During the writing of Caught in the Revolution I drew on a wealth of other material held in archives in the USA, which, although not quoted in this book, provided very useful background, and my thanks are due to: Carole Hsin at Yale; Robin Carlaw at Harvard; Dale Stieber at Occidental College; Lee Grady at the Wisconsin Historical Society; Karen Kukil at Smith College; Thomas Whittaker at the University of Chicago Library; and Tanya Chebotarev at the Bakhmeteff Archive.
In the UK I am deeply indebted to my friend and fellow Russianist, Richard Davies, archivist of the Leeds Russian Archive for his considerable and unflagging support in this project, and for his patience and good humour in sorting out a long request list of sources that I wished to consult when I visited, and for his continuing sage advice. Richard’s dedicated work at the LRA over many years has ensured that this wonderful resource now holds a unique place in the UK for those researching the British in Russia before the revolution, and I would like to take this opportunity to urge anyone holding such family papers to consider donating them to it. All LRA sources quoted are with the kind permission of rights owners, where it has been possible to trace them. My thanks also must go to the Arthur Ransome Literary Estate; to Bridget Gillies and the University of East Anglia for the use of material from the wonderful Jessie Kenney archive; to the John Rylands Library and the University of Manchester; the National Library of Wales for Sir George Bury’s 1917 report; Peter Rogers at the Stewart Museum, Burnby Hall; and the National Archives and the Imperial War Museum for access to manuscripts that they hold. There is a wealth of untapped material in the BBC Radio 4 archives dating back to the 1950s, and in its TV archives as well. I am grateful to Vicky Mitchell and to the BBC Radio Archives for permission to quote from the Louisette Andrews TV interview. I should also like to make a particular point of singling out the valuable leads I gained from Lyubov Ginzburg’s fascinating thesis ‘Confronting the Cold War Legacy: The Forgotten History of the American Colony in St Petersburg’ (University of Kansas, 2010), which pointed me in the direction of one of the heroes of my book – Leighton Rogers.
My thanks are also due to David Mould for sharing photographs of Donald Thompson; to Amanda Claunch at the Missouri History Museum for providing photographs of David R. Francis and Philip Jordan; to Ulysses Dietz for a photograph of his great-aunt Julia Cantacuzène-Speransky and to Bruce Kirby at the Library of Congress for seeking out and providing a scan of a much sought-after photograph of Leighton Rogers.
As always, dedicated editorial and publicity teams were involved in the production of this book on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, Jocasta Hamilton, Sarah Rigby, Najma Finlay, Richard T. Kelly and the team at Hutchinson all offered unfailing commitment to, and encouragement in, the research and writing of this book. Richard has been a first-class editor and I am most grateful for his sensitive response to the manuscript and to what I was trying to achieve. My thanks also go to my diligent copy editor Mandy Greenfield and proof reader Mary Chamberlain.
In New York, my dear friend Charlie Spicer at St Martin’s Press has remained a stalwart ally and advocate of my work. This has been our fifth book together and I truly value his guiding hand. I am also grateful to April Osborn, Karlyn Hixson, Kathryn Hough and the tremendously hard-working PR and marketing team at St Martin’s Press for their commitment and indomitable energy.
Throughout the research and writing of Caught in the Revolution I had the unfailing encouragement of my family and also a wonderful agent, to whom this book is dedicated. Caroline Michel at Peters, Fraser & Dunlop has been a true friend, wise counsel and advocate from the moment I joined the agency and I count myself enormously lucky to have her representing my work. But I also enjoy the valuable support of Rachel Mills, Alexandra Cliff, Marilia Savvides and the Foreign Rights team at PFD, who work so hard at selling my books in other markets. Jon Fowler and James Carroll have also been great friends and supporters of my public speaking and my work in broadcast media.
I always find it very difficult to let go of my subjects at the end of any book. The colourful cast of characters in Caught in the Revolution has lived in my head for the last three years – some of them for far longer – and they have left an indelible impression on me. They have also left me frustrated, because I want to find out more about their time in Russia and their lives after they left. With this is mind, I would be delighted to hear from any descendants or relatives of any of my subjects, who might hold letters, photographs or other material relating to their time in Petrograd in 1917. I can be contacted via my agents, Peters, Fraser & Dunlop at www.petersfraserdunlop.com or my own website, www.helenrappaport.com.
It goes without saying that I would also be thrilled to hear from anyone with material relating to this story, written by people who were there, but about whom I do not know! Finally, and most particularly, I would dearly love to see any other letters written from Russia by Philip Jordan, or to hear from anyone with further memories of him or his life. The ultimate serendipity would be to rediscover a complete copy of Donald Thompson’s 1919 silent film The German Curse in Russia, which I fear has, sadly, long since been lost. But I live in hope.
Helen Rappaport
West Dorset, 2016
Notes
Please note that some of the links referenced in this work are no longer active.
ABBREVIATIONS
Anet Claude Anet, Through the Russian Revolution
Barnes Harper Barnes, Standing on a Volcano
Beatty Bessie Beatty, The Red Heart of Russia
Bryant Louise Bryant, Six Red Months in Russia
Crosley Pauline Stewart Crosley, Intimate Letters from Petrograd
Dissolution Meriel Buchanan, Dissolution of an Empire
Fleurot Arno Dosch-Fleurot, Through War to Revolution
Francis David R. Francis, Russia from the American Embassy
Harper Florence Harper, Runaway Russia
Heald Edward Heald, Witness to Revolution
Houghteling James Houghteling, Diary of the Russian Revolution
Mission Sir George Buchanan, My Mission to Russia, vol. 2
Paléologue Maurice Paléologue, An Ambassador’s Memoirs, 1914-1917
Patouillet Patouillet, Madame [Louise]: TS diary, October 1916–August 1918, 2 vols
Petrograd Meriel Buchanan, Petrograd, The City of Trouble
Reed John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World
Robien Louis de Robien, The Diary of a Diplomat in Russia 1917-18
Rogers Leighton Rogers Papers, ‘Czar, Revolution, Bolsheviks’
Stinton Jones James Stinton Jones, Russia in Revolution
Stopford Anon. [Albert Stopford], The Russian Diary of an Englishman
Thompson Donald Thompson, Donald Thompson in Russia
Williams Albert Rhys Williams, Journey into Revolution
Wright J. Butler Wright/William Thomas Allison, Witness to Revolution: The Russian Revolution Diary and Letters of J. Butler Wright
Prologue: ‘The Air is Thick with Talk of Catastrophe’
1 Violetta Thurstan, Field Hospital and Flying Column, 94. Thurstan, like many visitors to Petrograd at the time, was overwhelmed by Petrograd’s scale and seductive power: ‘It is one of those cities whose charms steal upon you unawares. It is immense, insistent, arresting, almost thrusting itself on your imagination … everything is on such an enormous scale, dealt out in such careless profusion … the palaces grandiose, the very blocks of which they are fashioned seem to have been hewn by Titans’. Rogers, Box 3: Folder 7, 12–13 (hereafter styled as 3:7, etc.).