Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova (1884-1964), Part 2

[Sunny]

Alexandra was desperate for a "true friend"

Of course she was; friendship as we intend it nowadays was not common in XIX century Courts. The tsar and tsarina were seen as divine, and so too "high" to have real friendship with human beings.

[Inok Nikolai]

We can add a few more details about Mr. Brewster.

We never met him, but we did speak several times on the phone, and then corresponded with him.

Mr. Brewster met Serge Taneyev and his wife in New York City in 1935. In 1937 Mr. Brewster went to Finland to visit A. A. Vyrubova, from whom he purchased her photo albums.
He had photographs of Anna and her maid, Vera, at their cottage. He was also a guest of Count and Countess Pahlen, the niece of A. A. Vyrubova and the daughter of her sister, Alya Pistolkhors.
The Pahlens' summer house, "Monrepos" was destroyed during the Russo-Finnish War in 1940.

In 1951 Mr. Brewster presented the Romanov family albums to his alma mater, Yale.

Mr. Brewster never met Lili Dehn, but he corresponded with her in care of Serge.

In 1960 he also purchased Lili Dehn's letters from the Imperial family, and in 1983 he presented those to Yale too.

(It was quite a delightful surprise for us when, during our first visit to Yale's Beinecke Library in order to see A. A. Vyrubova's things, the head librarian, Miss Wynne, casually put Lili's letters on the table, saying: "Perhaps you would be interested in these too?"!)

Mr. Brewster died in 1995 or 96. He was a bit of recluse, and I don't believe that an obituary or biographical article ever appeared on him.

Mr. Louis Auchincloss (1917-2010), the NYC lawyer and author, was his friend and legal advisor. It was Mr. Auchincloss who negotiated the two sales of letters for Mr. Brewster.
After Mr. Brewster's death, Mr. Auchincloss also corresponded with us and told us more details.

[Inok Nikolai]

Does anyone know what happened to the letters Anna received from members of the IF?
Lexi

I realize that I am chiming in just a little late on this discussion, but A. A. Vyrubova's letters from the Imperial family were likewise purchased by Mr. Brewster and later deposited in the Beinecke Library at Yale.
They are there together with the photo albums.
In the 1980s we could still see and handle the originals. Now they have them put away, and researchers can use the photocopies.

We are including them all in our collection for the book.


http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/brblinfo/brblguide_index.html#romanov

Romanov Family. Six photographic albums, the gift of Robert D. Brewster, 1939, containing between 2,000 and 3,000 informal photographs of the Russian Imperial Family taken from about 1906 to 1914, and about 35 letters to Anna Vyrubova during the period of their imprisonment by the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks in 1917-18.

[blessOTMA]

In the 1980s we could still see and handle the originals. Now they have them put away, and researchers can use the photocopies.

Indeed, when I contacted them in the 70's it was clear even I,  simple member of the public off the street , could flip though the real albums....now even researchers such as yourself cannot . I certainly understand why they don't allow them to be handled....these albums are likely more fragile than much older books really, but I do wish I made the effort to get there then ...instead of saying " oh well I always can " . Thrilled you will be including Anna's letters as well !

[Sunny]

Does anyone know what happened to the letters Anna received from members of the IF?
Lexi

I realize that I am chiming in just a little late on this discussion, but A. A. Vyrubova's letters from the Imperial family were likewise purchased by Mr. Brewster and later deposited in the Beinecke Library at Yale.
They are there together with the photo albums.
In the 1980s we could still see and handle the originals. Now they have them put away, and researchers can use the photocopies.

We are including them all in our collection for the book.


http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/brblinfo/brblguide_index.html#romanov

Romanov Family. Six photographic albums, the gift of Robert D. Brewster, 1939, containing between 2,000 and 3,000 informal photographs of the Russian Imperial Family taken from about 1906 to 1914, and about 35 letters to Anna Vyrubova during the period of their imprisonment by the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks in 1917-18.

Does anyone know what happened to the letters Anna received from members of the IF?
Lexi

I realize that I am chiming in just a little late on this discussion, but A. A. Vyrubova's letters from the Imperial family were likewise purchased by Mr. Brewster and later deposited in the Beinecke Library at Yale.
They are there together with the photo albums.
In the 1980s we could still see and handle the originals. Now they have them put away, and researchers can use the photocopies.

We are including them all in our collection for the book.


http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/brblinfo/brblguide_index.html#romanov

Romanov Family. Six photographic albums, the gift of Robert D. Brewster, 1939, containing between 2,000 and 3,000 informal photographs of the Russian Imperial Family taken from about 1906 to 1914, and about 35 letters to Anna Vyrubova during the period of their imprisonment by the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks in 1917-18.

I really can't wait to read that book! Have you any idea of when we could have it? If you had already told it, i'm sorry, i missed it.

[Robert_Hall]

I have always been curious as to just how AV smuggled all those volumes across the border to Finland in the first place. They must have been cumbersome for a refugee on an escape for her life.

[Inok Nikolai]

P.S. On the location of A. A. Vyrubova's letters.

A. A. Vyrubova sold her albums and letters to Mr. Brewster in 1937.

Some items, found after her death in 1960, have been deposited in the Orthodox Church of Finland's museum.
http://www.ortodoksinenkirkkomuseo.fi/en/index.html

They have eight letters and painted cards from the Imperial family to Vyrubova.

The museum is now being remodeled; it is scheduled to reopen in the summer of 2013.

We were very happy to discover their collection, because they have parts of letters which are missing from those at the Beinecke Libray. Thus, at least digitally, we were able to reunite the missing pages.
The archivists of both institutions were also pleased to "find" the missing documents.


It is also quite possible that after A. A. Vyrubova's death, and then Vera's, more things were lost.
That, alas, is a common occurrence throughout the world.
Refugees or exiles die in a foreign land, and those disposing of the things left behind do not always understand the worth of such items — especially if they have no idea who those people were.
And, of course, the locals, not knowing the exiles' language, cannot read their papers to determine their importance.

I shudder to think of what treasures belonging to old Russian émigrés have been lost or tossed out over the years!

[Sunny]

P.S. On the location of A. A. Vyrubova's letters.

A. A. Vyrubova sold her albums and letters to Mr. Brewster in 1937.

Some items, found after her death in 1960, have been deposited in the Orthodox Church of Finland's museum.
http://www.ortodoksinenkirkkomuseo.fi/en/index.html

They have eight letters and painted cards from the Imperial family to Vyrubova.

The museum is now being remodeled; it is scheduled to reopen in the summer of 2013.

We were very happy to discover their collection, because they have parts of letters which are missing from those at the Beinecke Libray. Thus, at least digitally, we were able to reunite the missing pages.
The archivists of both institutions were also pleased to "find" the missing documents.


It is also quite possible that after A. A. Vyrubova's death, and then Vera's, more things were lost.
That, alas, is a common occurrence throughout the world.
Refugees or exiles die in a foreign land, and those disposing of the things left behind do not always understand the worth of such items — especially if they have no idea who those people were.
And, of course, the locals, not knowing the exiles' language, cannot read their papers to determine their importance.

I shudder to think of what treasures belonging to old Russian émigrés have been lost or tossed out over the years!

Thanks for the info! I alas the letters are not on the site.

[Inok Nikolai]

A watercolor done by A. A. Vyrubova in 1957 has been donated to the Tsarskoe Selo Museum complex:

http://eng.tzar.ru/info/info-events/title/?id=3050

[Ally Kumari]

[Maria_Pavlovna]

Felix Yussupov himself said Anna Vyrubova was unattractive and dimwitted, I do slightly agree with his harsh statement. Fat yes, as the Empress called her "The Cow" (does anyone know the reason beside being fat?)  however she does have a cute baby face. dimwitted - sort off, as been more of an act to be notice.

her affection for the Tsar and Empress was a bit too much like butt kissing and indeed she was known to  be over dramatic.

personally I am not fond of Anna Vyrubova.

[Ortipo]

She was not as dimwitted as people make her out to be.  She had an excellent command of the English language and her memoirs are very well written (in English).  One should take the comments of her contemporaries with a grain of salt.

[stacey]

Thank you so much for this picture of Anna--I don't recall ever seeing it before. She does look a bit plump, but the overall effect (to me anyway) is attractive. I think if she had been slimmer--and more popular!!--she would have been considered a very pretty woman.

About the reason the Empress often referred to her as "The Cow"--that has long puzzled me too. It's hardly the kind of thing you would call a dear friend!! (She might as well have called poor Anya "The Pig"!) It was a really unkind way to speak of her behind her back and I don't think that reflects well on the Empress. I realize that Anya's constant presence and interference in family matters must have been extremely irritating at times and I suspect it was mostly during those episodes when Alix took out her frustration by calling Anya names--altho not to her face.

But still, it's always bothered me. It's rather jarring to read the syrupy sweet letters Alix wrote to Anya, then read another letter she writes to the Emperor referring to Anya as "The Cow"!! Were her feelings towards Anya really that ambivalent? Did she really (deep down) perceive Anya as a threat??

[Maria_Pavlovna]

It was quite possible that Anya was in love with/or had a crush on the Tsar, not surprising since he was a really handsome and a gentleman. She even childishly flirted with him in front of everyone, which the Empress took as playful innocence as Anya had a fail short marriage and was single (also that she was immature), however after awhile even with evidence in her early 1914 letters to her husband, whom she didn’t blame him on bit of being upset with Anya over an issue:

“…I am glad for you that you will be away for 2 days and get new impressions and hear nothing of Anya’s stories. My heart is heavy and sore; must one’s kindness and love always be repaid thus?  The Black Family (Militza and Anastasia of Montenegro) and now she?...”(source: Nicholas and Alexandra, their own story)

Also somewhere  in another of my books there was a source that Anya even kissed the Tsar while on holiday in Finland around 1913, which upset the Empress (I would be too!) and as a quite unforgiving and self-centered woman like Alexandra, not surprised one bit her relationship with Anya went cold for awhile but remaind friends and later 'made up'...as long Anya doesnt make another move on her husband!

[amelia]

I always wondered about a book that I have LES JOURNAUX SECRETS DE ANNA VIRUBOVA. It is a very bad edited book, I bought years ago in France. It is very unflattering towards the Imperial Family and involved bad doings of Grand Duke Dimitry Pavlovich. There is much more, I have not read it for years. Dos anyone kjnow anything about this book?

Amelia