Personal Papers of Rhoda Power

Rhoda Power travelled to Russia at the beginning of 1917 to take up a post as nanny-cum-governess to the daughter of a businessman in Rostov-on-Don. She was soon caught up in the Russian Revolution when Rostov, a Cossack town, was attacked by Bolshevik forces. These diaries were kept during this time and were later used in the writing of 'Under Cossack and Bolshevik', although the surviving diaries cover only the earlier part of her experience: approximately the first three quarters of the book appear to be based on the diaries listed here. Maxine Berg writes that in the latter months she 'eventually tried to leave, travelling across Russia. She picked up a troop train in Moscow, spent seven weeks in a cattle shed, and eventually caught the last boat to go out across the North Sea to Bergen.' The diaries listed here describe the following: travel to and around Russia; conditions in Russia - food shortages, inflation, decline in the value of the rouble; Russian life and customs; Rhoda's work as nanny to Maroosa, daughter of the Resanoff family, and comment on the family generally; the beginnings of revolution and events and conditions in revolutionary Russia. The tone of the diaries changes by March 1917 from an informal and gently humorous style to more of a short, sharp daily newsburst style, interspersed with longer detailed entries on specific events. Throughout the diaries the entries remain very matter-of-fact in spite of the situation and would tend to suggest that Rhoda kept a remarkably clear head throughout her experience, although occasional more sombre or emotional remarks underline all the more sharply the terrifying and dangerous nature of the situation.

Rhoda Power, 'Under Cossack and Bolshevik', Methuen and Co Ltd, London 1919. A copy is held in Girton College Library.