Register of the Pavel Timofeevich Filip'ev papers

Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Library and Archives Staff and Tess McCarthy
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2003, 2014
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu


Title: Pavel Timofeevich Filip'ev papers
Date (inclusive): 1925-1981
Collection Number: 2000C117
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: Russian
Physical Description: 16 microfilm reels (2.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Writings, notes, correspondence, and printed matter, relating to the authenticity of the Vlesova Kniga, the early history of Russia and the Slavs, and Russian émigré affairs.
Creator: Filip'ev, Pavel Timofeevich, 1896-1981

Access

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Use

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Acquisition Information

Acquired.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Pavel Timofeevich Filip'ev Papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of Originals

Originals in: Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco.

Chronology

1896 December 27 (N.S.) Born, Ekaterinodar, Russia
1916 Graduated, Tiflis Military College
1920 December Arrived in Yugoslavia, employed as a draftsman, and artist
1925 May Arrived in Czechoslovakia as an engineering student
1928-1941 Served as a highway engineer in the service of the Czechoslovakian government
1947-1950 Employed as a policeman, tanner, draftsman, sculptor and in various other capacities in Munich, Germany
1951 Emigrated to the United States
1981 September Died, San Francisco, California

Biography

P. T. Filip'ev was born in Ekaterinodar on 14 December 1896 (O.S.). He graduated from the Ekaterinodar School of Arts in 1915, was drafted into military service the same year, and commissioned as an officer following training at the Tiflis Military School in May 1916. He saw action in the Caucasus during the First World War, and served in Siberia and South Russia during the Civil War, eventually being evacuated with General Baron P. N. Vrangel's army. From 1920 to 1925, he worked as a painter and draftsman in Yugoslavia.
In 1925, Filip'ev moved to Prague, Czechoslovakia, to continue his studies at the Russian Higher School of Transportation (Russkoe vysshee uchilishche tekhnikov putei soobshcheniia), graduating in 1928 as a transportation technician. This gave him the opportunity to find employment as a surveyor, project manager and auditor in the highway section of the Czechoslovak State Construction Department, where he worked until 1941. With the advent of the Second World War, Filip'ev was forced to change employment several times, working as an artisan and a teacher at a high school in Klatovy, Czechoslovakia, before illegally crossing the border into Allied-occupied Germany in January 1947. After working there at a variety of jobs, including policeman, tanner and toymaker, he left for the United States in 1951.
In America, he became intensely interested in the so-called "Vles-Kniga," devoting most of the remainder of his life to examining and deciphering it and attempting to prove its veracity, although it has long been dismissed as a forgery by all competent scholars. Filip'ev died in San Francisco in September 1981.

Scope and Content Note

The centerpiece of this collection is Filip'ev's research material: clippings, correspondence, notes, printed matter, and writings associated with his interest in early Russian history, particularly the so-called "Vles Kniga" or "Doshchechki Izenbeka," a forged series of writings alleged by believers to have been produced on the territory of Russia prior to the introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet. Filip'ev expended an enormous amount of time and energy deciphering these writings and attempting to prove their veracity, as well as arguing that they represented an entirely new vision of early Russian and Slavic history. His correspondence and notes on this and related topics shed light on the story of the emergence of this forgery and its effect on the émigré community as well as on believers in the Soviet Union.
Detailed processing and preservation microfilming for these materials were made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by matching funds from the Hoover Institution and Museum of Russian Culture. The grant also provides depositing a microfilm copy in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. The original materials remain in the Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco as its property. A transfer table indicating corresponding box and reel numbers is available at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
The Hoover Institution assumes all responsibility for notifying users that they must comply with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17 United States Code) and Hoover Rules for the Use and Reproduction of Archival Materials.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Russians -- United States
Vlesova kniga
Forgery of manuscripts
Slavs -- History
Ukraine -- History -- To 862

 

BIOGRAPHICAL FILE 1925-1972

Scope and Contents

Addresses and telephone numbers, curriculum vitae, employment, identity, immigration and school records, papers relating to Filip'ev's illegal crossing of the German border in 1947, ration cards and miscellany, arranged alphabetically by physical form
box 1, folder 1

Addresses and telephone numbers

box 1, folder 2

Curriculum vitae

box 1, folder 3

Employment records.

General note

See also identity papers

Scope and Contents note

Includes certificates, membership cards, passes, permits, recommendations and unemployment records.
box 1, folder 4

Identity papers.

General note

See also employment records

Scope and Contents note

Includes authorizations, residence and travel permits, substitute birth certificates, and similar matter.
box 1, folder 5

Immigration papers

box 1, folder 6

Medical records.

Scope and Contents note

Includes correspondence with social services
box 1, folder 7

Papers relating to his illegal crossing of the German border in 1947

box 1, folder 8

Ration cards

box 1, folder 9

School records

box 1, folder 10

Miscellany

 

CORRESPONDENCE 1951-1981

Scope and Contents

Arranged alphabetically by correspondent
 

General

box 1, folder 11

General 1952-1981 and undated

box 1, folder 12

Unsent letters n.d.

box 1, folder 13

Unidentified 1952-1966

box 1, folder 14

Amvrosii, Archimandrite 1977

box 1, folder 15

Arheološki muzej, Zagreb, Yugoslavia 1962-1968

box 1, folder 16

Bogunskii, Sviatoslav Nikolaevich and Nikolai Sviatoslavovich 1975-1978

box 1, folder 17

Bokach, Fedor, Rev. 1968

box 1, folder 18

Clodt, Boris 1967

box 1, folder 19

De Clapiers Collongues, Olga 1967-1968

box 1, folder 20

Djordjevic, Bogdan 1951

box 1, folder 21

Dolgopolov, Aleksandr 1969

box 1, folder 22

Dunaev, V. 1960

box 1, folder 23

Filippov, Boris Andreevich 1980

box 1, folder 24

Kal'skii, Iurii Grigor'evich 1968-1969

box 2, folder 1

Kazakov, Nikolai Vasil'evich 1968-1971

box 2, folder 2

Kol'chitskii, Boris 1973

box 2, folder 3

Kolycheva, Elena 1974-1979

box 2, folder 4

Krylatov, Vladimir Stepanovich 1968-1972

box 2, folder 5

Kur (Kurenkov), Aleksandr Aleksandrovich 1960-1967 and undated

box 2, folder 6

Liashevskii, Stefan 1966

box 2, folder 7

Lysenko, Ivan Erastovich 1964-1966

box 2, folder 8

Pallotino, Massimo 1965-1966

box 2, folder 9

Perkhorovich, Iurii 1967

box 2, folder 10

Platunov, Konstantin 1967

box 2, folder 11

Pushkarev, Sergei 1964

box 2, folder 12

Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. 1964

box 2, folder 13

Shchavinskii, V. 1966

box 2, folder 14

Struve, Gleb P. 1964 and undated

box 2, folder 15

Stumpff, Georg 1951-1952

box 2, folder 16

Szeftel, Marc 1968-1969

box 2, folder 17

Tolstoy Foundation 1963-1964 and undated

box 2, folder 18

Turianitsa, Mikhail Il'ich 1965-1977

box 2, folder 19

Unbegaun, Boris Genrikhovich 1968-1969

box 2, folder 20

Vaughan, Agnes Carr 1968

box 2, folder 21

Vernadsky, George 1969-1970

box 2, folder 22

Zhigulev, N. 1966

 

SPEECHES AND WRITINGS 1962-1977 and undated

General note

For Filip'ev's participation in polemics relating to the Vles Kniga and early Russian history (letters to the editor and newspaper articles), see VLES KNIGA FILE
box 2, folder 23

General 1962-1977 and undated

Scope and Contents note

Letters to the editor and short stories
 

"Slovo o Polku Igoreve," new translation and commentary n.d.

box 2, folder 24

Background materials

box 2, folder 25

Correspondence 1966

Scope and Contents note

Includes letters to and from prospective publishers with attachments relating to costs, fonts, ink types, etc.
box 2, folder 26

Holograph.

Scope and Contents note

Includes notes, artwork, sketches, tables of contents and format sheets
box 3, folder 1-4

Holograph

box 3, folder 5-6

Typescript.

Scope and Contents note

Includes holograph notes and inserts
 

Untitled work(s) of a philosophical/psychological nature

box 4, folder 1-2

Notes

box 4, folder 3

Holograph

 

SUBJECT FILE 1954-1981

Scope and Contents

Bulletins, clippings, correspondence, leaflets, and writings, arranged alphabetically by heading
box 4, folder 4

Beliaevskii, V. A. Clippings related to Beliaevskii's books on the Russian Civil War and attacks on General A. I. Denikin

box 4, folder 5

Hymns, Russian.

Scope and Contents note

Clippings, correspondence and writings relating to polemics (involving Filip'ev) about the Russian national anthem and various substitutes for it
box 4, folder 6

Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco, California

box 4, folder 7

Odessa

box 4, folder 8

Religion

box 4, folder 9

Soviet Union--Social conditions

box 4, folder 10

Von der Osten, Dirk

box 4, folder 11

Miscellany

box 5

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

Scope and Contents note

Includes notes, printed matter (clippings, offprints, photocopies, and citations from published works), and writings related to Filip'ev's interest in the Vles kniga and the origins of the Slavs, with supplementary materials relating to Etruscans, the Zagreb mummy, ancient India, Scythians, early Russian history, and related topics
box 6

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 7

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 8

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 9

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 10

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 11

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 12

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 13

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 14

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 15

Vles Kniga File 1957-1970s

box 15

PHOTOGRAPHS 1980 and undated

General note

See also BIOGRAPHICAL FILE/Identity papers for photographs attached to passport and other documents. Two prints depicting Filip'ev (one from 1980), two depicting Dominican College, San Rafael, California, and six negatives depicting the Vles kniga