Guide to the Dr. Tatiana Belitsky Collection

Special Collections & Archives
University Library
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8326
URL: https://library.csun.edu/SCA  

Contact: https://library.csun.edu/SCA/Contact  

© Copyright 2020 Special Collections & Archives. All rights reserved.


Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives
Title: Dr. Tatiana Belitsky Collection
Creator: Belitsky, Tatiana, 1906-1980
Identifier/Call Number: OCH.DTBC
Extent: 1.96 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1923-1956
Abstract: Dr. Tatiana Belitskty was a dental surgeon from Russia, who worked in Shanghai from the early 1930s until 1949. The collection consists of photographs, correspondence, identification documents, and other records that document Belitsky's career in China and her attempts to gain work in the dental industry after immigrating to the United States in the early 1950s.
Language of Material: English

Biographical Information:

Tatiana Belitsky, neé Titova, was born in 1906 in Samara, Russia. After attending university in Russia, she enrolled in medical school in China. She married Benjamin Belitsky in 1923, and had a daughter, Augusta, in 1926. After her daughter was born, Tatiana decided to pursue dentistry instead of general medicine and enrolled in dental school in Harbin, China.
After graduating in 1931, the family moved to Shanghai where Belitsky worked as a dental surgeon. She divorved her husband in 1935, and after raising her daughter as a single mother for years, she married Serge Barabash in 1949.
While in Shanghai, in addition to having a private practice Belitsky served as a dental surgeon for students at the Aurora College for Women and the students and nuns at the Convent of the Sacred Heart. She even continued to provide dental care for the convent during World War II, when it was turned into an internment camp for religious persons.
In 1949, after the communist takeover in China, Belitsky began working in an International Refugee Organization camp for White Russians in the Philippines while waiting for a visa to emigrate to the United States. In August of 1950, Belitsky traveled to San Francisco, where she began looking for work in the dental field.
While Belitsky had plenty of experience and letters of recommendation, the Department of Health would not allow her to use her foreign license or test for an American license unless she reenrolled in dental school. As a result, Belitsky was forced to take a lesser position as a dental technician at Pacific Dental Lab in San Francisco, where she worked for 15 years.

Scope and Contents

The Dr. Tatiana Belitsky Collection consists of the personal records of Belitsky, a dental surgeon who worked in Shanghai from the early 1930s until 1949. Items in the collection include identification documents, photographs, marriage and divorce certificates, receipts for dental work performed by Belitsky, travel documents, letters from patients, letters of recommendation from employers, and other personal records.

Conditions Governing Access:

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use:

Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Augusta Prewett-Gunn, November 12, 2013.

Preferred Citation:

For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materials  guide.

Processing Information:

Jessica Geiser, 2013

Box 1, Folder 1

Marriage and Divorce Certificates, 1923-1949

Box 1, Folder 2

Dental Licenses for French Concession and International Settlement, 1933, 1942

Box 1, Folder 3

Recipe Written on an Envelope, ca. 1930-ca. 1939

Box 1, Folder 4

Postcards of Shanghai, ca. 1930-ca. 1939

Box 1, Folder 5

General Dental Bills, Receipts, Business Cards, and Other Dentistry Related Documents, 1943-1948

Box 1, Folder 6

French Concession Resident's Certificate, 1939

Box 1, Folder 7

Russian Emigrants' Association - Certificate of Registration, 1947

Box 1, Folder 8

Certificate of Reunion with the Roman Catholic Church, 1948

Box 1, Folder 9

Inoculation and Vaccination Records, 1948-1950

Box 1, Folder 10

International Refugee Organization - Tubabao, Philippines, 1949-1950

Box 1, Folder 11

Trip from the Philippines to the United States, 1950

Box 1, Folder 12

Correspondence Regarding Belitsky's Job Search in the United States, 1949-1951

Box 1, Folder 13

U.S. Social Security Card and Certificate of Naturalization, 1956

Box 2, Folder 1

Photographs, ca. 1926-ca. 1956

Box 2, Folder 2

Chinese Dental License, ca. 1931

Box 2, Folder 3

Diploma from Dental School, 1931