{"id":53,"date":"2020-04-13T14:01:32","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T14:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/?page_id=53"},"modified":"2020-10-23T14:20:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T14:20:00","slug":"famine-bread-from-the-estate-of-a-bobrinskaya-bogoroditsk","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/the-reeve-bequest\/1892-humanitarian-mission-to-russia\/famine-bread-from-the-estate-of-a-bobrinskaya-bogoroditsk\/","title":{"rendered":"Famine Bread from the Estate of A. Bobrinskaya &#8211; Bogoroditsk, Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.41.59-web-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"560\" data-link=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/the-reeve-bequest\/1892-humanitarian-mission-to-russia\/famine-bread-from-the-estate-of-a-bobrinskaya-bogoroditsk\/2020-03-13-10-41-59-web\/\" class=\"wp-image-560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.41.59-web-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.41.59-web-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.41.59-web-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.41.59-web-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.41.59-web-1x1.jpg 1w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.41.59-web-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Famine Bread Baked on the Estate of A. Bobrinskaya during the Great Russian Famine<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.40.50-web-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"561\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.40.50-web-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/the-reeve-bequest\/1892-humanitarian-mission-to-russia\/famine-bread-from-the-estate-of-a-bobrinskaya-bogoroditsk\/2020-03-13-10-40-50-web\/\" class=\"wp-image-561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.40.50-web-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.40.50-web-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.40.50-web-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.40.50-web-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.40.50-web-1x1.jpg 1w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-03-13-10.40.50-web-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Canister with Reeve&#8217;s Handwritten Label<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>From Samara, Russia<\/li><li>Date Acquired 1892<\/li><li>BM# 1948.64.098<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>General Reeve acquired this famine bread while fulfilling his duties as a Relief Commissioner in the 1891-1892 Russian Famine relief effort. Reeve was likely presented with famine bread from one of the most affected areas to demonstrate the need for aid. It is also possible he traveled to the area while overseeing the flour\u2019s distribution and obtained it then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After enduring poor harvests throughout the 1880s, Russian farmers were hit with a devastating drought the summer of 1891 that left \u201cfourteen to sixteen million\u201d Russians without food (Smith, 54). That same year, the United States\u2019 milling industry had a surplus of grain and plans to aid Russia were drafted by that November (Edgar). This national relief initiative was headed by William C. Edgar (editor of the <em>Northwestern Miller<\/em>, a Minneapolis trade journal), who contacted the Russian minister in Washington to propose that a shipment of six million pounds of flour be sent to help (Edgar). Edgar then reached out to the millers across Minneapolis (known as \u201cMill City\u201d by the 1880s) to ask for donations and assemble a team to oversee the flour\u2019s distribution (Smith).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time, Reeve (then a Colonel) owned the Holly Flour Mill and was approached by Edgar\u2019s ally, Minnesota Governor William R. Merriam, with the opportunity to become a Relief Commissioner (Edgar). He was joined by Edgar and Edmund J. Phelps, the secretary-treasurer of a Minneapolis loan and trust company (Edgar). After a three-month delay, as Edgar dealt with accusations of exaggeration, fought legal impediments, and struggled to find a willing shipping company, the \u201cmercy\u201d steamship <em>Missouri<\/em> left port the afternoon of March 16<sup>th<\/sup>, 1892 (Smith, 57). Reeve set sail the first week in March and met Edgar and Phelps in St. Petersburg on the 30<sup>th<\/sup> (Edgar).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They were received by the U.S. minister to Russia at his home and introduced to the U.S. consul-general and Count Andr\u00e9 Bobrinsky, a representative of the czar\u2019s special relief commission (Smith, 58) and most likely the \u201cA. Brobrinskaya\u201d named on the canister lid. Two days later, they made their way to Libau (now the Latvian city of Liepaja) and supervised the resulting 241 freight car deliveries to 75 towns and villages in 13 different provinces (Smith, 59). Though there is no written account of this, it is likely the commissioners were presented with famine bread by Bobrinsky during their stay in Libau, and it is then that Reeve would have acquired it. By April 13<sup>th<\/sup>, the deliveries were completed, and Reeve and Phelps began the journey home, leaving Edgar to further explore Moscow (Edgar).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reeve\u2019s canister shows the ingredients of famine bread (known to the Russians as \u201c<em>Lebeda\u201d) <\/em>to be straw, stable refuse, tree bark, and rye (Stevens, 146). The canister contains 3 pieces of the \u201cbread,\u201d possibly make-shift slices, that look almost like modern oat-granola bars in that the dry materials have been compressed together with some kind of binding agent and baked. This binding agent was likely a small amount of water or, unfortunately, the \u201cstable refuse,\u201d which helps explain why so many Russians fell ill from eating it (Stevens). W. Barnes Stevens, a <em>Daily Chronicle <\/em>correspondent reporting from Russia during the famine, details the ailments incited by the bread which included: \u201cswellings, dysentery, typhus, and various other complaints\u201d (Stevens, 146). These ailments often lasted two to three weeks and left the affected person \u201cdelirious, or so weak as not to be able to rise\u201d (Stevens, 131). The majority of the deaths were caused by this weakness, as their immune systems were not strong enough to fight off opportunistic infection (Spignesi).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stevens even mentions an account from an orphanage ran by \u201ca Russian lady of high rank\u201d (Countess Bobrinskaya herself!) where the children \u201cpreferred to die of hunger sooner than feed on this composition\u201d because eating it caused them \u201csuch violent pains in the stomach\u201d (Stevens, 146). When given the chance to try some himself, Stevens described it as \u201csour, bitter, and unpalatable\u2026largely adulterated with sand\u201d (Stevens, 37).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The southeastern city of Samara was considered to be \u201cone of the governments most affected by the famine\u201d (Stevens, 12). Located at the convergence of the Volga and Samara rivers, Samara exists today as \u201can important cultural, industrial, economic, political, and social center in European Russia,\u201d and is Russia\u2019s sixth-largest city as of the 2010 census (Migiro). However, in 1892, Samara saw an \u201cinflux of the famine-stricken [that increased] rapidly\u201d and lost the majority of its cattle, which made it doubly impossible to effectively plough and re-plant (Stevens, viii). Famous Russian author Leo Tolstoy and his wife, Countess Sophia Andreyevna Tolstaya, owned a farm in Samara and Tolstoy made frequent trips to provide food and fuel to those who needed it (Lilly). Russian farmers made the journey to Samara to receive aid, and often ended up settling there because \u201cthere [was] nothing left in [their] villages\u201d as any grain they might have salvaged was commandeered by Russian officials and replaced with inedible famine bread (Stevens, 97). There is one recorded instance in which a hungry peasant was so desperate that he entered a wealthy merchant\u2019s home and \u201cthreatened to break all the mirrors unless he was given money to buy bread\u201d (Stevens, 139).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In his position as a member of the czar\u2019s special relief commission, it is likely that Count Bobrinsky made at least one journey either from his home in Bogoroditsk or from his office in St. Petersburg to Samara to assess the state of the peasants and strategize how to best help them. He likely procured some famine bread to demonstrate the peasants\u2019 dire need in the meantime. It is as likely that the bread was acquired in his own hometown, as Bogoroditsk was \u201ca centre of one of the distressed districts\u2026[and] the whole family of the Bobrinskys had been busily engaged\u2026in the work of relief\u201d (Stevens, 26). This possibility raises the question, then, of why Reeve specified the famine bread as being from Samara, so the former becomes the more plausible inference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the lead-up to the famine, grain harvests came in at about half of the usual yield and the affected area covered about 17 provinces on either shore of the Volga, the largest and longest river in Europe that primarily runs through Central Russia (Simms, 237). This area was equivalent in size to \u201cdouble the size of France or equal to the entire American Midwest, from Ohio to North Dakota\u201d (Simms, 237). Leftist Russian thinkers largely placed the blame for the famine\u2019s spread and intensity on the Russian government, citing their continued export of grain taken from the country\u2019s reserves while their own citizens had nothing (Lilly). They called for the export to cease and the grain to be redistributed, as well as for the updating of farm equipment and the education of the rural famers so that they could be introduced to \u201cbetter agricultural techniques\u201d to prevent future scarcities (Simms, 239).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leo Tolstoy led the charge by publishing an article called \u201cA Terrible Question\u201d in the <em>Moscow Gazette<\/em> that \u201copened the eyes of the government to the crisis\u201d (Lilly). He also set up \u201ceating rooms\u201d that provided two meals for a day\u2019s labor and \u201csoup booths\u201d in 22 of the hardest hit villages (Lilly). This article was published just two weeks before Edgar contacted the Russian minister in 1892, making it likely that Edgar\u2019s \u201cEuropean agents\u201d would have passed it on and it was part of what inspired him to take action (Smith, 56).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even with the aid from the United States, Russia did not return to normal until the following harvest. Throughout, Tolstoy continued his support and joined the outcry over the Russian government\u2019s mismanagement of the relief effort that, according to the protests, not only prolonged the famine but worsened its overall impact (Lilly).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Further Reading<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Edgar, William Cromwell.&nbsp;1893. <em>The Russian Famine of 1891 and 1892: Some Particulars of the&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Relief Sent to the Destitute Peasants by the Millers of America in the Steamship Missouri:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>a Brief History of the Movement, a Description of the Relief Commissioners&#8217; Visit to Russia, and a List of Subscribers to the Fund<\/em>&nbsp;(version digitized by Google). Minneapolis, MN: The Millers and Manufacturers Insurance Co.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/books.googleusercontent.com\/books\/content?req=AKW5Qafob887KpnqZ58UI0yI_JZ1w_t0Vq5dik1Wj8nJLgI4eqM-g8eD6fGCSinCikyutE5TNLLLFYib1eSy348VNQrNMtQiStrCZLjUxCERVI0tifIQcJChcujCZSF97Wp8V27R7UCSS1tOUmFFHtZWlSq0n9vux-yUr3i6B2KE_BQvFMarKoaDK_vwq_PFc001JNwk9y-DzIQ7pBCDObkxnUdfuqEJANOKRyybw16iOux4Seh7EidLYFxsPwve-ohYY5Lcaw0GuUQiO04grDQFnhlP8Wi2bAWyHJA6W4HDkxYzfowsqpU\">https:\/\/books.googleusercontent.com\/books\/content?req=AKW5Qafob887KpnqZ58UI0yI_JZ1w_t0Vq5dik1Wj8nJLgI4eqM-g8eD6fGCSinCikyutE5TNLLLFYib1eSy348VNQrNMtQiStrCZLjUxCERVI0tifIQcJChcujCZSF97Wp8V27R7UCSS1tOUmFFHtZWlSq0n9vux-yUr3i6B2KE_BQvFMarKoaDK_vwq_PFc001JNwk9y-DzIQ7pBCDObkxnUdfuqEJANOKRyybw16iOux4Seh7EidLYFxsPwve-ohYY5Lcaw0GuUQiO04grDQFnhlP8Wi2bAWyHJA6W4HDkxYzfowsqpU<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lilly, David P. 1995. \u201cThe Russian Famine of 1891-92.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Loyola University Student Historical&nbsp;&nbsp; Journal 1994-1995<\/em>&nbsp;26: 1\u20139.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/people.loyno.edu\/~history\/journal\/1994-5\/documents\/TheRussianFamineof1891-1892.pdf.\">http:\/\/people.loyno.edu\/~history\/journal\/1994-5\/documents\/TheRussianFamineof1891-1892.pdf.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mac, Linda, and Bunny Bo. \u201cAndre Alexandrovitch Bobrinsky (1859-1930).\u201d Find a Grave. Find&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; a Grave, August 4, 2013. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/memorial\/114909704\/andre-alexandrovitch-bobrinsky.\">https:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/memorial\/114909704\/andre-alexandrovitch-bobrinsky.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Migiro, Geoffrey. November 2018. &#8220;20 Biggest Cities in Russia.&#8221; WorldAtlas.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldatlas.com\/articles\/20-biggest-cities-in-russia.html\">https:\/\/www.worldatlas.com\/articles\/20-biggest-cities-in-russia.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reeves, Francis Brewster.&nbsp;1917. <em>Russia Then and Now: 1892- 1917; My Mission to Russia&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; during the Famine of 1891-92<\/em>. New York, NY: The Knickerbocker Press.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/russiathennow18900reev\/mode\/2up\">https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/russiathennow18900reev\/mode\/2up<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simms, James Y. 1982. &#8220;The Crop Failure of 1891: Soil Exhaustion, Technological&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Backwardness, and Russia&#8217;s &#8220;Agrarian Crisis&#8221;.&#8221;&nbsp;<em>Slavic Review<\/em>&nbsp;41, no. 2: 236-50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2496341.\">https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2496341.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smith, Charles E. May 1892. \u201cThe Famine in Russia.\u201d&nbsp;<em>The North American Review<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/25102370\">https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/25102370<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smith, Harold F. 1970. \u201cBread for the Russians.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Minnesota History<\/em>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/collections.mnhs.org\/MNHistoryMagazine\/articles\/42\/v42i02p054-062.pdf\">http:\/\/collections.mnhs.org\/MNHistoryMagazine\/articles\/42\/v42i02p054-062.pdf<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spignesi, Stephen J. 2002 \u201cThe 1891 Russia Famine.\u201d In&nbsp;<em>The 100 Greatest Disasters of All Time<\/em>,&nbsp;&nbsp; 50\u201352. New York, NY: Citadel Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Catastrophe\/OOav5YTAJAC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;printsec=frontcover\">https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Catastrophe\/OOav5YTAJAC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;printsec=frontcover<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stevens, W. Barnes. 1893. \u201cThe Truth about Russian \u2018Famine Bread.\u2019\u201d&nbsp;<em>British Medical Journal<\/em>&nbsp;vol. 1,1673: 146.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stevens, William Barnes. 1892. \u201cThrough Famine-Stricken Russia.\u201d Google Books. Sampson&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Low, Marston.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/books\/reader?id=OUY4AQAAMAAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;pg=%20%20%20%20%20GBS.PP1\">https:\/\/play.google.com\/books\/reader?id=OUY4AQAAMAAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;pg=&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; GBS.PP1<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tolstoy, Leo. December 21, 2017. \u201cA Terrible Question.\u201d Translated by Nathan Haskell Dole.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wikisource, the free online library. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikisource.org\/wiki\/A_Terrible_Question\">https:\/\/en.wikisource.org\/wiki\/A_Terrible_Question<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Samara, Russia Date Acquired 1892 BM# 1948.64.098 General Reeve acquired this famine bread while fulfilling his duties as a Relief Commissioner in the 1891-1892 Russian Famine relief effort. Reeve was likely presented with famine bread from one of the most affected areas to demonstrate the need for aid. It is also possible he traveled [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"parent":424,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width.php","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-53","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":563,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53\/revisions\/563"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/bakermuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}