Murlin Croucher, the Slavic Librarian of Indiana University-Bloomington, l980-2005

Abstract

ABSTRACTMurlin Lee Croucher (1941–2010) served as the third Slavic librarian of Indiana University (IU) from 1980 to 2005 during which he built one of North America’s premier Slavic collections at IU’s Bloomington campus. There have been a few biographical accounts of Croucher that highlight his achievements as a professional area studies librarian in the United States and his contributions to Slavic and East European studies and librarianship. Drawing on unpublished documents provided by the Indiana University Archives as well as published sources, this essay expands existing accounts dedicated to Croucher by providing more details on his personal background and career experiences prior to his tenure at IU. It also incorporates the story of IU’s emergence as a stronghold of Slavic studies in the Midwest, the rise of its Slavic collection before Croucher, and brief biographical sketches of his two predecessors, Dr. Fritz T. Epstein (1898–1979) and Dr. Andrew (Andrij) Turchyn (1912–2004). These sketches serve as background that place Croucher’s work in a broader context and illuminate his achievements as a professional Slavic area studies librarian.KEYWORDS: Murlin Croucher(1941–2010)Slavic collectionIndiana Universitycollection developmentSlavic studiesNicolaevsky collectionIsrael Perlstein (1897–1975)Andrew Turchyn(1912–2004)Epstein (1898–1979) AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank Dina Kellam, Director of the Indiana University Archives, and Bradley Cook, Curator of Photographs, for finding some of the archival sources and photographs for this work.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. He returned to his native city of Rochester a couple of times in the 1960s but only briefly for temporary employment as a supply clerk at the Hickok Belt (another hometown enterprise specializing in manufacturing men’s belts and wallets) and the Kodak Company as a film processor, in 1961 and 1962, respectively. “[The University of North Carolina, undated],” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, Collection C557.20, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.2. Murlin Croucher, “Tvardovski, Aleksandr Trifonovich,” in Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, vol.6 (New York: Ungar, 1975): 372–373.3. Murlin Croucher, “A Note about Eastern European Exchanges at UNC,” LEADS 20, no.3 (1978): 7–8. Croucher also worked for six years as a compiler of PMLA Bibliography (Professional Modern Language Association Bibliography) during those years at the UNC.4. Iurii Kazakov, “Easy Life,” trans. Murlin Croucher, The Literary Review 13, no.3 (Spring 1970): 366–377.5. The institute was renamed in 2020 “The Robert F. Byrnes Russian & East European Institute” to honor its founder, Professor Robert F. Byrnes.6. Murlin Croucher to Alexander Rabinowitch, June 4, 1980” Indiana University President’s records, Collection C213.353, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.7. “Slavic Studies in I.U. …” Indiana Alumni Magazine 11, no.6 (March 1949): 5. After finishing his degrees in law in Russia in 1925, he left for Europe, where he stayed for six years continuing his postgraduate studies in France and Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1931.8. Subsequently it was renamed Summer Workshop for Slavic and East European Languages (SWSEEL).9. Later it was renamed the Russian and East European Institute (REEI) and in 2020 became the Robert F. Byrnes REEI.10. The Department of Education’s Office of International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) administers domestic grant programs to institutions of higher education to develop and maintain capacity and performance in area/international studies and world languages. These programs and associated grants are referred to colloquially as Title VI programs and grants.11. Russian & East European Institute at Indiana University: Celebrating 50 Years 1958–2008 (Bloomington, Indiana [2008]), 8.12. “Slavic Studies in I.U. …,” 7. Referring to a recent survey by AATSL (American Association of Teachers of Slavic Languages), the same report mentioned that “the country could at the present time absorb 50,000 persons with a good command of Russian”13. Russian & East European Institute at Indiana University: Celebrating 50 Years 1958–2008, 3.14. Boris I. Nicolaevsky to Dr. Robert A. Miller, Director of University Libraries, September 20, 1954,” Indiana University President’s records, Collection C213.353, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.15. “Minutes of the Library Committee Meeting, October 14, 1954,” Indiana University Libraries Director’s records, Collection C540.2, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.16. “Yarmolinsky Report on Nicolaevsky Slavic Collection, October 21, 1954,” Indiana University Libraries Director’s records, Collection C540.2, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.17. Robert Miller to Members of the Library Committee, October 26, 1954,” Indiana University Libraries Director’s records, Collection C540.2, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.18. “Brief Description of Nicolaevsky Library, September 20, 1954,” Indiana University President’s records, Collection C213.353, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington. See also Fritz Epstein’s evaluation of the collection. “The Nicolaevsky Collection at Indiana,” Library News Letter 1, no.4, (April, 1966): 1.19. “Comments by Professor Alexander Rabinowitch at a Reception Honoring Dr. Andrew Turchyn on the Occasion of His Retirement as Slavic Studies Librarian, [undated],” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, Collection 557.24, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.20. “Report on the Libraries of Indiana University, July, 1954-June, 1955, [undated],” Indiana University President’s records, Collection C213.353, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.21. Laurence H. Miller, “Israel Perlstein 1897–1975,” Slavic Review 34, no.3 (September 1975): 673; Robert A. Karlowich, “Israel Perlstein and the Russian Book Trade in the U.S.,” ACRL Slavic and East European Section: Newsletter 3, (1987): 52–59.22. Robert Byrnes, “Fritz T. Epstein,” in A History of Russian and East European Studies in the US, ed. Robert Byrnes (Lanham: University Press of America, 1994), 217–224. In 1973, proposing to change Dr. Turchyn’s title to “Curator” from “Librarian,” one faculty member called such a change an “upgrading.” The REEI Director Professor Robert Byrnes sent a letter of support for this proposal to the Dean of the University Libraries. “[Letter from Felix J. Oinas to Robert Byrnes, undated but no later than May 15, 1973],” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, Collection C557.24, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.23. “Curriculum Vitae, [undated],” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, Collection C557.24, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.24. Andrew Turchyn, “Nearly a Century of Errors,” Library News Letter 3, no.5, (February, 1968): 17. See also his book chapter, “Slavic Publications: Their Cataloging and Classification in American Libraries,” in Cataloging and Classification of Non-Western Material : Concerns, Issues, and Practices, ed. Mohammed M. Aman (Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1980), 297–320.25. “Murlin Croucher: Vita, 1993,” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, 1947–2009, Collection C557.20, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.26. Bradley L. Schaffner, “Preface.” Books, Bibliographies, and Pugs: A Festschrift to Honor Murlin Croucher, 7. Bloomington, Indiana: Slavica, 200627. Jon Giullian, “Murlin Croucher: the Magician of Slavic Book Collecting,” ACRL Slavic and East European Section Newsletter, 28 (2012) 72. https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/1110928. In the academic year 1984/1985 the class had fifteen students enrolled in it. “[Murlin Croucher to Dean White, February 1, 1986,” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, 1947–2009, Collection C557.20, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.29. The former REEI director, Robert Byrnes, supported the proposal but the library school and the REEI did not.30. “Library-REEI Relations, no later than September 22, 1993,” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, 1947–2009, Collection C557.20, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.31. Michael Biggins to Martha Brogan, Associate Dean and Director of Collection Development, July 20, 1999,” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, 1947–2009, Collection C557.20, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.32. Michael Biggins to Martha Brogan, Associate Dean and Director of Collection Development, July 20, 1999,” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, Collection C557.20, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.33. Jack Bielasiak to Murlin Croucher], November 8, 1982, Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, Collection C557.24, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.34. Having worked for Croucher for four years as his assistant, the author of this essay can attest to it.35. “Library-REEI Relations, no later than September 22, 1993” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, 1947–2009, Collection C557.20, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.36. Murlin Croucher, “A Note about Eastern European Exchanges at UNC,” LEADS 20, no.3 (1978): 8.37. Robert F. Byrnes, Soviet-American Academic Exchanges, 1958–1975 (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1976), ix. Turchyn happened to be also in Eastern Europe that summer on his book-buying trip. He met Byrnes in Bucharest, where the latter proposed to establish a bookstore affiliated with a Romanian university, where Romanian scholars could purchase English publications and American libraries could acquire Romanian publications. The two also traveled to Warsaw together, where Byrnes negotiated for the establishment of a Center for American Studies at the University of Warsaw. “Report on the trip to Eastern Europe, June 29 – August 12, 1974, November 25, 1974,” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, Collection C557.24, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.38. “Publication Explosion Underway as Eastern Europe Rejoins West, October 1, 1990,” Indiana University Russian and East European Institute records, Collection C557.20, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.39. Giullian, “Murlin Croucher: the Magician of Slavic Book Collecting,” 71.40. Joseph L. Wieczynski, review of Slavic Studies: A Guide to Bibliographies, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks, by Murlin Croucher, The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review 22, no.1 (1995): 89–91; John S. G. Simmons, review of Slavic Studies: A Guide to Bibliographies, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks, by Murlin Croucher, Solanus 10, (1996): 191–192.41. Wieczynski, review of Slavic Studies, 8942. Murlin Croucher, Slavic Studies: A Guide to Bibliographies, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1993), xiii-xiv.43. The copy of an unsigned letter dated February 14, 2004 that I examined provides some information about the progress of the revision. In it Croucher says that the book has “7,800 citations.” That represented approximately a 50% increase from the original edition’s 5,264 entries. Although publication of the 2nd edition did not materialize, IUCAT (the Indiana University Libraries’ online catalog) has records describing it as a 2-volume work of 1,408 pages long. Indiana University, “IUCAT,” https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/6314563 (accessed August 8, 2023).44. In an e-mail dated January 5, 2023, the Rights & Permissions Associate of Rowman & Littlefield stated that “I can confirm that the second edition was canceled, but we do not have a record of specifically why the edition was canceled.”45. To be more exact, the All-Union State Bibliography of SSSR. For more information on this all-important government publication, see, among others, Thomas Whitby’s detailed work, Introduction to Soviet National Bibliography (1979).46. Murlin Croucher, “Digitizing and Making a Website for the Soviet Letopis’ Zhurnal’nykh Statei, 1956–1975,” Slavic and East European Information Resources 3, no.2/3 (2002): 179–183; Kristine R. Brancolini, Michelle Dalmau & John A. Walsh, “Russian Periodical Index Digital Project (Letopis’ Zhurnal’nykh Statei, 1956–1975),” The Serials Librarian 47, no.3 (2005): 59–78. Unfortunately, this database is no longer available. Subsequent projects dedicated to digitizing the various modules of the Russian national bibliography have superseded this project, specifically, the Letoposi Digital Archive, produced by dlibrary.org at http://dlibrary.org/en/nodes/1-dlibrary-org.