographer S. M. Shirokogorov for 1933-1938.^[30]

Boxes 19-21 contain printed materials: These are books by A. A. Bashmakov published in pre-revolutionary Russia (according to him, it was incredibly difficult to get them), his articles published in the Belgrade edition of Novoye Vremya in 1922, separate issues of the monarchical magazines Verny Put, The Double-Headed Eagle with articles by A. A. Bashmakov.

Documents related to the activities of A. A. Bashmakov as a member of the "Sovereign's Conference" under Kirill Vladimirovich are presented in 5 voluminous folders^[31]. Among them there are several letters from the head of the Office of G. K. Graf. In general, hundreds of documents are devoted to the issues of the legitimist movement, mainly in box 18. Noteworthy are the drafts of letters by A. A. Bashmakov addressed to Kirill Vladimirovich (1930), where he criticizes the political views of the Young Russians^[32]. His attempts to convince Kirill Vladimirovich of the extreme harmfulness of the "Union of Young Russians" for legitimism were unsuccessful. The head of the imperial house believed that the legitimist movement was not a political party, and therefore all his loyal subjects, no matter what organizations they belonged to, were equally dear to him and he did not make any differences between them. The fund postponed the "Order of the Sovereign Emperor" issued on March 25 (April 7), 1931, No. 91, in which Kirill Vladimirovich wrote: "Since this Union [of Young Russians] strives to restore the natural royal power and is sincerely devoted to me, I wholeheartedly welcome its development and wish it complete success"^[33]. The differences in the views of Kirill Vladimirovich and A. A. Bashmakov as his representative found expression in another plane, as evidenced by the original letter of the head of the Imperial house dated February 15 (28), 1932, where he notes the undesirability of his representatives speaking at political meetings without his knowledge and without warning about the topic of the speech, even as individuals^[34]. In the end, disagreements with Kirill Vladimirovich and the head of his office led to the dismissal of A. A. Bashmakov from the post of Kirill Vladimirovich's representative in Paris (June 25, 1934).

In conclusion, we note that the collection of documents by A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov in the Bakhmetyev Archive of Columbia University may arouse the interest of Russian and foreign specialists in the history of emigration, ethnography, archival Russian, the history of the Civil War and other areas of historical science. The foundation's documents provide a huge amount of new information about the spouses' activities in emigration, their views, social circle, relationships with loved ones, and in addition, complement the already existing historical portraits of other prominent figures of Russian emigration. The difficulty of working with the collection lies in its strong lack of systematization, however, the complex of documents can still be divided into several large groups: first of all, these are family correspondence, materials on ethnography and the monarchist movement, printed materials. It should also be noted the wide chronological coverage of the documents: their bulk was created in 1919-1958. A. A. and M. N. Bashmakov carefully treated their archive, preserving copies of their works and creating copies of letters and documents to fill in the gaps. This provides researchers with a predominantly complete, unified set of source material.