Inventory of the Payson Dennis Carter papers

Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Library and Archives Staff
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2015, 2023
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu


Title: Payson Dennis Carter papers
Date (inclusive): 1902-1996
Collection Number: 2015C30
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 1 manuscript, 1 oversize box, memorabilia (2 Linear Feet)
Abstract: The papers of the American civil engineer in the Soviet Union include a diary, letters, printed matter, personal documents, and photographs relating to telephone and telegraph line construction in the Soviet Union.
Creator: Carter, Payson Dennis, 1902-1990
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Access

Box OCM4 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of 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

Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2015.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Payson Dennis Carter papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Biographical Note

Payson Dennis Carter was an American engineer who worked in the USSR as a communications engineer between 1933 and 1937, helping lay telegraph and telephone lines between Moscow and Leningrad. As a member of the Friends of the Soviet Union in the mid-1930s, "Comrade Carter" was active in speaking to church groups in the United States, which caused him some difficulties during the McCarthy era.
Carter was married while in the Soviet Union and divorced after leaving in 1939. After returning to the United States, he continued to work as an engineer, spending several years with the FCC and a Washington, D.C. area firm. Carter served in World War II, was a member of the President's Soviet Protocol Committee, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection contains one audio tape, presumably of reminiscences by Carter; clippings, including an interview with him, identity papers; numerous photographs and postcards; and an address book and notebook kept while Carter was in the USSR relating to his experience in telephone and telegraph line construction in the Soviet Union.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Americans -- Soviet Union
Soviet Union -- Economic conditions -- 1917-1945
Engineers

box 1, envelope 1-9

Photographs

box 1, folder 1-2

Personal documents

box 1, folder 2

Correspondence

box 1, folder 3

Clippings

box 1, folder 4

Poem and letters

box 1, folder 5

Diary, address books, and passports

box 2

Oversize photographs

box OCM4

Lock of hair