Repository: Dumbarton Oaks Archives, Washington, D.C.
Call Number: Byzantine Studies/Vasiliev Files
Location: Archives 058, C4
Name of Creator(s): Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev
Title: Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev Research Papers and Photographs
Inclusive Date: ca. 1930s to 1953
Language(s): Russian, Greek, Italian, French, German, and English
Quantity: 9 series of 83 folders housed in 11 boxes
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Acquisition Information: These papers came to Dumbarton Oaks from an unknown source at an unknown date.
Processing Information: These papers were inventoried by James N. Carder in 1999 and processed by James W. Curtin and James N. Carder in 2013.
Terms of Use and Access: These papers can be used for research and publication purposes.
Physical Access: An appointment is required for access to these papers. For appointment and queries, fill out the online form.
Preferred Citation: Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev Research Papers and Photographs, Dumbarton Oaks Archives. Courtesy of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.
HISTORICAL NOTE
Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev (Александр Александрович Васильев) (1867–1953) was considered the foremost authority on Byzantine history and culture in the mid-20th century. His History of the Byzantine Empire (vols. 1–2, 1928) remains one of a few comprehensive accounts of the entire Byzantine history. Vasiliev studied under one of the earliest professional Byzantinists, Vasily Vasilievsky, at the University of St. Petersburg and later taught the Arabic language there. Between 1897 and 1900, he continued his education in Paris. In 1902, he accompanied Nicholas Marr on his trip to the St. Catherine Monastery in the Sinai. During his stay at the Tartu University (1904–1912), Vasiliev prepared and published an influential monograph, Byzantium and the Arabs (1907). He also worked in the Russian Archaeology Institute, established by Fyodor Uspensky in Constantinople. In 1912, he moved to the St. Petersburg University as a professor. He was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1919. In 1925, during his visit to Paris, Vasiliev was persuaded by Michael Rostovtzeff to emigrate to the West. It was Rostovtzeff who ensured a position at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for him. Several decades later, Vasiliev moved to work at Dumbarton Oaks, where he was a Senior Scholar between 1944 and 1948 and thereafter a Scholar Emeritus. Towards the end of his life, he was elected President of the Nikodim Kondakov Institute in Prague and of the Association Internationale des Etudes Byzantines.
Milton V. Anastos, “Alexander A. Vasiliev: A Personal Sketch,” The Russian Review 13, no. 1 (January, 1954): 59–63.
Sirarpie Der Nersessian, “Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev, 1867–1953,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 9/10 (1956): 1–21.
Ionut Alexandru Tudorie, "Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev (1867-1953): The Patriarch of the Byzantine Studies," Byzantino-Slavica, Revue internationale des études byzantines 70, nos. 1-2 (2012): 283-323 [contains Vasiliev bibliography].
Adriana Maria van Breukelen (Адриана Мария ван Брукелен), "По случаю 150-й годовщины Александра Александровича Ваcильева (4 октября 1867 – 30 марта 1953); Его жизнь и работа." MAIET (Материалы и исследования по археологии, истории и этнографии Таврии) [Materials and investigations for archaeology, history and ethnography of Tavria] (Simferopol, 2018). (https://www.academia.edu/34860535/Alexander_Alexandrovich_Vasiliev_1867-1953_._Live_and_Works)
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev Research Papers and Photographs contain his notes, correspondence, manuscript drafts, typescripts, newspaper clippings, reprints of journal articles by him and others, photographs, postcards, and an appointment calendar. The Dumbarton Oaks Archives also has holdings of Vasiliev’s 1951 office papers and related materials and photographs.
COLLECTION INVENTORY AND DESCRIPTION
Series 1 of 9: Trebizond
Folder 1: Trebizond Notes, A-E
Folder 2: Trebizond Notes, F-L
Folder 3: Trebizond Notes, M-Z
Folder 4: Trebizond Before 1204, Notes
Folder 5: Trebizond, M. Panerotis Chronicle, Notes
Folder 6: Trebizond Sources, Notes
Folder 7: Trebizond Used Sheets, Notes
Folder 8: Trebizond, Miscellaneous Notes and Text
Folder 9: Empire of Trebizond, Notes
Folder 10: Trebizond in the 7th Century, Notes
Folder 11: Empire of Trebizond, Text, February 24, 1936, Classic Club, New York, NY
Folder 12: Empire of Trebizond in Literature
Series 2 of 9: Research Notes
Folder 1: Alexander the Great and Mahomet, Notes
Folder 2: Belthaudros et Chrysanza, Notes
Folder 3: Digenes Akrites, Notes
Folder 4: Kunik, A., On the Georgian Origin of the Grandmother of the First Trapezuntine Emperor, Notes
Folder 5: Pegolotti, Notes
Folder 6: Portraits of Byzantine Emperors and Empresses, Notes
Folder 7: Pope Gregory IX and Andronicus I Gidon, Notes and Text
Folder 8: Research I, Miscellaneous Notes
Folder 9: Research II, Miscellaneous Notes
Folder 10: Research III, Miscellaneous Notes
Folder 11: Seminary, 1st Seminar, 1933-1934, Notes
Folder 12: Tana / Tmutarakan, Notes
Folder 13: Theme: Talaya, Notes
Folder 14: Various References, Notes
Item 1: Cosmas Indicopleustes
Item 2: Arion Family
Item 3: The Edict of 301
Item 4: H.J. Bell. Jews and Christians in Egypt
Item 5: Julian the Apostate and his Misopogon
Item 6: Miscellaneous
Item 7: Saint Clement of Cherson [Kherson]
Folder 15: Vita S. Pancratius of Tauromenon, Notes
Folder 16: Yahya, Notes
Folder 17: Yazid II, Notes
Series 3 of 9: Conferences, Lectures, and Addresses
Folder 1: Byzance et l'Ancienne Russie, Collège de France, Paris, 1939, Notes and Text
Folder 3: Communication in Memory of Charles Diehl, 1945, Notes and Text
Folder 4: Contributions Made by the Russians and Slavs to Byzantine Scholarship, Dumbarton Oaks Symposium, Washington, D.C., 1947, Text
Folder 5: Crimea, Madison, Wisconsin, 1942, Text
Folder 6: Helenistic Civilization, Text
Folder 7: Imperial Tombs, Introduction
Folder 8: La Russie et les Etudes Byzantines, Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels, 1934, Notes and Text
Folder 9: Miscellaneous Addresses
Folder 10: My Farewell to the Library of the University of Wisconsin, 1948, Text
Folder 11: Oberlin Lectures, Notes and Texts
Item 1: The Formation of the Byzantine Ecclesiastical Position in the Fourth Century
Item 2: The Byzantine Ecclesiastical Position in the Fifth Century
Item 3: Justinian the Great and his Attempted Synthesis
Item 4: Iconoclastic Movement and the Results
Item 5: The Schism between East and West in the Ninth Century and Patriarch Photius
Item 6: Byzantium and Islam
Folder 12: Opening Address to the First Congress of Byzantino-Slavo-Oriental Studies, 1946 Lecture, Notes, and Related Correspondence
Folder 13: Slavs, Text
Folder 14: Talk at the Phi Kappa Phi fraternity, University of Madison, Wisconsin, 1936, Text
Folder 15: Talk before Members of History Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1926, Text and Correspondence
Folder 16: Untitled: On Alexander A. Vasiliev
Folder 17: Untitled: On Constantinople
Folder 18: Untitled: On Parisian Lectures
Series 4 of 9: Publications
Folder 1: Alexandre Le Grand, Byzance et L'Islam, Typescript
Folder 2: Alexandre le Grand, Byzance et L'Islam, Notes and Manuscript Text
Folder 3: Alexander the Great, Byzantium and Islam, Notes and Text
Folder 4: Bibliography
Folder 5: Economic Relations between Byzantium and Old Russia, Offprint
Folder 6: Goths in the Crimea, Reviews
Folder 7: History of the Byzantine Empire, Preface Text (Charles Diehl)
Folder 8: History of the Byzantine Empire, Correspondence
Folder 9: History of the Byzantine Empire, Reviews
Folder 10: Iconoclastic Edict of the Caliph Yazid II, Text
Folder 11: Prester John: Legend and History, Typescript
Folder 12: Review: Vizantisky Sbornik (M.V. Levchenko, Ed.), Offprint
Folder 13: Über die Sophien Kirche im Constantinopel, Text
Series 5 of 9: Personal Papers: Correspondence
Folder 1: Henri Grégoire, Correspondence
Folder 2: Louis Bréhier, Correspondence
Folder 3: Grigory Lionidovich Lozinsky, Correspondence and Notes
Folder 4: Miscellaneous Correspondence I
Folder 5: Miscellaneous Correspondence II
Folder 6: Miscellaneous Correspondence III
Folder 7: Miscellaneous Correspondence IV
Series 6 of 9: Personal Papers: Other
Folder 1: Ephemera
Folder 2: King's College Application
Folder 3: Letters of Recommendation, Copies and Miscellaneous [contains copies of letters of recommendation written by Vasiliev for: Kostis T. Argue, Anna M. Bourguina, Peter Charanis, John S. Schneider, and Peter Topping, among others]
Folder 4: Material for Musical Recollections, Notes and Text
Folder 5: Memoirs / Autobiography, Notes
Folder 6: Miscellaneous Personal Papers
Folder 7: Notebook
Folder 8: Notes on my Alaska Trip, June-July 1941, Notes and Miscellaneous
Folder 9: Reports, Dumbarton Oaks, 1946-1952
Folder 10: Reports on A. A. Vasiliev on his Work for the Year 1933-34 and Related Notes
Folder 11: Tahiti and St. Pierre and Miquelon Vacations, Notes and Miscellaneous
Folder 12: University of Wisconsin, Madison Position
Series 7 of 9: Newspaper Clippings
Folder 1: Newspaper Clippings I (Russian)
Folder 2: Newspaper Clippings II (Russian)
Folder 3: Newspaper Clippings III (Russian, French, English)
Folder 4: Newspaper Clippings IV (English)
Series 8 of 9: Coptic Relief Elements
Box 1: Coptic Relief Elements, Text (in Russian)
Series 9 of 9: References in Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts
Box 1: References in Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts
Box 2: References in Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts II
Box 3: References in Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts III
