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Eichrodt (Joan Beecher) collection
2006C62
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Title: Joan Beecher Eichrodt collection
Date (inclusive): 1872-2002
Collection Number: 2006C62
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In Russian and English
Physical Description:
33 manuscript boxes, 1 card file box, 11 oversize boxes
(24.5 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Sound recordings, transcripts and summaries of interviews, notes, reports, conference proceedings, newspapers, other printed
matter, and photographs relating to nationalism and separatism in Chechnya and elsewhere in the Caucasus. Digital copies of
selected items available.
source:
Eichrodt, Joan Beecher
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
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.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2006.
[Identification of item], Joan Beecher Eichrodt collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
| 1933 October 31 | Born, Birmingham, Alabama |
| 1959-1961 | Senior Translator, Radio Liberty |
| 1961-1966 | Policy and Planning Coordinator, U.S. Division, Radio Liberty |
| 1965 | BA, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT |
| 1968 | MA, History, Columbia University. Thesis: "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality and Joseph de Maistre" |
| 1975 | PhD, History, Columbia University. Dissertation: "Anarchy and Culture: Dmitry Merezhkovsky and the Kairos" |
| 1976-1983 | Adjunct Professor, Western Connecticut State College |
| 1977-1983 | Columnist, Citizen News, New Fairfield, CT |
| 1983-1984 | Program Officer, Harriman Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union, Columbia University |
| 1985-1990s | Senior Correspondent and Soviet Affairs Analyst, Voice of America |
| 1994-1995 | MacArthur Foundation Grant for Research and Writing |
| 1994-1997 | Conducted research and interviews in the Caucasus, primarily in Chechnia |
| 2008 January 31 | Died, New York |
Scope and Content of Collection
The Joan Beecher Eichrodt collection consists of sound recordings, transcripts and summaries of interviews, notes, reports,
conference proceedings, newspapers, other printed matter, and photographs relating to nationalism and separatism in Chechnya
and elsewhere in the Caucasus.
As a Voice of America correspondent, Eichrodt made frequent trips to the Soviet Union to cover the Congress of People's Deputies
(S"ezd narodnykh deputatov), a democratically elected assembly created by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989. Through a series of interviews
with Congress members, Eichrodt documented the attitudes of Russian officials toward Gorbachev's union treaty and the rights
of autonomous republics, audiotapes of which can be found in the Russia subseries of the
Sound Recordings series.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Eichrodt was interested primarily in nationalist and separatist groups within the
Russian Federation, particularly the North Caucasus. In 1994, she received a MacArthur grant to write a book on the history
and contemporary politics of the North Caucasus, the proposal for which can be found in the
Personal File.
From 1994 to 1996, Eichrodt used her grant to travel extensively in the Caucasus, interviewing hundreds of local government
officials, citizens, and refugees on separatist movements and territorial conflicts. These taped interviews are in the
Sound Recordings series and grouped by Caucasian republic. Included among Eichrodt's interviewees are Chechen presidents Dzhokhar Dudaev and
Aslan Maskhadov, Ingushetian president Ruslan Aushev, opposition leader Zelimkhan Iandarbiev and public figure Ruslan Labazanov.
Most of the interviews conducted in Chechnya are on domestic affairs from 1990 to 1997, although some relate to Stalin's 1944
deportations of Chechens and Ingush. The collection includes
Interview Transcripts of selected tapes as well as
Notebooks maintained by Eichrodt during her interviews and research trips.
In addition to the hundreds of recorded interviews, the bulk of the collection consists of
Research Materials,
Clippings and
Newspapers related to Eichrodt's Voice of America reports, as well as her planned book on the Caucasus. Topics include history of the
North Caucasian republics, the 1994-1996 war between Russia and Chechnia, ethnic relations, and cross-border conflicts in
the Caucasus, particularly between Ingushetia and Ossetia.
Chechen subject collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Kara-kys Dongikovna Arakchaa papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Paul B. Henze papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiotapes
Chechni͡a (Russia) -- History
Nationalism -- Russia (Federation) -- Chechni͡a
Nationalism -- Caucasus, South
Caucasus, South -- Politics and government -- 1991-
Eichrodt, Joan Beecher