Register of the Mother Ariadna papers
Finding aid prepared by Anatol Shmelev
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2003, 2014
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
Title: Mother Ariadna papers
Date (inclusive): 1935-1984
Collection Number: 2001C12
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
Russian
Physical Description:
1 microfilm reel
(0.15 Linear Feet)
Abstract: History, letters, and printed matter, relating to the Russian Orthodox convent Bogoroditse-Vladimirskaia zhenskaia obitel'
in China and relocated in California.
Creator:
Ariadna, Mother
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], Mother Ariadna papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Originals in: Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco.
Mother Ariadna was the Abbess of the convent Bogoroditse-Vladimirskaia zhenskaia obitel'. She entered monastic life in 1917
as a novice of the Ioanno-Bogoslovskii Convent in the town of Cherdyn', Perm' guberniia. She was taken in by the abbess of
that convent, Rufina, with whom she would spend the next twenty years. Together they fled the Bolsheviks to Vladivostok in
1919, where Rufina was appointed abbess of the Smolensk Odigitriia Convent, and then again to Harbin, where Rufina established
the Bogoroditse-Vladimirskaia zhenskaia obitel' in 1924.
Mother Ariadna
Ariadna was fully tonsured in 1931, becoming Rufina's deputy, and taking over as abbess upon Rufina's passing in 1937. She
presided over the most difficult years of the convent's existence: its evacuation to Shanghai in 1937-38, then to the Tubabao
refugee camp in the Philippines, and finally to San Francisco, California, in 1948. This process was the more difficult because
of the important role the convent played in the religious and social life of the Russian community, particularly caring for
poor and orphaned children and infants. Coming to America before the bulk of refugees, Ariadna was effective in relieving
immigration problems and helped many of the Russians to establish themselves in the United States.
The Bogoroditse-Vladimirskaia zhenskaia obitel' thus became one of the first Russian Orthodox convents in the United States,
and continues to exist to this day. The collection includes materials on its history, and primarily on the life and activities
of Abbess Rufina.
This collection consists of materials relating to the history of the Bogoroditse-Vladimirskaia zhenskaia obitel' (convent)
in Harbin and Shanghai, China, and San Francisco, California. There are also biographical materials relating to Abess Rufina,
Ariadna's predecessor, who founded the convent in Harbin in 1924 and led it through its first 13 years (Rufina died in Shanghai
in 1937). The convent remained in the care of Abess Ariadna through the Second World War, evacuation from China and reestablishment
in San Francisco in 1948.
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
Russians -- China
Russkai͡a pravoslavnai͡a t͡serkovʹ
Bogoroditse-Vladimirskai͡a zhenskai͡a obitel'
reel 1
reel 1
Book by V. Arturova-Kononova, entiltled "Lietopis' Bogoroditse-Vladimiriskago zhenskago monastyria," n.d.
Typescript
reel 1
reel 1
Subject file
reel 1