A printed card or sheet listing Seth Baker's mailing address and contact details while based in Leningrad: care of Professor Ilya Kruzhkov at Leningrad State Technical University, with telephone, fax, and telex numbers.
contact informationmailing address
AIFS Leningrad Contact Information Sheet
A printed American Institute For Foreign Study (AIFS) College Division information sheet (on pink paper) listing the mailing address, phone, fax, and telex numbers for students in Leningrad care of Professor Ilya Kruzhkov at Leningrad State Technical University, plus the names of the Resident Director (Claire Greenhalgh) and the Greenwich, CT office contact (Allison Birdsell).
study abroad logisticsAIFS program
A printed address card giving Seth Baker's contact details in Leningrad: care of Professor Ilya Kruzhkov at Leningrad State Technical University, with mailing address, telephone, fax, and telex numbers.
contact informationLeningrad address
A printed contact-information card giving Seth Baker's mailing address and phone/fax/telex numbers in care of Professor Ilya Kruzhkov at Leningrad State Technical University, where Seth was hosted during his 1991-92 stay in the USSR.
contact informationmailing address
Very Important Persons — Some Estonians You Should Know
A printed AIFS orientation/guidebook page (header 'VIPs') profiling key Estonian leaders shortly after Estonia regained independence in 1991. Includes capsule biographies of President Arnold Rüütel, Prime Minister Edgar Savisaar, author Jaan Kross, and Foreign Minister Lennart Meri, with a fifth profile (Marju Lauristin) truncated at the page edge.
Estonian politicspost-Soviet independence
AIFS Leningrad Program Participant Roster, August 1991
A printed letter from the American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) College Division, dated August 1991, listing the names, home addresses, and phone numbers of students participating in the Leningrad study-abroad program that semester. Seth Baker (the author of this collection) appears in the list with his Bloomfield, CT home address. Marked '--continued on back.'
study abroadAIFS Leningrad program
September 1991 · Form
AIFS Leningrad Resident Director Welcome & Practical Information Memo
A typed welcome memo to all incoming Leningrad students from Claire Greenhalgh, Resident Director, covering practical information: the dormitory address at Leningrad State Technical University, public transportation (metro, talonchiki tickets, the 'yidiny bilyet' monthly pass), and communication (phone calls, mail and telegram costs/locations). The page is cut off mid-sentence about the unreliability of Soviet postal service.
study abroad orientationSoviet public transportation
"CENSORED" letter from Leningrad (St. Petersburg)
A playful letter from Seth to his parents in which he deliberately blacks out ("censors") key words throughout the text as a running joke about Soviet-era censorship, all while insisting on the new free speech and democracy in the Soviet Union. He signs off and adds a PS apologizing that he couldn't resist the fun.
censorship humorfree speech
November 4, 1991 · Letter
The Lithuanian Adventure
A four-page handwritten letter from Seth Baker to his parents, dated Nov 4, 1991, recounting a weekend trip to Vilnius, Lithuania with his roommate Brett. He describes flying Aeroflot, lax airport security, hunting for a hotel, opening a Lithuanian bank account, drinking all night with two Russians from near Riga, a chaotic delayed-flight day with an Austrian businessman, a Sri Lankan Trotskyite, and a Lithuanian named Eugene, and visiting the artist Ilya Repin's house outside St. Petersburg. He closes with news about his visa extension, plans to teach English, and an upcoming trip to Siberia (Irkutsk).
travelSoviet collapse
Postcard from Irkutsk / Lake Baikal, Siberia to Grandma & Grandpa Garrod
Seth writes to his grandparents Joyce and Charles Garrod in Zephyrhills, FL, from Irkutsk during a holiday break from school. He took an 8-hour flight to Lake Baikal, Siberia, describing the snow, the icy blue water, hazy mountains, and frigid temperatures, and says he is having a great time and finds the country fascinating.
travelSiberia
A November 1991 picture postcard from Seth Baker to his sister Rachel, sent from Irkutsk in Siberia. Seth describes the cold, fur hats, and his plans to spend a few more days enjoying the scenery of Lake Baikal before returning to school, and asks how Rachel's classes at Loomis are going.
travel in Siberiacold weather
Seth writes from Leningrad on Nov 17th asking his parents to mail $7.50 to the Ashford, CT postmaster for his PO Box 72 (due Dec 1st), and mentions AIFS is blocking his attempts to change his plane ticket through Finnair in New York.
travel logisticsplane ticket changes
November 20, 1991 · Letter
Letter from Seth to Mom & Dad: plans to stay in St. Petersburg, visa & flight battles with AIFS
A four-page handwritten letter from Seth Baker to his parents, written 20 Nov 1991 (annotated Dec 18), describing his efforts to extend his stay in St. Petersburg after his AIFS program ends: arranging a visa through Leningrad State Tech University, a teaching job, an apartment, and his fight with AIFS over changing his Finnair flight date. He reflects on worsening food shortages, the darkness of the northern winter, homesickness, and his desire not to miss this time of historic change.
staying on after the programvisa extension
Postcard: The truth about Russian "going verbs" (Bilibin "White Duck")
Seth writes to his parents from Leningrad at 3 AM on Nov 20, 1991, lamenting the dizzying complexity of Russian verbs of motion and joking that they justify his extra semester. The card is a reproduction of Ivan Bilibin's 1902 illustration for the folk tale 'The White Duck'.
Russian language studyverbs of motion
November 25, 1991 · Letter
Letter home: a weekend trip to Kaunas, Lithuania (Nov. 1991)
Seth writes to his parents recounting a weekend trip from Leningrad/St. Petersburg to Kaunas, Lithuania, to visit his friend Eugene, a Soviet-trained radio engineer now working as a musician. He describes Eugene's nightclub floorshow and apartment, the warmth of known Russians versus the coldness toward strangers, severe gas and electricity shortages, the Devil Museum, the Lithuanian police (including women officers), KGB-headquarters graffiti, a 12-hour airport delay, and a harrowing night of mafia-controlled cabs and tire-slashing taxi drivers at the airport.
travel in newly independent LithuaniaSoviet hospitality vs hostility toward strangers
November 28, 1991 · Letter
Thanksgiving letter: L.G.U. tuition interview and Stefan's Black Market job
On Thanksgiving morning, Seth writes to his parents from St. Petersburg about an interview at Leningrad State University regarding spring-semester tuition ($350/month, 20 hours/week), the absurdity of needing a 12-hour train to Tallinn just to use a phone, and a hilarious anecdote about his friend Stefan landing a job at the open-air Black Market by hawking chess sets to an American tour group in a fake-perfect English pitch.
studying abroaduniversity tuition
December 1991 · Letter
Arrangements for Next Semester / Merry Christmas
A two-page handwritten letter from Seth Baker in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) to his parents giving logistical instructions: addresses for a photographer holding his film, AIFS program peers staying in St. Pete next semester, and a request to send a $300 check to Elise Ardoyno who will carry the cash to him for rent and bribes. He warns not to give anything to Stephan's parents, notes American Express cannot supply cash in Leningrad, mentions teaching English and collecting tongue-twisters for a Russian teacher, thanks Heather for a card, and wishes the family a Merry Christmas.
money and finances abroadcash economy of the collapsing USSR
Postcard from Leningrad to Jessica Baker (Bronze Horseman)
Seth writes to his sister Jessica from Leningrad, describing Russia as a strange and beautiful place, his 25-hours-a-week school schedule, hearing New Kids on the Block on the radio, and his ongoing (unsuccessful) search for a pen pal her age. Picture side shows the Bronze Horseman monument at sunset.
study abroad in the USSRsibling correspondence
December 2, 1991 · Letter
Seth to Mom & Dad — University enrollment, apartment hunt, and the dark St. Petersburg winter (Dec 2, 1991)
A quick logistical update Seth hand-delivers via a returning friend rather than the Soviet post. He covers enrolling at Leningrad University, paying tuition, the difficult apartment search, co-teaching his first English class, errands his parents can run for him (a $8 postmaster payment in Ashford CT and a Cyrillic fonts disk for the friend carrying the letter), possible travel to Asia or Europe, and the grim, sunless St. Petersburg winter.
university enrollmenttuition and money
December 12, 1991 · Form
Kinko's Fax Cover Sheet from Jan Baker to Seth Baker c/o Prof. Ilya Kruzhkov (Dec 1991)
A Kinko's fax cover sheet sent by Jan Baker (Seth's mother) from Hartford, Connecticut to Seth Baker in care of Prof. Ilya Kruzhkov at Leningrad State Technical University in St. Petersburg/Leningrad, USSR. The fax was a 3-page transmission (including cover sheet). The second page is a reduced copy of the cover sheet plus a fax machine transmission report confirming the send on 12-12-91.
family communicationfax transmission
December 13, 1991 · Form
Official Transcript — Seth Baker, Leningrad State Technical University (Fall 1991)
An official academic transcript for Seth Baker from Leningrad State Technical University covering the semester 04.09.91 to 13.12.91, listing Russian language courses (grammar, conversation, phonetics) plus History, Political Science/Sociology, and Literature, with hours and grades on a 5-point scale. Signed by Nina Malysheva, Acting Director of the Russian Language Center, and bearing the official Soviet-era preparatory faculty stamp.
study abroadRussian language study
My new apartment in St. Petersburg, finances, and the KGB
Seth writes a four-page letter to his parents describing his newly rented St. Petersburg apartment in loving detail, laying out his 7-month budget, repeating logistical reminders about money/visas/mail, recounting how the KGB intercepted roubles he mailed home, and profiling his wealthy jazz-musician landlord.
apartment huntingSoviet daily life
Postcard to Grandma & Grandpa Garrod: white Christmas in St. Petersburg
Seth writes to his grandparents (Mr. & Mrs. Charles Garrod of Zephyrhills, FL) on Dec 22, 1991, reporting nonstop snow guaranteeing a white Christmas, his move to his own apartment, and his transfer to the more prestigious St. Petersburg State University for next semester. He notes Russian Christmas is Jan 7th, that travel has gotten harder under new regulations, and signs off with love.
white Christmassnow
December 29, 1991 · Letter
Letter to Mom & Dad about a trip to Tallinn, Estonia (Dec 29, 1991)
Seth writes from St. Petersburg recounting his 5th or 6th trip to Tallinn, Estonia. He is repeatedly mistaken for Estonian or Finnish because of his Russian, scores a cheap room at the Viru hotel, watches Finnish TV (Beverly Hills 90210), endures a comically silent dinner with a cold Estonian, and on the train back meets a young Georgian/Russian woman from Sochi whom he helps and is smitten by.
travel to TallinnEstonian-Russian language politics
Estonian Leaders: Jaan Kross, Lennart Meri & Marju Lauristin (Page 22)
A printed magazine page (page 22) profiling three prominent Estonian figures of the early-independence era: novelist Jaan Kross (a Nobel Prize candidate), Foreign Minister Lennart Meri, and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Marju Lauristin. Each entry gives a biographical sketch, 'Other Facts', and an office telephone.
Estonian independenceBaltic politics
Seth writes from the shores of Lake Baikal on a second visit, describing a cruise on the Angara river and his evolving Siberian travel plans (train turned plane), with Vladivostok as his next stop.
Siberian travelLake Baikal
Seth writes from Saint Petersburg (still printed 'Leningrad' on the card) to his parents, asking how to grow bean sprouts after his attempt rotted, and begging them to meet him in Boston on June 30th with multiple large vegetarian pizzas loaded with cheese.
food cravings abroadgrowing bean sprouts
A single page (likely the closing portion) of a handwritten letter in which Seth gives his Saint Petersburg street address (Aprilskaya Ulitsa #4, Kvartira #38) but urges his parents to keep using his old address, explaining he doesn't want to attract official or unofficial attention and that mail moves faster through the University.
mailing addresspostal logistics
January 5, 1992 · Letter
A brief note on the Russian sense of humor
A six-page handwritten letter (Jan 5, 1992) Seth wrote home, beginning as an essay on the Russian sense of humor (black humor, wordplay, anecdotes, and two jokes that 'work' in English) and then recounting in vivid detail a vodka-soaked day in Pushkin with his Russian artist friends Volodya, Sergei, and Piotr — including lighting a candle in an underground church for Sergei's late mother, fending off teenagers, drunken antics, and an evening feast at a 'new rich' businessman's apartment.
Russian humorblack humor
January 17, 1992 · Letter
Letter to Mom & Dad, Jan. 17, 1992 — St. Petersburg
Seth writes a four-page letter from St. Petersburg describing daily life in the dissolving USSR three weeks after price liberalization: he paid tuition and rent, earned the 'average' Soviet salary of 300 roubles teaching, and itemizes how that salary is consumed by a few groceries amid hyperinflation. He recounts hours spent in bread lines, his landlord Sasha's generous repairs to the apartment, seeing Jesus Christ Superstar in Russian, and devouring nearly 30 English-translation books in two weeks. He closes reflecting on his unstable, disjointed state of mind and his sense of being in a 'state of change' mirroring the country's.
hyperinflationSoviet economy
January 29, 1992 · Letter
Seth's letter home after being mugged in St. Petersburg
On January 29, 1992, Seth writes to his parents from St. Petersburg recounting how he was attacked, knocked unconscious and kicked in the head by three men after seeing Jesus Christ Superstar with AIFS director Claire. He describes recovering at the home of his landlords Sasha and Larisa, watching American films on TV, and reassures his parents that the city is not dangerous.
mugging and assaultconcussion and recovery
Seth writes from St. Petersburg replying to his parents' Dec 26 letter, sharing thoughts on sharing his letters, his plan to return to UConn to finish two degrees (Psychology and Soviet Studies), possible future work in Russia, and reflections on the exciting but difficult post-Soviet moment.
sharing letters with familycareer and job hunting
February 2, 1992 · Letter
Seth to Mom & Dad, Feb 2, 1992 - boots, supplies, and summer plans
Seth writes from St. Petersburg thanking his parents for a care package (boots, Clearasil, vitamins, cheese, Mace) brought over by his friend Eric, comments on a possible Northeast Magazine article, thanks people for school supplies and Rachel's stories, and weighs his options for summer jobs and whether to return home to finish school.
care package from homeboots and winter footwear
Feb 2, 1992 - Seth's plans for the coming months from St. Petersburg
Seth writes to his parents from St. Petersburg outlining his plans for the next several months: studying as an independent student at Saint Petersburg State University, possible spring travel either to visit Huan in Vietnam (or Egypt) or backpacking west across Russia to Irkutsk/Vladivostok, and staying in St. Petersburg in June for the White Nights.
study abroadtravel plans
February 8, 1992 · Letter
Letter to Mom & Dad, Feb 8, 1992: Recovered head injury, AIFS trading market, cars & jaywalking
Seth writes from St. Petersburg reassuring his parents he has recovered from a head injury (headaches and dizziness now passed), jokingly declining to write about Soviet brain surgery. The AIFS students are back and have restarted a barter/trading market (pasta for German chocolate; Cheerios for corn flakes), though there is no milk in the city. He encloses an International Herald Tribune article about the GAI traffic police, comments on jaywalking fines and the high price of cars (~$5,000) signaling wealth, and mentions seeing 'The Naked Gun' and planning to see 'Terminator 2' in Russian. He thanks them for the camera, vitamins, and boots.
health and recoverybarter economy
Seth writes from St. Petersburg about his first week of intensive Russian classes, his difficult daily commute, and a comic episode in which he, Stefon, and friends are mistaken for Latvians by an old woman and end up posing as Latvian black marketeers buying furs at the Polyustrovskii fur market.
Russian language studydaily commute
February 13, 1992 · Letter
Letter to Mom & Dad: Suddenly Teaching a Banking Course in St. Petersburg
Seth writes from St. Petersburg on Feb 13, 1992, recounting how his Russian boss abruptly assigned him to teach a Banking course (because his father is a banker and Seth is American) instead of the planned 'How to Survive in America' course. He describes the comedy of translating Western banking concepts into Russian, asks his parents to mail bank brochures, mentions plans to visit Thomas in Singapore and job-hunt abroad, and notes alarming local conditions: a tripled postage rate, a falling dollar, and banks closed because they are 'out of money.'
teaching banking in Russiatranslating Western economic concepts
February 21, 1992 · Letter
Letter to Mom & Dad: teaching bankers, ruble shortage, and the economics of scarcity
Seth writes home from St. Petersburg on Feb 21, 1992, reporting that his Russian-language schooling is going well (26 hours/week, classes taught entirely in Russian), that he has uncovered how the program director was pocketing money via Swiss dollar transfers, and that he is now teaching a 'Banking' course to five 40-50 year old directors of the state bank. He gives a detailed, analytical account of the ruble shortage, the collapsing exchange rate, hyperinflation, food prices, and the distinction between hardship and true 'starvation', closing with reflection on his uncertain future and how he will readjust to life in the United States.
Russian-language educationteaching English / banking
March 1992 · Letter
"Saint Petersburg PREMIER has finally arrived" - Seth's letter to Mom & Dad
Seth writes to his parents from Saint Petersburg reporting that the first issue of Saint Petersburg PREMIER magazine has finally been published. He details the business challenges of producing the magazine, planned content for the second issue, partnership offers from Russian and German companies, and describes his exhausting, magazine-consumed daily life.
publishing a magazine in post-Soviet Russiaadvertising-funded media
April 5, 1992 · Letter
Another disjointed, poorly spelled letter from St. Pete
A four-page handwritten letter dated April 5, 1992, from Seth Baker in St. Petersburg, Russia to his parents Don and Jan Baker. Seth recounts playing Monopoly with Russian bankers, attending Catholic mass for the English, frustration with the U.S. consulate, his rent doubling amid rising prices and a satellite-dish promise of American TV, a leftover-Communist anti-Yeltsin demonstration in Palace Square, getting a library card, sporadic spring weather, and a long introspective passage on solitude, the 'Russian Soul,' and self-discovery.
post-Soviet daily lifehyperinflation and shortages
April 15, 1992 · Letter
Letter from Seth to Mom & Dad - Visa scams, business meetings, and St. Petersburg spring
An April 15, 1992 four-page handwritten letter from Seth Baker in St. Petersburg to his parents. He describes a frustrating ongoing battle over his student visa with the University director (who threatens to terminate it unless Seth signs a school contract), a disappointing business meeting at the U.S. Consulate, observations on corruption and the two-tier ruble economy, social awkwardness around a Russian girl Stefan tried to set him up with, reflections on the language barrier in relationships, the maddening on-again-off-again spring snow, the completion of his banking course, a postponed trip to Yalta, and a possible future trip north to Murmansk and closed cities via a contact with military connections.
visa problemsbureaucratic corruption
April 18, 1992 · Letter
A Russian-Style Birthday Party in Pushkin (and Some Russian Jokes)
Seth writes to his parents on April 18, 1992 describing a Russian-style birthday celebration he attended for Christine, a fellow AIFS student, at the town of Pushkin outside St. Petersburg. He recounts the day-long feast and toasting with his boss Volodya and the artists Piotr and Sergei, marvels at Sergei's portrait paintings, the vodka and Champagne, and then closes the letter by writing out two Russian jokes about bread lines, Gorbachev, and kolbasa.
Russian birthday celebrationpost-Soviet daily life
April 24, 1992 · Letter
Off to Siberia without a visa - the trip plan, April 1992
Seth writes to his parents just before departing on a major solo trip across Siberia and the Russian Far East. He explains his visa is being canceled, his Yalta plan fell through, and he has switched from a train to a plane trip to Irkutsk, Lake Baikal, Vladivostok and Kamchatka. He details how he packed (food, money hidden in surgical gauze on his arm), describes a bribe to get a cheap plane ticket, and comments on Russian politics, predicting Gaidar will be the next leader.
solo travelvisa bureaucracy
May 14, 1992 · Letter
Letter to Mom & Dad, May 14, 1992 - visa, teaching jobs, newspaper idea, Sochi plans
Seth writes a four-page letter to his parents from Russia, sending it back to the States with the departing AIFS group. He covers his new visa, full-time English teaching, several job leads (an American Business Center in Moscow, hotels, IBM/P&G/AT&T, an English-language newspaper idea), domestic life with dubbed American movies, rappelling plans, a trip to Sochi and Riga, his uncertainty about whether to come home or stay, and farewells to the departing Americans.
visa and residencyteaching English
June 2, 1992 · Postcard
Leningrad / Nevsky Prospekt — "Russia always delivers the unexpected"
A picture postcard of Nevsky Prospekt in Leningrad/Saint Petersburg, written by Seth Baker to his parents Don & Jan Baker in Bloomfield, CT. Seth recounts an eventful week of translation work: he and peers met visiting American/British music acts, translated an interview for Super Channel, threw a private party for the rap-pop group Technotronic, met Denny Laine (of Wings and the Moody Blues), worked as translators for a group of British journalists, and saw Samantha Fox.
translation workWestern music in Russia
Typed Address List of Six People (AIFS-era peers / contacts)
A single typed page listing the names, U.S. mailing addresses, and telephone numbers of six individuals: Nadine Slavinski (Tarrytown NY), Lisa Vogt (Staten Island NY), Kira Wattenburg (Davis CA), Kylie White (Woodbridge CT), Sara Jane Gibson (Hoboken NJ), and Ken Carrier (Berlin MD). Likely a contact/address roster of fellow students or program participants kept by Seth Baker.
address listcontacts
Mailing address: c/o Professor Ilya Krushkov, Leningrad State Technical University
A single handwritten note giving Seth's mailing address in the USSR — care of his host Professor Ilya Krushkov at Leningrad State Technical University on Politekhnicheskaya Ulitsa, St. Petersburg, with postal code and USSR/CCCP designation.
mailing addresshost professor
Seth writes to his sister Rachel from St. Petersburg describing his visit to a Russian bathhouse (banya): alternating super-hot sauna with plunges into ice water, repeated 5-6 times, plus standing under waterfalls. He reassures her that everything is okay and hopes things are going well at home. The card front shows Moscow's Novodevichy Convent.
Russian bathhouse / banyasauna culture
A picture postcard of the Moika 12 (Pushkin Apartment-Museum) in Leningrad/Saint Petersburg, on which Seth tells his parents Don and Jan Baker that he arrived safely, that the semester looks great, and that they should phone or fax him because the Soviet mail system is not running smoothly.
safe arrivalstudy abroad
Postcard: "This is my dorm in Leningrad" (Winter Palace / Hermitage)
A picture postcard from Seth Baker to his parents Don and Jan Baker, showing an aerial view of Palace Square and the Winter Palace / State Hermitage in Leningrad. Seth jokingly claims the palace is his dorm, saying they occupy the east wing and retire to the library for tea, before admitting earnestly that it is a fabulous city and he is enjoying himself fully.
A Soviet souvenir postcard depicting the Odessa Musical Comedy Theatre, mailed by Seth Baker to his parents Don and Jan Baker in Bloomfield, CT. The handwritten message gives his updated St. Petersburg / Leningrad State Tech. College mailing address (care of Nina Meleteuna) and notes that Krushkov left for France in October, leaving Nina as the new boss.
Greetings from St. Petersburg — St. Isaac's Cathedral postcard to Grandma & Grandpas
Seth writes to his grandparents from St. Petersburg describing the bitter winter cold, the early 2:30 sunset, his triple-glazed but drafty apartment, his English-teaching classes (he plans to bring Monopoly to class), life mostly spent indoors searching for food, hopes to attend a Russian Orthodox Mass, and a failed search for a United Methodist Church in Tallinn. The card depicts St. Isaac's Cathedral.
