Collection Scope and Content Note

In 1981 Cornell University Library received this collection as a donation from Basile A. Denissoff. The collection consists of five bound volumes, translations of certain documents, a map folder containing blueprint of a vodka distillation plant, the manuscript memoirs of Basile Denissoff's father Elie, and other documents. The five bound volumes contain documents relating to the military service of family members; documents related to property and serfs; birth, death, and marriage certificates; financial documents; documents related to the philanthropic activities and social life of the family; the Denissoff family genealogical chart, and miscellaneous papers. Included in the collection are letters signed by Prince Potemkin, Prince Alexander Suvorov, and a letter signed by Catherine II (Catherine the Great) awarding Il'ia Fedorovich Denisov (1718-1792) the Order of St. Vladimir. The earliest document in the collection is a bill of sale for a Tartar servant girl dated 1739. There are also many maps and records which describe the property holdings of the family before, during, and after the emancipation of the serfs by Alexander II in 1861. Two bound volumes of lists of people entering the armed forces, published in St. Petersburg, Russia, 1776 and 1796, also came with the collection and have been catalogued separately.