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Title: Basil M. Bensin papers
Date (inclusive): 1913-1970
Collection Number: 2001C60
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In English and Russian
Physical Description:
1 microfilm reel
(0.15 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Speeches and writings, biographical data, and photographs, relating to agriculture, especially in northern climates, and to
Russian émigré affairs.
Creator:
Bensin, Basil M.
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], Basil M. Bensin Papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Originals in: Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco.
| 1881 January 30 (O.S.) | Born, Russia |
| 1912 | Returned to Russia |
| M. S., Agricultural Sciences, University of Minnesota | |
| 1913 | Author, Izuchenie zasukhoustoichivykh ras sel'sko-khoziaistvennykh rastenii |
| 1923 | Author, Sel'skoe khoziaistvo i kooperatsiia v S.-Amerikie |
| 1924 | Author, Shkola i sel'skoe khoziaistvo |
| 1930 | Arrived in the United States |
| 1945-1948 | Instructor, University of Alaska |
| Agronomist, Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station |
B. M. Bensin was born in Russia on 30 January 1881 (O. S.). He received his education in agricultural sciences at the University
of Minnesota, graduating with an M.S. in 1912. Returning to Russia, he authored a pamphlet entitled Izuchenie zasukhoustoichivykh
ras sel'sko-khoziaistvennykh rastenii in 1913. After 1920, he emigrated to Czechosovakia, where he published Sel'skoe khoziaistvo
i kooperatsiia v S.-Amerikie (Prague, 1923) and Shkola i sel'skoe khoziaistvo (Prague, 1924).
Coming to the United States in 1930, he continued his agricultural researches: as an agronomist for the Alaska Agricultural
Experiment Station and instructor at the University of Alaska from 1945 to 1948, he identified strains of plants capable of
withstanding the extreme cold and harsh climate of the region. Bensin was also active in the Russian émigré Sokol movement,
and his collection contains some materials on that topic. He died in North Carolina in February 1973.
Basil M. Benzin (Vasilii Mitrofanovich Benzin) was an agricultural expert active in Russia (to 1920), Czechoslovakia (1921-1930)
and the United States (1910-1912 and 1930 to his death). The collection includes his written works on varioua aspects of agronomy
and its economic organization, as well as a file of unique materials on the history of Russian Sokol organizations in Europe
and the United States (SUBJECT FILE/Athletic clubs). Also interesting are the files on his son's (Igor Bensen) career as an
engineer for General Electric and inventor of flying contraptions (BIOGRAPHICAL FILE/Family file/Bensen, Igor, and PHOTOGRAPHS/Bensen,
Igor).
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 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
Agriculture