Amassing Russica and Ucrainica: Memoirs of a Collector and His Collecting

ABSTRACT Over the course of the last several years I have made significant donations of Ukrainian and Russian books, manuscripts, art works, and ephemera to a number of institutions, most notably to the Bakhmeteff Archive/Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University, the Museum of Russian Icons (Clinton, MA), the Museum of Russian History (Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY), and Special Collections at Hamilton College (Clinton, NY). The materials gifted to Columbia have been described as “probably one of the more significant collections of early imprints to come available in recent memory.” This memoir-essay explores my early and mature stages of collecting and the growing impact of study, teaching, and research at Columbia, in the Soviet Union, and at Hamilton College on subsequent focused acquisition of items, in particular relating to Pochayiv Lavra and Ukrainian rushnyky (ritual textiles).