Columbia's Rare Book & Manuscript Library Acquires Chaliapin Family
Papers

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/news/libraries/2010/20100428.chaliapin.html


NEW YORK, April 28, 2010 - Columbia University's Bakhmeteff Archive
<http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/rbml/units/bakhmeteff/index.html>
at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library has acquired the papers of Fiodor
Chaliapin (1873-1938), renowned Russian opera singer, and his son Boris
Chaliapin (1904-1979), noted portrait artist and illustrator of over 400
/Time/ magazine covers. A gift from the estate of Helcia Chaliapin, the
papers cover the time period of 1904-2009 and include letters,
photographs, original artwork, and ephemera.

"The acquisition of the Chaliapin Family papers by the Rare Book &
Manuscript Library is an important addition to the very rich collection
of Russian materials in the Bakhmeteff Archive," said Elizabeth Kridl
Valkenier, Resident Scholar and Adjunct Professor at Columbia's Harriman
Institute. "It offers valuable information and sources (ranging from
photos and correspondence to paintings) in three areas: the
extraordinary efflorescence of Russian culture on the eve of World War I
(known as the Silver Age); the contribution of the Russian diaspora to
European and American culture after the 1917 Revolution; and the role of
Russians in American journalism as well as in Hollywood between the wars."

Fiodor Chaliapin was the foremost Russian opera singer of the 20th
century. Largely self-taught, Chaliapin began his career in provincial
touring companies of Czarist Russia, then joined the Bolshoi in 1899
where he played Boris Godunov, the role he would be most associated
with. He made his European debut in Milan in 1902 and his New York debut
in 1907. Chaliapin remained in Russia after the Russian Revolution of
1917, but eventually emigrated to Paris. He died in Paris in 1938.

Fiodor's son, Boris, received his art education in Russia and Paris and
first exhibited his work in the foyer of London's Royal Opera House in
1927. Boris Chaliapin painted a series of pictures of his father both on
and off the stage and in the 1920 and 1930s had a considerable
reputation for portrait painting in Russia. He then moved to New York
City where he supported himself as an illustrator. Between 1939 and
1970, Boris Chaliapin painted more than 400 portraits for the cover of
/Time/ magazine.

The collection includes photographs inscribed by prominent
contemporaries to Fiodor Chaliapin, as well as concert and theater
fliers and posters documenting his career. The archive also features
Boris Chaliapin's series of letters from the Korovine family in
emigration, Sergei Rakhmaninov and Theodor Dreiser, letters from Akim
and Tamara Tamirova discussing film projects with Orson Welles, hundreds
of letters detailing the process of creating a /Time/ magazine cover; a
sketchbook regarding the U.S. release of the 1933 film Don Quixote,
starring Fiodor Chaliapin, hundreds of news clippings, mainly about
Boris and his father, Time/Life photos from Boris's 1960 trip to the
Soviet Union, and many original works of art.

Named for Boris A. Bakhmeteff (d.1951), the last ambassador of the
Russian Provisional Government to the United States and a longtime
professor at Columbia, the Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian & East European
Culture is the second largest (after California's Hoover Institution)
repository of manuscripts, printed and visual materials related to the
Russian and Eastern European �migr� communities outside of the
homelands. The Archive includes almost 1,000 processed collections with
more than 1.5 million individual items, including letters, documents,
manuscripts, photographs, prints, clippings, artworks, and ephemera.

*The Rare Book & Manuscript Library* owns over 500,000 rare books in
some 20 book collections and almost 28 million manuscripts in nearly
3,000 separate manuscript collections. It is particularly strong in
English and American literature and history, classical authors,
children's literature, education, mathematics and astronomy, economics
and banking, photography, the history of printing, New York City
politics, librarianship, and the performing arts. Individual collections
are as eclectic as they are extensive.

*Columbia University Libraries/Information Services* is one of the top
five academic research library systems in North America. The collections
include over 10 million volumes, over 100,000 journals and serials, as
well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books,
microforms, maps, graphic and audio-visual materials. The services and
collections are organized into 22 libraries and various academic
technology centers. The Libraries employs more than 550 professional and
support staff. The website of the Libraries at www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb
<http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb> is the gateway to its services and
resources.