Public and cultural life of Russian émigrés (1921–1944): posters, invitations, leaflets
| Name | Public and cultural life of Russian émigrés (1921–1944): posters, invitations, leaflets |
 Invitation to the celebration of Don and Kuban Cossack armies (13. 10. 1933) |
| Catalog Number | T-EP | |
| Volume | 1301 inventory units, 9 archival boxes | |
| State of Cataloging | The collection has been fully cataloged and is freely accessible | |
| Languages of Documents | Russian, Czech, Ukrainian, German, English, French, Lithuanian, Polish, Estonian, Chinese, Japanese |
Comprehensive thematic collection of invitations to diverse events organised by Russian cultural, charitable, church, political, ethnic, and professional émigré organisations.
The documents cover the period from 1921–1944. Geographically, they cover mostly European countries, and to a lesser extent, invitations from regions of China and Australia are also represented. The largest number of documents originates from Czechoslovakia (especially Prague), France (Paris) and also from Yugoslavia (mostly Belgrade). A smaller number of invitations document the cultural and scientific life of emigration in China, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Germany, Turkey, Estonia etc.
The collection contains several types of documents: invitations (both personalised and general), summons, announcements, notifications, written news, invitations with program; and also admission tickets, leaflets, trailers, prospectuses, folded programs, vouchers, advertisements, promotions, forms and bulk letters – anything that in any manner provides evidence of the public of life of émigrés.
Based on the place of origin, the collection has been divided into the following sections:
- T-EP-1 – Belgium
- T-EP-2 – Bulgaria
- T-EP-3 – Great Britain
- T-EP-4 – Germany
- T-EP-5 – Turkey
- T-EP-6 – vacant
- T-EP-7 – France
- T-EP-8 – Czechoslovakia
- T-EP-9 – Estonia-Lithuania-Latvia
- T-EP-10 – Yugoslavia
- T-EP-11 – Australia
- T-EP-12 – China
- T-EP-13 – Japan
- T-EP-14 – Italy
- T-EP-15 – USA and Canada
- T-EP-16 – Poland
The majority of invitations were likely collected by workers of the former Russian Foreign Historical Archive, which they got either from foreign agents or were presented to the archive by individuals from the ranks of the general public. Most invitations were addressed to the long-term deputy director of the Russian Historical Archive Abroad and fead of the Department of Documentation, Aleksander F. Iziumov.
The majority of documents were created in the course of the Second World War, when they were stamped with an oval rubber stamp with the words: “Russkii zagranichnyi istoricheskii arkhiv pri Ministerstve vnutrennykh del, otdel dokumentov”, a lesser number of them were stamped in the pre-war period, which is evidenced by the stamped inscription: “Russkii zagranichnyi istoricheskii arkhiv pri Ministerstve inostrannykh děl, otdel dokumentov”. Some are stamped with a square stamp with the inscription: “Russkii zagranichnyi istoricheskii arkhiv”.
Although the collection of invitations is not fully complete, it nevertheless makes it possible to form an idea of the themes and direction of cultural life of the émigré community, about their interests, and the activities of public organisations.
Digitized items from the collection are available on esbirky.cz web portal.