Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Guins, George Constantine, 1887-1971
- Abstract:
- George C. Guins is best known to historians as the administrative secretary (upravliaiushchii delami) of the Siberian (later All-Russian) anti-Bolshevik government at Omsk. The George George Constantine Guins papers (1917-1971) consist of correspondence, speeches and writings, notes, reports, declarations, and printed matter relating to the Russian Revolution and Civil War in the Siberian Far East, activities of anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia, Japanese intervention, and the history, culture and legal systems of Russia and the Soviet Union. It also includes biographical data on members of the Guins family.
- Extent:
- 3 manuscript boxes, 3 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder, 9 microfilm reels (4.4 Linear Feet)
- Language:
- In Russian, Polish, and English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], George Constantine Guins papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The paper portion of this collection consists mainly of material collected by George C. Guins during his service with the Siberian (later All-Russian) anti-Bolshevik government in Omsk that chronicles various aspects of the Russian Civil War in Siberia and the Russian Far East from 1918 to 1921.
Also of historical interest is Guins' correspondence with prominent anti-Bolshevik political and military figures, some of which concerns his published memoir Sibir', soiuzniki i Kolchak (Peking, 1921).
Biographical information on the ancestors of Guins' wife Lidiia (née Prokhnitskaia) is located in their personal papers, which throw interesting light on the lives and careers of provincial nobles in 19th century Russia. These papers are in the oversize file.
Information on other members of the Guins and related families can be found in the family file and photograph file.
The microfilmed portion of this collection consists mainly of the speeches, writings and lectures of George C. previous hit Guins next hit for his émigré period. It also includes important biographical material, including his third person autobiography and oral history interviews. Also of particular significance are his unpublished book manuscripts on the development of Russian history and culture, as well as on his academic specialty - legal theory.
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 microfilmed materials and copyright to them (with some exceptions) are the property of the Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco. 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.
- Biographical / historical:
-
George C. Guins is best known to historians as the administrative secretary (upravliaiushchii delami) of the Siberian (later All-Russian) anti-Bolshevik government at Omsk. Privy to governmental decisions in this capacity as well as in concurrent service as deputy minister for education and foreign affairs, he described the workings of the government and the anti-Bolshevik campaign in Siberia, 1918-1920, in his published memoir, Sibir', soiuzniki i Kolchak (Peking, 1921).
Less well-known is his career as a legal philosopher, journalist, and writer and lecturer on the Soviet Union. Born in Novogeorgievsk (now Modlin, Poland) on 27 April 1887, he studied law at St. Petersburg University under the direction of the eminent jurist and legal philosopher Leon Petrazycki, obtaining his degree in 1909. Entering government service in the Resettlement Office (Pereselencheskoe upravlenie) of the Ministry of Agriculture, he continued legal studies in his spare time, obtaining an advanced degree in 1915 and remaining at St. Petersburg University as a lecturer. At this time he completed a dissertation on water rights in Central Asia.
The 1917 Revolution saw his promotion in government service to the post of chief legal counselor of the Ministry of Provisions, but following the Bolshevik coup in October, he left for Omsk, where he was drawn into service in the White government formed there the following summer. At the conclusion of the Civil War, he found himself in Harbin, China, where he served on the administration of the Chinese Eastern Railway until 1926, first as director of the chancellery and later as chief controller. At the same time, he edited and wrote for Russkoe obozrenie, published in Peking, and helped found the Harbin Law Faculty, a unique émigré institution training lawyers in China. Here he lectured almost until his departure for the United States in 1941, made necessary by Japanese pressure due to his independent position in Harbin politics. During this period he accomplished his greatest scholarly achievements in legal philosophy, with such publications as Novye idei v prave i osnovnye problemy sovremennosti (Harbin, 1931-1932), Uchenie o prave i politicheskaia ekonomiia (Harbin, 1933), and Ocherki sotsial'noi filosofii (Harbin, 1936), all now bibliographic rarities.
Following his arrival in the United States, he settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, editing for a brief period the émigré newspaper Russkaia zhizn', and lecturing at the University of California at Berkeley and the Army Language School in Monterey. Not finding an application for his specialization in legal philosophy, he turned to teaching Russian and Soviet civilization, history, and law, publishing numerous articles and two books on Soviet affairs: Soviet Law and Soviet Society (The Hague, 1954) and Communism on the Decline (New York, 1956). Even after retiring from active teaching, he continued to lecture and write, served as a consultant to the Voice of America until 1964, and contributed an oral history to the UC Berkeley Regional Oral History Office's Russian émigré program. He died in September 1971.
Chronology Date Event 1887 April 27 (n.s.) Born, Novogeorgievsk, Russia (Modlin, Poland)1909 Law degree, St. Petersburg University1910 Entered government service, Resettlement Office of Ministry of Agriculture1915 Law degree, St. Petersburg University1916 Privat-Dozent, St. Petersburg University1917 Chief Legal Counselor, Ministry of Provisions1918-1920 Manager of Affairs, Siberian (later All-Russian) Provisional Government (also held positions of Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Assistant Minister of Education, Chairman of State Economic Council)1921 Author, Sibir', soiuzniki i Kolchak1921-1926 Service on administration of Chinese Eastern Railway as Head of Chancellery and later Chief Controller1927 Author, Eticheskie problemy sovremennogo Kitaia1928 Author, Obosnovanie politiki prava v trudakh Professora L.I. Petrazhitskogo1929 Law degree, Paris1931-1932 Author, Novye idei v prave i osnovnye problemy sovremennosti1933 Author, Uchenie o prave i politicheskaia ekonomiia1936 Author, Ocherki sotsial'noi psikhologii1940 Author, Predprinimatel'1941 Author, Quo Vadis Europa?1941 Emigrated to the United States1946-1953 Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley1954-1964 Consultant, Voice of America, United States Information Agency1971 Died - Acquisition information:
- Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives.
- Physical location:
- Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
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.
- Terms of access:
-
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], George Constantine Guins papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
- Location of this collection:
-
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford UniversityStanford, CA 94305-6003, US
- Contact:
- (650) 723-3563