Alexis Vasilevich Babine

Alexei Vasilievich Babin (Russian: Алексей Васильевич Бабин), better known as Alexis Babine, was a librarian and historian who was born in the Russian Empire. In Russia, he is most well known for authoring The History of the North American United States (Russian: История Северо-Американских Соединенных Штатов), the first major work written by a Russian author about the history of the United States. In the United States and abroad, Babine is more well known for managing the acquisition of the Yudin Collection, a set of eighty-thousand rare Russian and Slavic books, for the Library of Congress.

Early life

Childhood and adolescence: 1866–1889 Babine was born on 22 March 1866 in the third-estate provincial town (Russian: мещанин город) of Elatma, in the Ryazan region, about one hundred and fifty miles east of Moscow. His father, Vasilii Pavlovich Babin, was a builder and a fisherman.

Babine graduated from Elatma's gymnasium for men (Russian: Елатомская мужская гимназия) in 1885, then going on to study at the Saint Petersburg Institute of History and Philology (Russian: Императорский Санкт-Петербургский историко-филологический институт). During his time there, he worked as a school teacher and librarian at the Okhta Trade School.

After accidentally shooting his friend in the head, he quickly left Russia and took up work as a stoker on a ship in Riga. It was from there that he came to the United States, excited by the opportunity to raise his social circumstances through work and education.

The Yudin Collection contained sixty-eight thousand volumes in Russian, twelve thousand in other Slavic languages, and over half a million manuscripts, mostly in Russian. Some of the materials dated back to the early eighteenth century, though most of the materials were from the latter half of the nineteenth century. The bibliography, literature, and history of Russia were the main focus of the collection.

After fleeing to London with the help of his colleagues in the ARA, Babine emigrated back to the United States, specifically to Rockville, Maryland. He left the majority of his estate to the Library of Congress.

Selected works

Babine, A. V., & Raleigh, D. J. (1988). A Russian Civil War Diary: Alexis Babine in Saratov, 1917-1922. Duke University Press. Babine, A. V. (1905). The Yudin library, Krasnoiarsk (Eastern Siberia). Press of Judd and Detweiler. History of the North American United States: in 2 volumes / [Comp.] A. V. Babin. - St. Petersburg: Printing House of A. G. Trenke and V. Fusno, 1912. - V. 1: 1607-1829. - 493 p. History of the North American United States: in 2 volumes / [Comp.] A. V. Babin. - St. Petersburg: Printing House of A. G. Trenke and V. Fusno, 1912. - V. 2: 1829-1910. - 472 p.