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Bulgarian Collections in the Library of Congress

Manuscript Materials

The materials of Bulgarian interest in the Manuscript Reading Room of the Library of Congress are limited to those of American provenance such as the papers of U.S. diplomats and political figures. The most pertinent example is the collection of personal papers of Charles M. Dickinson, the first U.S. diplomatic agent to Bulgaria, who oversaw the American response to the kidnapping of an American missionary by Macedonian revolutionaries. The kidnapping of Miss Ellen Stone became a sensational news story in 1901 and can be researched in the Library of Congress using newspapers and books in the general collections, in addition to the primary sources in the Manuscript Division.

Also of interest to researchers on Bulgaria is the collection of Eugene Schuyler papers, 1663-2015. Schuyler was an American diplomat who served in St. Petersburg, Russia, as well as in Constantinople, Turkey during Ottoman times. Regarding Bulgaria he is noted for his reporting on Ottoman atrocities committed during the April Uprising in Bulgaria in 1876.

Image of items from the Charles M. Dickinson Papers
Letter from the Revered Robert Thomson of the American School in Samokov, to Charles M. Dickinson, reporting new information on the status of American missionary Miss Ellen Stone and her bandit captors. October 7, 1901. Charles M. Dickinson Papers, Library of Congress Manuscript Division. View full bibliographic information about this collection in the Library of Congress Online Catalog

Below are links to selected collections with content relevant to the study of Bulgaria. Titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. For all collections researchers should contact the Manuscript Reading Room in advance of a research trip, because some collections below have access restrictions and others are stored off-site.

About the Manuscript Division

The Manuscript Division seeks to preserve personal papers and organizational records that document the course of America's national experience. Its more than twelve thousand collections and more than seventy million items touch upon every aspect of American history and culture. The Manuscript Division's holdings are strongest, however, in the areas of American national government, the federal judiciary, diplomacy, military history, women's history, and black history.