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Title: Natalie Grant Wraga Papers
Dates: 1919-2004
Collection number: 2005C55
Creator:
Wraga, Natalie Grant, 1901-2002.
Collection Size:
31 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box
12.8 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: The papers of the American Foreign Service officer and Sovietologist include writings, notes, correspondence, and printed
matter, relating to the Soviet government, foreign policy, espionage and clandestine activities, and especially the use of
disinformation as a tactic. Includes photocopies of United States Department of State dispatches relating to Soviet activities
during the 1920s and 1930s. Includes a typescript book-length-study entitled "Window on Russia." Also includes some papers
of Ryszard (Richard) Wraga, Sovietologist and husband of Natalie Wraga.
Physical location: Hoover Institution Archives
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Russian
The collection is open for research
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives
[Identification of item], Natalie Grant Wraga Papers, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 2005.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number
of boxes listed in this finding aid.
| 1901 February 24 | Born as Natalie Konstantinovna Mark, Tallinn, Estonia |
| 1920s | Fled the Soviet Union. Became a U.S. citizen when she married Malcolm Grant (divorced shortly thereafter) |
| 1923 | Employed with the American Relief Administration |
| 1928-1939 | Worked for the American Legation in Riga, Latvia, as a translator and analyst |
| 1950s | Employed with the U.S. Department of State as a Sovietologist |
| 1959 May 20 | Married Ryszard Wraga, also known as Jerzy Antoni Niezbrzycki |
| Mid-1960s | Moved to Menlo Park, California, and worked for the Hoover Institution, Stanford University |
| 1981-1988 | Volunteer, League of Women Voters |
| 1983-1985 | Volunteer, Project Hope |
| 1985 | Volunteer, Republican Women's Club of Loudoun County, Virginia |
| 2002 November 12 | Died, Lovettsville, Virginia |
Scope and Content of Collection
Natalie Grant Wraga papers include correspondence, notes, writings, and printed matter relating to the Soviet Government,
U.S. foreign policy, espionage and clandestine activities, and the use of disinformation as opposed to simple propaganda as
a tactic.
The largest series, Speeches and Writings, includes her typescript, book-length study entitled "Window on Russia." Writing
under the name Natalie Grant, she was also the author of several monographs and articles in intelligence journals. She was
an authority on "The Trust," one of the most important Soviet deception operations, in which a phony opposition group in the
1920s tricked émigrés and domestic opponents of the new Soviet regime into exposing their plans and feeding false information
to the West.
The Subject File contains material related to her own publications. This includes articles and notes about Bolsheviks, communism,
disinformation, emigration, espionage, the GPU (Glavnoe Politicheskoe Upravlenie or Main Political Administration), Russian
civil war, etc. It also includes photocopies of U.S. Department of State dispatches relating to Soviet activities during the
1920s and 1930s.
The Richard (Ryszard) Wraga File contains papers of Richard (Ryszard) Wraga, Sovietologist and husband of Natalie Wraga. The
Hoover Institution Archives also holds a separate collection of his materials, the Ryszard Wraga papers. Additional papers
of Richard Wraga are available at the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America in New York City.
The collection is organized into 10 series: Biographical File, Richard Wraga File, Correspondence, Speeches and Writings,
Subject File, Soviet Delegations File, Writings by Others, Newspapers and Clippings, Photographs and Negatives, and Oversize
Material.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in Stanford University's online catalog.
Disinformation.
Intelligence service--Soviet Union.
Espionage, Russian.
Secret service--Soviet Union.
Soviet Union--Foreign relations.
Soviet Union--Politics and government.
Wraga Ryszard, 1902-1968.
United States. Dept. of State.