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Use
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Location of Originals
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Title: George Constantine Guins papers
Date (inclusive): 1917-1971
Collection Number: XX314
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In Russian, Polish, and English
Physical Description:
3 manuscript boxes, 3 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder, 9 microfilm reels
(4.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: George C. Guins is best known to historians as the administrative secretary (upravliaiushchii delami) of the Siberian (later
All-Russian) anti-Bolshevik government at Omsk. The George George Constantine Guins papers (1917-1971) consist of correspondence,
speeches and writings, notes, reports, declarations, and printed matter relating to the Russian Revolution and Civil War in
the Siberian Far East, activities of anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia, Japanese intervention, and the history, culture and
legal systems of Russia and the Soviet Union. It also includes biographical data on members of the Guins family.
Creator:
Guins, George Constantine, 1887-1971
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.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], George Constantine Guins papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Location of Originals
In part, originals in: Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco.
Biographical Note
George C. Guins is best known to historians as the administrative secretary (upravliaiushchii delami) of the Siberian (later
All-Russian) anti-Bolshevik government at Omsk. Privy to governmental decisions in this capacity as well as in concurrent
service as deputy minister for education and foreign affairs, he described the workings of the government and the anti-Bolshevik
campaign in Siberia, 1918-1920, in his published memoir,
Sibir', soiuzniki i Kolchak (Peking, 1921).
Less well-known is his career as a legal philosopher, journalist, and writer and lecturer on the Soviet Union. Born in Novogeorgievsk
(now Modlin, Poland) on 27 April 1887, he studied law at St. Petersburg University under the direction of the eminent jurist
and legal philosopher Leon Petrazycki, obtaining his degree in 1909. Entering government service in the Resettlement Office
(Pereselencheskoe upravlenie) of the Ministry of Agriculture, he continued legal studies in his spare time, obtaining an advanced
degree in 1915 and remaining at St. Petersburg University as a lecturer. At this time he completed a dissertation on water
rights in Central Asia.
The 1917 Revolution saw his promotion in government service to the post of chief legal counselor of the Ministry of Provisions,
but following the Bolshevik coup in October, he left for Omsk, where he was drawn into service in the White government formed
there the following summer. At the conclusion of the Civil War, he found himself in Harbin, China, where he served on the
administration of the Chinese Eastern Railway until 1926, first as director of the chancellery and later as chief controller.
At the same time, he edited and wrote for
Russkoe obozrenie, published in Peking, and helped found the Harbin Law Faculty, a unique émigré institution training lawyers in China. Here
he lectured almost until his departure for the United States in 1941, made necessary by Japanese pressure due to his independent
position in Harbin politics. During this period he accomplished his greatest scholarly achievements in legal philosophy, with
such publications as
Novye idei v prave i osnovnye problemy sovremennosti (Harbin, 1931-1932),
Uchenie o prave i politicheskaia ekonomiia (Harbin, 1933), and
Ocherki sotsial'noi filosofii (Harbin, 1936), all now bibliographic rarities.
Following his arrival in the United States, he settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, editing for a brief period the émigré
newspaper
Russkaia zhizn', and lecturing at the University of California at Berkeley and the Army Language School in Monterey. Not finding an application
for his specialization in legal philosophy, he turned to teaching Russian and Soviet civilization, history, and law, publishing
numerous articles and two books on Soviet affairs:
Soviet Law and Soviet Society (The Hague, 1954) and
Communism on the Decline (New York, 1956). Even after retiring from active teaching, he continued to lecture and write, served as a consultant to
the Voice of America until 1964, and contributed an oral history to the UC Berkeley Regional Oral History Office's Russian
émigré program. He died in September 1971.
Chronology
1887 April 27 (n.s.) |
Born, Novogeorgievsk, Russia (Modlin, Poland) |
1909 |
Law degree, St. Petersburg University |
1910 |
Entered government service, Resettlement Office of Ministry of Agriculture |
1915 |
Law degree, St. Petersburg University |
1916 |
Privat-Dozent, St. Petersburg University |
1917 |
Chief Legal Counselor, Ministry of Provisions |
1918-1920 |
Manager of Affairs, Siberian (later All-Russian) Provisional Government (also held positions of Assistant Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Assistant Minister of Education, Chairman of State Economic Council)
|
1921 |
Author, Sibir', soiuzniki i Kolchak |
1921-1926 |
Service on administration of Chinese Eastern Railway as Head of Chancellery and later Chief Controller |
1927 |
Author, Eticheskie problemy sovremennogo Kitaia |
1928 |
Author, Obosnovanie politiki prava v trudakh Professora L.I. Petrazhitskogo |
1929 |
Law degree, Paris |
1931-1932 |
Author, Novye idei v prave i osnovnye problemy sovremennosti |
1933 |
Author, Uchenie o prave i politicheskaia ekonomiia |
1936 |
Author, Ocherki sotsial'noi psikhologii |
1940 |
Author, Predprinimatel' |
1941 |
Author, Quo Vadis Europa? |
1941 |
Emigrated to the United States |
1946-1953 |
Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley |
1954-1964 |
Consultant, Voice of America, United States Information Agency |
1971 |
Died |
Scope and Content
The paper portion of this collection consists mainly of material collected by George C. Guins during his service with the
Siberian (later All-Russian) anti-Bolshevik government in Omsk that chronicles various aspects of the Russian Civil War in
Siberia and the Russian Far East from 1918 to 1921.
Also of historical interest is Guins' correspondence with prominent anti-Bolshevik political and military figures, some of
which concerns his published memoir Sibir', soiuzniki i Kolchak (Peking, 1921).
Biographical information on the ancestors of Guins' wife Lidiia (née Prokhnitskaia) is located in their personal papers, which
throw interesting light on the lives and careers of provincial nobles in 19th century Russia. These papers are in the oversize
file.
Information on other members of the Guins and related families can be found in the family file and photograph file.
The microfilmed portion of this collection consists mainly of the speeches, writings and lectures of George C. previous hit
Guins next hit for his émigré period. It also includes important biographical material, including his third person autobiography
and oral history interviews. Also of particular significance are his unpublished book manuscripts on the development of Russian
history and culture, as well as on his academic specialty - legal theory.
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 microfilmed materials and
copyright to them (with some exceptions) are the property of the Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco. 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
Soviet Union -- History -- Allied intervention, 1918-1920
Siberia (Russia) -- History -- Revolution, 1917-1921
Russia -- Civilization
Russia -- History
Law -- Soviet Union
Guins family