Review and Tour of The New York Public Library
On Tuesday, October 26, 2004, members of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and other guests visited the Slavic and Baltic Division of The New York Public Library by invitation from Edward Kasinec, Curator of the Slavic and Baltic Division at The NYPL.
Present were His Eminence, Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of the ROCOR and Rector of Holy Trinity Seminary; His Eminence, Archbishop Evgenii, Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary; His Eminence, Archbishop Mark; His Eminence, Archbishop Kirill; His Grace, Bishop Agafangel; His Grace, Bishop Michael; Archpriest Alexander Lebedeff, Archpriest Nikolai Artemoff, Archpriest Andrei Sommer, Hieromonk Evfimii; Deacon Vladimir Tsurikov, Assistant Dean of Holy Trinity Seminary; Dr. Thomas Bird, Dr. Marina Ledkovsky, Dr. Nicholas Schidlovsky and Mr. Walter Fekula.
This visit, the first by members of the Synod of Bishops, allowed them to gain an understanding of the scope of The New York Public Library's holdings and its service to the research community. Mr. Kasinec gave a brief historic overview of the collections and then invited the delegation to view a small exhibit, prepared in honor of this visit. Materials displayed included Carpatho-Rusyn materials of the 1920s, selected papers from the Isabell Hapgood papers and photo archives, as well as rare 19th century photographs of the Moscow Theological Academy, kept at The New York Public Library. The group was joined by several staff members of The NYPL's Slavic and Baltic Division, as well as Ann Thornton of The NYPL's Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Mr. Davis Ferrio welcomed the guests and presented Metropolitan Laurus and Archbishop Evgenii with two gifts - a catalog of the exhibit "Russia Engages the World", which took place in 2003-4 at The NYPL, and "The Russo-Greek Papers" published in 2001 by Norman Ross Publishing and edited by Fr. Robert Wright and Edward Kasinec. Metropolitan Laurus and Archbishop Evgenii both expressed their gratitude for the reception and organized exhibit. Deacon Vladimir Tsurikov mentioned the active participation of the Slavic and Baltic Division's staff in Holy Trinity Seminary's various projects; both with publications and conferences. The importance of working towards making private collections, such as the library and archives at Holy Trinity Seminary, available to the broader academic community was highlighted by Edward Kasinec, who announced that the upcoming Slavic convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies in December 2004 will feature a roundtable dedicated to that theme with participation from both The NYPL and HTS.