Alexander Vassiliev papers, 1895-2011 (bulk 1930-1950).

Open to research.

Notebooks compiled by Vassiliev from Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti (KGB) files relating to KGB espionage activity in the United States during the 1930s through the early 1950s. Includes typewritten transcriptions and English translations of the notebooks, summary narratives, a file guide, and a concordance. Also includes scans of VENONA cables and other material relating to VENONA, the code name for the U.S. Army's Signal Intelligence Service's project to analyze and decrypt Soviet communications primarily during World War II. Legal documents, correspondence, trial notes, and other papers pertain to the lawsuit Vassiliev v. Frank Cass & Co., a libel suit concerning the article, "Venona & Alger Hiss," by John Lowenthal, published in 2000 by the journal Intelligence and National Security Journal.

Digitized versions of the file guide and concordance as well as the original, transcribed, and translated notebooks available as part of the Cold War International History Project on the Woodrow Wilson International Center Web site at

http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/86/Vassiliev-Notebooks

Russian journalist, author, espionage historian, and KGB operative.

Collection material in English and Russian.

Finding aid available in the Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room and at

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms010012