Tolstoy Foundation - Valley Cottage, New York - TF Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Resources

Unique in its programs of combined humanitarian and cultural concerns, the Tolstoy Foundation continues to be committed to its youth and to the preservation of the cultural traditions, the heritage and the resources of the Russian diaspora. This underlying principle was set in place by two of our co-founders, Alexandra Tolstoy and Sergei Rachmaninoff, who strongly believed in the preservation of Russian culture in America and in broadening cultural awareness among Russian youth.

For over half a century, the TF Center at Valley Cottage, New York has been many things to many people. The rustic Russian setting with its classically styled “onion domed” church and 50,000-book library has served as a magnet, attracting both young and old to its doors. Although TF began humbly as a smaller scale “Ellis Island,” serving as a refuge for displaced immigrants from a variety of nations, it later established residences for elderly Russians, and also served as a summer camp for children between 1942 through the 1960’s. Russian language programs, cultural events and activities have grown and flourished here for many years.


The Russian Orthodox Church at the TF Center, built in 1957, is dedicated to St. Sergius of Radonezh. It is a beautiful structure in classic Pskov-Novgorod style, decorated inside with frescoes, carved chandeliers and a carved and painted icon screen. The church is a beloved addition to the Center's community. A priest lives at the Center and ministers to the spiritual needs of young and old alike. (Click HERE to read more)

Princess Vera C. Romanoff, great-granddaughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, passed away in January 2001. She died of natural causes in her private apartment at the TF Center, where she had been cared for since 1994.

The youngest of nine children of Grand Duke Constantine and Princess Elizabeth of Saxen-Altenburg, Princess Vera was buried on January 15, 2001 in the Russian Orthodox Cemetery of Novo-Diveevo in Spring Valley, New York. She began her life in 1907 amidst the grandeur of Russia’s imperial family, but had to escape with her mother and one brother from the Bolshevik Revolution to Sweden in 1918.

Sought out be persons worldwide, Princess Vera symbolized the Romanoffs in stark contrast to the image set forth by the former Soviet government. With her death comes the end of an era, and a chapter closes on that generation of Romanoffs.

“The Life and the Work of Alexandra Tolstoy
(1884-1979)” - Exhibit: September 2000 to 2002

An exhibit entitled “The Life and the Work of Alexandra Tolstoy (1884-1979)” opened in Moscow in September 2000. The opening was attended by Ambassador James F. Collins, U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, who commented that it was “…wonderful to be able to honor the Founder of ‘that wonderful organization’ [the Tolstoy Foundation] for the first time in the land where she was born.”

The on-going exhibit is the result of a cooperative effort involving the Tolstoy Foundation, the Leo Tolstoy State Museum, and the National Memorial Park Museum-Estate of Leo Tolstoy (“Yasnaya Polyana”).

The exhibit is the first official recognition by Russia of Leo Tolstoy’s daughter, Alexandra, who was branded in 1948 as a traitor in the country of her birth, and whose name and activities were repressed throughout the Soviet Union. At the opening of the exhibit, First Deputy Minister of Culture Natalia Dementieva stated that the exhibit was “…a long over-due tribute to a splendid Russian woman.”

The exhibit ran in Moscow for six months, attracting over 20,000 visitors. The Director of the Leo Tolstoy State Museum in Moscow commented that the archival materials provided by Tolstoy Foundation for the exhibit were a genuine revelation for Russian citizens.

Over 60 years of records - reports and correspondence, official and personal - fill the Foundation's Archives. The Library at the Center during this same period received books for its residents and for émigrés in the New York area. These Archives are the Foundation's memory, and Russia's national heritage fills its Library: both contain the lives, thoughts and feelings of Russians abroad.

The TF Archives -1100 linear feet of reports, records, letters, and other documents, personal and official - contain both personal papers and documents of the Foundation’s activities. Among the most valuable materials in the Archives are the personal papers of Alexandra Tolstoy, reflecting her forty-nine years in America, during most of which she directed the activities of the Foundation. These documents include her speeches and articles - over 400 manuscript copies - and her letters - over 3,000 - and records of the Foundation’s political action on behalf of the Berezovtsy, Old Believers and Kalmyks, to name a few. The Archives contain the records of the Tolstoy Foundation’s humanitarian activities since 1939, of its cooperation with the many Russian organizations dedicated to the survival of a growing émigré culture, and of TF offices spread across Europe, the Middle East and America. There are also personal records of displaced families who received assistance through the Foundation - over five hundred thousand records with the vital data of generations displaced by war and political repression. Among the valuable materials in the Archive is an extensive collection of photographs recording the activities, residents and visitors at the TF Center – Reed Farm – since the 1940’s. The Archive contains materials documenting ordinary lives as well as the extraordinary achievements of the grand figures of the Russian emigration who have left their memoirs, letters and photographs in its care.

Materials from the TF Archive are currently on display in an international exhibit “The Life and the Work of Alexandra Tolstoy (1884-1979)”, which is now showing at the Museum-Estate of L.N. Tolstoy “Yasnaya Polyana” in Tula, Russia. It will continue there, open to the public, through the fall of 2002. At that time it may travel to the United States and/or be transferred to a web site.

The Foundation staff is ready to assist in the description and cataloging of the valuable materials of individuals who may wish to deposit family papers or other documents in the Archive.

The TF Archive is presently undergoing reorganization and cataloging. This process began in the fall of 2000 and will continue for several years. At the end of this period, the TF Archives will make its holdings available to the public and will post regular hours of operation. Until that time, the Archives are not available for general research. However, from time to time the Archives can accommodate the specific, limited needs of specialized researchers. For details, you may contact Robert Whittaker at rwhittaker@rusinc.net, or by calling the Tolstoy Foundation at 845-258-6722.

The Alexandra Tolstoy Memorial Library (ATML) was established from the donated books of hundreds of individuals - a collection of collections, some small, some large, a mirror of the world of emigrations in print. It began as a small collection of books - the Reed Farm Library. Then in 1951 Alexandra Tolstoy received two remarkable donations. One came via California from Harbin and Shanghai: the "Zarya Library" of Olga Lembich, widow of a prominent Russian newspaper publisher in China - over ten thousand volumes: pre-Revolutionary works, publications from the European centers of the Russian emigration, even Russian works published in New York in the twenties, and Russian books published in Harbin, Shanghai and Beijing. This pre-WWII portrait of the Russian emigrations is still intact, and its contents are being cataloged with the assistance of a research grant from the City University of New York. The second gift came from Fedor Petroff, who wanted a home for his valuable Russica collection - English language works on Russia - of over a thousand volumes. This ordinary man and extraordinary bibliophile, who had served as an officer in the Russian Imperial army, spent his retirement at Reed Farm cataloging the new library, which almost overnight had grown to fourteen thousand volumes. In 1979 in recognition of its spiritual and cultural significance for the work of TF and its founder, the Library was officially named the Alexandra Tolstoy Memorial Library.

The ATML has over 50,000 books and booklets in Russian and English, on 4,770 feet of shelves, and the number of titles keeps increasing as new donated books arrive. The ATML continues to collect donations. Titles that duplicate holdings of the ATML are distributed to other libraries and collections, including libraries in Russia. The ATML participates in the Books for Russia program, which ships duplicate Russian émigré publications to Russia for distribution to provincial Russian libraries.

The ATML is open to readers on Mondays (except holidays), from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, at the TF Center. Residents of the Center may borrow books from the collection. Researchers who wish to study the special collections of the ATML will be accommodated on an individual basis, and are asked to contact Robert Whittaker at rwhittaker@rusinc.net. Individuals who wish to make donations of books to the ATML are asked to contact Mr. Whittaker or the Foundation at 845-268-6722.

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