Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1318

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

10 linear feet (19 boxes)

Preferred Citation:

Georgij Sanji Zagadinow collection of Kalmyk materials, 1834-1999, Ms. Coll. 1318, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1834-1999 (inclusive)

Creator:

Zagadinow, Georgij

Form:

Notes, Publications (documents), Audiovisual materials, Reports, Minutes (administrative records), Dictionaries, Sound recordings, and Correspondence

Abstract:

Georgij Sanji Zagadinow (1925-1999) was a Kalmyk immigrant to Philadelphia who spent much of his life working on a Kalmyk-English dictionary. The materials in this collection include literary and other sources from Soviet Kalmykia, as well as extensive documentation of the Kalmyk communities in the United States. Researchers interested in Inner Asian studies and US immigration history may wish to consult this collection.

Georgij Zagadinow (1925-1999) was born in Kalmykia and was living in a village in the Rostov region of southern Russia when conditions became intolerable for him and thousands of other Kalmyks, Buddhist Mongol people, as a result of World War II. Along with his parents, his brothers, and their families, Zagadinow escaped in 1951, ended up in Germany in a displaced persons camp, and later immigrated to the United States where he ran the Society for the Promotion of Kalmyk Culture. A resident of Northeast Philadelphia since 1989, he also lived in East Oak Lane and North Philadelphia. He worked for the Budd Co., retiring in 1993, and remained interested in Kalmyk culture, in particular its language, throughout his life. For more than 20 years, he worked on putting together a dictionary of Kalmyk words and phrases in his spare time. He was unable to complete the undertaking, but left behind hundreds of project notes. His prime collaborator in his promotion of Kalmyk culture was Arash Bormanshinov, whose correspondence is present in this collection. Name variants include: Georgij Zagadinow, George Zagadinov, George Zagadinow.

Kalmykia is a Republic of the Russian Federation on the Caspian Sea. The capital is of the Republic of Kalmykia is Elista, and the region was made an autonomous republic in 1936. In World War II, its inhabitants were deported to Soviet Central Asia for alleged collaboration with the Germans, and returned in 1957. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Kalmykia became a Republic within the Russian Federation, acquiring its present name in 1992. The Republic of Kalmykia is the only region in Europe where Buddhism is the most practiced religion. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 289,481.

References "Kalmykia." In World Encyclopedia. : Philip's, http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-6148.

The materials that Georgij Sanji Zagadinow collected are unusual, and include literary and other sources from Soviet Kalmykia, as well as extensive documentation of the Kalmyk communities in the United States. Material from Kalmykia is rare, as Kalmykia was essentially off-limits for all non-Soviet citizens until 1989, even to visitors from "fraternal socialist" countries (like Hungary). While Zagadinow did not return to Kalmykia before 1989, his family connections enabled him to obtain a great deal of otherwise inaccessible Kalmyk and Russian language material from Kalmykia. In turn, the sources originating from the US document a span of decades in the life of an Inner Asian diasporic community. This collection contains significant content relating to Inner Asian studies and US immigration history.

The collection is arranged in seven series: correspondence, Kalmyk dictionary, Kalmyk history, photocopies of published materials (in Cyrillic script with title translated unless otherwise stated), publications and documents from Kalmyk refugees in Western Europe, records, and recordings (including reel-to-reels, audiocassettes, and LPS-- please note that access to these original files is restricted). The collection is primarily in Russian and Kalmyk, with some materials in Mongolian German, and English. Correspondence and materials on the Kalmyk dictionary, vocabulary, and history are primarily handwritten notes by Zagadinow, while the offprints are primarily reprographic copies.