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Biographical Note
Scope and Content of Collection
Title: George Herbert Ryden papers
Date (inclusive): 1915-1941
Collection Number: 2010C51
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
2 manuscript boxes
(0.8 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, reports, personal documents, photographs, and memorabilia, relating to relief activities in the Crimea during
the Russian Civil War. Includes correspondence with Grand Duchess Ol'ga Aleksandrovna.
Creator:
Olʹga Aleksandrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, 1882-1960
Creator:
Ryden, George Herbert, 1884-1941
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
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 by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2010.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], George Herbert Ryden papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Biographical Note
George H. Ryden (1884-1941) was an American National Red Cross worker in Russia from 1918 to 1920. A native of Kansas City,
he interrupted his academic career to serve with the American Expeditionary Forces in Italy during World War I, was with the
Red Cross in the southern Russian city of Novorossiisk in 1920, seeking to aid refugees during the civil war that followed
the Russian Revolution. While there, he played a key role in helping the family of Grand Duchess Ol'ga Aleksandrovna, the
sister of the recently murdered Czar Nicholas II, escape to Turkey and subsequently to Europe. Ryden, a historian, later became
the state archivist of Delaware.
Scope and Content of Collection
Correspondence, reports, personal documents, photographs, and memorabilia, relating to Red Cross relief activities in the
Crimea during the Russian Civil War. Includes correspondence with Grand Duchess Ol'ga Aleksandrovna.
The twenty-three letters and postcards from the Grand Duchess were written from Denmark between 1923 and 1929. Several of
these postcards contain reproductions of her paintings, which Ryden helped sell in the United States during the 1920s and
1930s.
In addition to the correspondence with Ol'ga Aleksandrovna, Ryden's papers contain a variety of documents pertaining to Red
Cross operations in the Crimea and southern Russia, including correspondence, reports of visits to orphanages and hospitals,
and financial records. Ryden and his colleagues received a number of honors from White Russian Army commanders, and his papers
contain documents concerning honors and medals that he and his colleagues were awarded, including Ryden's honorary membership
in the Kuban Cossacks, and medals that were bestowed on him by Generals Denikin and Wrangel. Following his service with the
Red Cross, Ryden visited Denmark in 1921 to meet once again with Ol'ga Aleksandrovna, as well as with her mother, the empress
dowager Mariia Feodorovna, who expressed her gratitude to Ryden with an inscribed photograph that read "In gratitude for what
you did for my daughter," and signed simply "Marie."
Ryden's academic career and interest in history are also represented in correspondence with the academic institutions that
he attended, student transcripts, and certificates of membership from various state historical societies.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Soviet Union -- History -- Revolution, 1917-1921 -- Civilian relief
International relief
American National Red Cross