Romanov "Home Movies": At The Hoover Institute

[Sarai_Porretta]

In Romanov documentaries that I have watched on TV, I have seen pretty much the same movies of the Tsar and his family. Off the top of my head, I recall seeing images of the family walking in a formal procession, with Alexei being carried and the Grand Duchesses all dressed in white and being escorted by officers (part of the Tercentenary celebrations?), the children on board the Standardt, both as small children (i.e. all five dressed in black sailor suits running around the yacht, Alexei was only about two years old) and as older children (i.e. one of Olga and Tatiana at maybe around 12 and 10 years old, respectively, curtsying to officers and then running off), the adolescent Grand Duchesses boarding a small boat, etc. Does anyone recall other examples?

I wonder how many of these movies exist and where are they kept (they are obviously accessible to documentarians). They are truly fascinating, as we can see the family moving about and they seem all the more real, as opposed to simply seeing still pictures of them. I would like to know more about these movies, their history, who made them, their current status, etc.

[Penny_Wilson]

There's quite a number of hours' worth of Romanov home movies at the Hoover Institution in the Hermann Axelbank Collection.

They like it best if you make an appointment with their film specialist to see them (it used to be a man called Remy -- I don't know if he's still there).  You can also buy copies...

[Sarai_Porretta]

Penny,
Thanks for the info. I would be interested in purchasing such material. I looked on the Hoover Institution website and e-mailed their general e-mail address to inquire about what they may have available. Do you know otherwise how to go about doing it (if you have done it yourself or heard how to)? Thanks.

[Penny_Wilson]

I went to the Hoover a few years ago for a couple of days.  When I was talking to the archivist on duty about their various holdings and how to page them, she told me about the Axelbank film collection.  I hadn't known about it until then, and asked Remy to make me an appointment to see them.  Fortunately, he was able to give me some time the next day.  

I was put in a room with a TV and given a cartload of video-tapes to wade through.  All of it was footage of Russian Revolutionary times, but not spliced together in any particular order.  So you have to root around for Romanov footage, though there is quite a bit there.

Then you fill out cards with the footage you want identified, and within a couple of weeks, they send you a VHS tape with it all on.  I don't remember that it was expensive at all. I wonder if they do DVDs now...

[Lanie]

Penny--they don't do DVDs... I don't think! I've been to the Hoover Archive twice (haha, ostensibly I told my mom for a college search, since my good friend's going to Stanford next year)... I don't know how much they were, but I just sort of sat in there, looking at all of them.  There were hours upon HOURS of footage, it was quite scary how much!  Lots and LOTS of stuff not shown in documentaries...it was terrific.

[Janet Whitcomb]

Re: what sort of footage is out there re: the Romanovs, a few newsreels from 1916 and earlier are included on the DVD edition of the 1956 film, "Anastasia."  The running commentary for this film may also be of interest . . . for example, I did not know that "God Save the Tsar" was the music played in the last scene, nor did I realize that the dance music in one of the final scenes was actual ballroom music played during the time of the Romanovs.  

Some of the more recent documentaries feature a bit more than that footage showing the Romanovs walking in stately fashion outside the Kremlin. (Which, I believe, was taken during Tercenteniary celebrations.)  My favorite shows Alexei at Stafka during the winter. I have not seen it for awhile, but I believe Gilliard is also in the footage--or at least someone who is minding him--and Alexei throws a snowball and hits him in the back. Then it is pointed out to the Tsarevich that a camera is nearby, recording it all, and Alexei's embarrassed glee is something special!

That same documentary shows the family, some years earlier, descending a series of steps, and Alexei--out of the line of vision of his Mama--starts hopping down the steps on one foot.

We've all been there, haven't we!  

[David_Newell]

Alexei hated the footage of himself at Stavka saying that Joy looked more intelligent than he did, we all remember being forced into family piccies when young eh!!!

[BobAtchison]

I have a collection of these films that was given to us for use on the site a number of years ago.  We're now in the process of producing four or five them as Quicktime movies for the site.  It will take a month to complete them.

Bob

[Louise]

That is terrific and thank you. Now all I have to do is be patient.

Louise

[Deanne]

Hello group!

It's a joy to have a little chat with all of you. I was excited when I heard that I could actually access the Romaonv home videos. All of my hopes of seeing them were dashed though when I learned that they were held at the Hoover Institution. I live in Pennsylvania. 'Nuff said. We have great hands on American history here, but no good Russian Archives.   I may sound a bit childish and silly, but I really want to see those videos!

"For the dead and the living we all must bear witness"

[JediDeshka]

Okay this is off topic, but I REGISTERED! YAY FOR ME!

[glb]Your Devoted Romanov Fan Called Deshka[/glb]

[CayteGrL911]

These r the Romanov Video's That I have heard of/own:

1. Anastasia (1956)
2. Anastasia (1999)
3. Rasputin
3. Anastasia: Biography
4. Rasputin: Biography
5. The Revenge of the Romanovs
6. Last of the Czars
7. Nicholas and Alexandra
8. Russia's Last Tsar - National Gerographic
9. Anastasia: Dead or Alive?
10. Nicholas and Alexandra - A&E

I know these are not "home videos", but most of them have snippets of them, and the other ones just give good information.  

[Sarai_Porretta]

Last month I inquired to the Hoover Institution about obtaining copies of the film reels that they have with the Romanovs. I received a reply from an assistant archivist stating the following:

"You can see the finding aid for the Herman Axelbank Collection at http://sunsite2.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/oac/hoover.  Once you have found the reels that you would like to have, contact our audiovisual specialist, Heather Wagner, wagner@hoover.stanford.edu, and she will take your
order, which must be prepaid."

I contacted Ms. Wagner as soon as I received this information, but to date have not received a reply. So unfortunately I don't have any information to share with regards to the cost, ordering process, etc. I have tried
e-mailing her again today, however. I will keep you posted if this works out, as it would be fantastic for us to be able to purchase real Romanov home movies for viewing in our own homes. Now, I don't expect that these are of great quality or nicely edited; I imagine that they are just raw unedited film footage showing at best brief snippets of the Imperial family such as the kind shown on the various Romanov documentaries, but I would love to see any little thing I could nonetheless.

Anyway, I thought I would just post this link so that everyone can see just what is offered in this film collection. It seems wonderful. Here is a better link, that leads you to the actual collection listing instead of the broader search offered by the link in the e-mail:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?type=boolean;c=tranoacX;view=text;subview=fulltext;drgn=item;id=ark%3A%2F13030%2Ftf3t1n99r7

Skim through and read what is shown in the reels. They include such fascinating items as: "Tsar playing tennis (1908)" (Reel #3, Segment #2); "Tsar and family; Tsarevich and cousin; Tsarevich on pony (1911)" (Reel #4, Segment #2); "Tsar outside with camera, taking pictures of his daughters and courtiers; Tsar watching daughters and courtiers play a game--two courtiers and one girl run until one of the courtiers catches the girl; the three then come back and another group of three starts running (1911-12)" (Reel #6, Segment #3);  "Tsar's daughters and courtiers rollerskating on the yacht (1912-14)" (Reel #7, Segment #1), and many more!

[CayteGrL911]

So you mean that you can just buy these home videos with NO PROBLEM?

.::Cayte::.

[Sarai_Porretta]

This is apparently the case, although as I said, I have not yet heard back from them so I don't know the price or any more details other than what I have posted. From the e-mail sent to me from the Hoover Institute, apparently it is easy to just pick out what reels you would like to have and they put them on VHS tape for you, simple as that. Now if only they would respond.  :-/