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Wraga (Natalie Grant) papers
2005C55  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Use
  • Acquisition Information
  • Preferred Citation
  • Alternate Forms Available
  • Biography Note
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Arrangement

  • Title: Natalie Grant Wraga papers
    Date (inclusive): 1919-2004
    Collection Number: 2005C55
    Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
    Language of Material: In English and Russian
    Physical Description: 31 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box (12.8 Linear Feet)
    Abstract: The papers of the American Foreign Service officer and Sovietologist include writings, notes, correspondence, and printed matter, relating to the Soviet government, foreign policy, espionage and clandestine activities, and especially the use of disinformation as a tactic. Includes photocopies of United States Department of State dispatches relating to Soviet activities during the 1920s and 1930s. Includes a typescript book-length-study entitled "Window on Russia." Also includes some papers of Ryszard (Richard) Wraga, Sovietologist and husband of Natalie Wraga. Digital copies of select records also available at https://digitalcollections.hoover.org. 
    Creator: United States. Department of State
    Creator: Wraga, Natalie Grant, 1901-2002
    Creator: Wraga Ryszard, 1902-1968
    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

    Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2005.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Natalie Grant Wraga Papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Alternate Forms Available

    Digital copies of select records also available at https://digitalcollections.hoover.org. 

    Biography Note

    1901 February 24 Born as Natalie Konstantinovna Mark, Tallinn, Estonia
    1920s Fled the Soviet Union. Became a U.S. citizen when she married Malcolm Grant (divorced shortly thereafter)
    1923 Employed with the American Relief Administration
    1928-1939 Worked for the American Legation in Riga, Latvia, as a translator and analyst
    1950s Employed with the U.S. Department of State as a Sovietologist
    1959 May 20 Married Ryszard Wraga, also known as Jerzy Antoni Niezbrzycki
    Mid-1960s Moved to Menlo Park, California, and worked for the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
    1981-1988 Volunteer, League of Women Voters
    1983-1985 Volunteer, Project Hope
    1985 Volunteer, Republican Women's Club of Loudoun County, Virginia
    2002 November 12 Died, Lovettsville, Virginia

    Scope and Content of Collection

    Natalie Grant Wraga papers include correspondence, notes, writings, and printed matter relating to the Soviet Government, U.S. foreign policy, espionage and clandestine activities, and the use of disinformation as opposed to simple propaganda as a tactic.
    The largest series, Speeches and Writings, includes her typescript, book-length study entitled "Window on Russia." Writing under the name Natalie Grant, she was also the author of several monographs and articles in intelligence journals. She was an authority on "The Trust," one of the most important Soviet deception operations, in which a phony opposition group in the 1920s tricked émigrés and domestic opponents of the new Soviet regime into exposing their plans and feeding false information to the West.
    The Subject File contains material related to her own publications. This includes articles and notes about Bolsheviks, communism, disinformation, emigration, espionage, the GPU (Glavnoe Politicheskoe Upravlenie or Main Political Administration), Russian civil war, etc. It also includes photocopies of U.S. Department of State dispatches relating to Soviet activities during the 1920s and 1930s.
    The Richard (Ryszard) Wraga File contains papers of Richard (Ryszard) Wraga, Sovietologist and husband of Natalie Wraga. The Hoover Institution Library & Archives also holds a separate collection of his materials, the Ryszard Wraga papers. Additional papers of Richard Wraga are available at the Józef Pilsudski Institute of America in New York City.

    Arrangement

    The collection is organized into 10 series: Biographical File, Richard Wraga File, Correspondence, Speeches and Writings, Subject File, Soviet Delegations File, Writings by Others, Newspapers and Clippings, Photographs and Negatives, and Oversize Material.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Secret service -- Soviet Union
    Soviet Union -- Politics and government
    Espionage, Russian
    Soviet Union -- Foreign relations
    Disinformation
    Intelligence service -- Soviet Union