Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the William Alexander Gerhardie Papers #11044-z, Rare Book Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Transferred from the Rare Book Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in December 1994 (Acc. 94173).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, April 1995

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Authors, English--History--20th century.
• Gerhardie, William Alexander, 1895-1977.

William Alexander Gerhardie was born of English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia, and educated there and at Oxford. He served in World War I, became military attache to the British Embassy at Petrograd, and went with the British Military Mission to Siberia, 1918-1920. His novels include Futility: a Novel on Russian Themes (1922); The Polyglots (1925); and Resurrection (1934), an autobiographical novel that argues for the immortality fo the soul. His critical writings include Anton Chekhov (1923); Memoirs of a Polyglot (1931); and The Romanoffs (1940), substantially a history of Russia.

The collection consists of letters, 1924-1972, chiefly from William Alexander Gerhardie to others. Letters in the 1920s include complaints relating to Gerhardie's finances, but also discuss his writing plans. Letters 1967-1972 are from Gerhardie to his friends Karin and Giacomo and mainly discuss Gerhardie's health and progress on planning and writing a tetralogy that he appears not to have completed.