Press Room

November 11, 2004

For Immediate Release

Hillwood Museum & Gardens Acquires
The Edward Kasinec Library of Russian and East European Art Research Materials

Washington, D.C. - Hillwood Museum & Gardens is pleased to announce the acquisition of a unique collection of more than 2,300 items from the personal library of Edward Kasinec, presently chief of the Slavic and Baltic division at the New York Public Library. Internationally renowned as one of the foremost Slavic bibliographers and librarians of his generation, Kasinec is a curator and prolific author who has assembled a personal collection of nearly 4,000 volumes during the course of his thirty-year career. The art historical and cultural portion of his collection, which reflects his personal interest in East Slavic culture, has come to Hillwood through a combination gift and sale. "In making this decision, I was motivated by a number of considerations, not the least of which has been my long-standing relationships with Hillwood and my admiration for its staff," Kasinec said. "This collection greatly expands the scope of our research capabilities. Indeed, now it makes Hillwood's Library a necessary stop for serious scholars in the field of Russian art and culture," said Frederick J. Fisher, Hillwood's executive director.

Kasinec's collection deepens Hillwood's current holdings on imperial Russian culture by broadening its scope. The newly acquired collection is rich in descriptions of people and places in imperial Russia, photography, graphic arts and advertisements from late imperial culture, monies of the empire, and textiles. The collection also expands Hillwood's current scope by adding holdings in the areas of Eastern European avant-garde art, Soviet decorative arts, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the art and culture of Slavic books, and relationships between Russia and world cultures in general. "The collection contains volumes which were often printed in small editions and only available for purchase at the institutions that produced them. Catalogues of provincial Russian museum collections, pamphlets, and exhibition catalogs which are nearly impossible to obtain today are included in the acquisition," noted Kristen A. Regina, Hillwood's
librarian.

Hillwood is in the early stages of cataloguing and processing the Kasinec collection, with the goal of making it fully accessible to the public by the end of 2005. In the meantime, scholars are welcome to periodically check the catalog at www.dcdata.com/hillwood for materials that have become available for use.

Hillwood Museum & Gardens was the Washington, D.C., residence of cereal heiress and art collector Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973) from 1955 to 1973. Mrs. Post assembled the most comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art outside of Russia and a world-renowned collection of eighteenth-century French decorative arts. Among the notable items are imperial Fabergé eggs, chalices, icons, and liturgical vestments from imperial Russia, Beauvais tapestries, and Sèvres porcelain. Hillwood's estate includes twenty-five acres, twelve of which are formal gardens, including a Japanese-style garden and a French parterre. Hillwood opened to the public in 1977.

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