Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Alex N. Kniazeff (Aleksei Nikolaevich Kniazev) papers
Date (inclusive): 1911-1993
Collection Number: 2000C46
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In Russian and English
Physical Description:
52 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 17 microfilm reels
(13.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, minutes, financial records, bulletins, personal documents, printed matter, and photographs, relating to the
Russian Boy Scouts movement abroad and to Russian émigré affairs. In part, microfilm.
Creator:
Kniazeff, Alex N., 1909-1993
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.
[Identification of item], Alex N. Kniazeff Papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
In part, originals in: Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco.
| 1909 August 5 (N.S.) | Born, Tsitsihar, China |
| 1933 | Degree, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Harbin Polytechnic Institute, Harbin, China |
| 1935-1948 | Scoutmaster, Tientsin, China |
| Engineering and administrative positions, Kailan Mining Administration, Tientsin, China | |
| 1941 April 27 | Married Eugenia Smikovska |
| 1949-1951 | General Consulting Engineer, International Refugee Organization, Tubabao, Samar, Philippines |
| 1952-1955 | Instructor of Russian, U. S. Army Language School, Monterey, California |
| 1955-1958 | Instrumentation Designer, Bechtel Corporation, San Francisco, California |
| 1958-1974 | Senior Draftsman, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco, California |
| 1959- | Scoutmaster, Natsional'naia organizatsiia rossiiskikh skautov (St. George's Knights) |
| 1993 | Died, San Francisco, California |
Born at Tsitsikhar station on the Chinese Eastern Railway on 5 August 1909, where his father, an army engineer officer, was
stationed, Kniazev spent the first half of his life in China. As his father was transferred to Manchuria station, where he
was commandant during the Russian Civil War, and later to Harbin, where he was assistant commandant, A. N. Kniazeff moved
with him, graduating from American Methodist College in Harbin in 1927. From 1927 to 1933 he was a student at Harbin Polytechnic
Institute, receiving his baccalaureate degree in electrical and mechanical engineering. Simultaneously, he completed a training
course at the Russkii Obshchevoinskii soiuz military academy in 1934.
Following his graduation, he moved to Tientsin, where he worked as an engineer for a number of companies until 1945, when
he was forced to escape to Shanghai. He was interned at Tubabao refugee camp until January 1951, when he finally arrived in
San Francisco. From 1952 to 1955 he was an instructor at the Army Language School in Monterey until he was able to secure
employment closer to his field of specialization, first as an instrumentation designer for Bechtel Corporation (1955-1958),
and then at Pacific Gas and Electric Company until retirement (1958-1974).
As a member of the Russian boy scouts since 1922 in Harbin, he rose to become Chief Russian Scout of St. George's Knights
(Natsional'naia organizatsiia russkikh skautov). Kniazeff died in San Francisco in 1993.
This collection consists of correspondence, clippings and other matter reflecting Kniazeff's involvement in various émigré
organizations. He was a member of the San Francisco Trans-Baikal Cossacks' Stanitza and of the Harbin Polytechnic Alumni Association,
and senior scoutmaster of the Natsional'naia Organizatsiia Russkikh Skautov (National Organization of Russian Scouts, or St.
George's Knights, as it was incorporated in California). Most of the collection relates to the history of the Russian Boy
Scout movement abroad, particularly for the period 1963-1975.
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 the 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
Boy Scouts
Nat͡sionalʹnai͡a organizat͡sii͡a russkikh skautov