Columbia's New Treasure-House                    19

many disunited groups and forces in a civil war which lasted for
almost three years. The Archive contains important collections
which illuminate the activities and the problems of the leaders of
the White Armies and the dilemmas of policy which they faced
in trying to rally popular support against the Bolshevik regime, as
well as numerous memoirs written by participants soon after the
struggle had come to its close.

During World War II almost one-third of the Soviet population
was, at one time or another, under German occupation. How did
the people in western Russia and Ukraine react to the removal of
Soviet control? From among the hundreds of thousands of Soviet
people who were removed by force from Soviet territory or who
left it voluntarily, not a few have had the urge and ability to tell
the West about their experiences in their homeland, at their work,
in prisons or forced-labor camps, or in the army. The Archive has
received a considerable number of unpublished memoirs and other
studies written down by the most recent non-returners and es¬
capees. These provide an important source for the understanding
of Soviet life and often supplement in essential ways the data for
which the researcher must otherwise depend upon closely con¬
trolled Soviet sources.

People of many political views, from former high officials of
the monarchy to liberal reformers and revolutionaries, have found
a common interest in preserving for posterity their diaries, letters,
documents, memoirs, and rare newspapers and pamphlets, and
every week the Columbia Archive receives new inquiries and con¬
tributions from many countries of the free world. This eager co¬
operation reflects a high opinion of the impartial and scholarly role
of Columbia University, for each contributor knows that his ma¬
terials, whether extensive or not in scope, will be preserved and
scrupulously protected against any exploitation for political or
personal purposes, and will be made available under proper safe¬
guards for study by scholars imbued with the tradition of objective
research.

Each contribution is recorded in a central register, together with