Scope and Content Note
The papers of Leighton William Rogers (1893-1962) span the years 1912-1982, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1912-1944. The collection documents Rogers's career as an aeronautical executive, army officer, and public official, but focuses mainly on his experiences in Russia and the Soviet Union. It consists of an autobiographical sketch, diary and journal, correspondence, obituaries, scrapbooks, writings, and a map.
The files containing Rogers's autobiographical sketch and obituaries provide detailed information on his life. The correspondence file contains letters to and about Rogers. Rogers's diary and journal from September 1916 through April 1919 chronicles his experiences in Saint Petersburg, Russia, as an employee of National City Bank of New York. Since the branch office was in the heart of the imperial capital, Rogers was able to witness the collapse of the czarist regime and the establishment of a communist government. His typed journal writings appear to have been composed to fill in gaps in the handwritten diary and may reflect later knowledge of events. His unpublished manuscript, “Czar, Revolution, Bolsheviks,” is based on excerpts from the diary and journal augmented by documents in scrapbook volume 2.
Scrapbooks constituting the largest portion of the collection contain numerous ephemera and photographs of historical events and individuals and chronicle in detail the major experiences and travels of Rogers's life. The six volumes cover the following topics: Volume 1, Rogers's studies at Dartmouth College, 1912-1916; Volume 2, his experiences in Saint Petersburg as a bank officer, 1916-1918, and in England and France during World War I as a member of an army intelligence unit in the American Expeditionary Forces, 1918-1919; Volume 3, his service as a trade commissioner in Europe, 1921-1926, as a representative of the Aeronautics Trade Division for the Department of Commerce, and as president of the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America in Washington, D.C., 1926-1936; Volumes 4 and 5, his missions to Japan and China, 1935, as a representative for the aviation industry on the Transportation Committee of the American Economic Mission to the Far East; and Volume 6, his mission to the Soviet Union on behalf of the United States Air Corps to obtain information necessary for the Allied war effort, 1943-1944. An addendum documents the final years of Rogers's life as a consultant in Connecticut.
The writings include book-length drafts for two unpublished works on Russia: “Curtain Up in Moscow: A Report on the Soviet Russian Theatre,” describing performances of plays, ballet, and opera, and “Czar, Revolution, Bolsheviks,” a memoir based on excerpts from his diary and journal of 1916-1919. Also included is a printed copy of Wine of Fury, a novel published by Rogers in 1924 presenting a fictionalized account of an American financier in Saint Petersburg during the Russian Revolution. A memoir concerns Rogers’s return to Moscow in 1943 on a mission for Bell Aircraft Corporation and the Army Air Corps and recounts his impressions of the Soviet air force, the contrasts of Russian life from pre-Soviet days, and the impact of World War II. A magazine article,"Russians Like Our Planes: An American Aircraft Man Visits the Soviets," is drawn from the memoir and material in volume 6 of his scrapbook.
An addition includes a map commemorating Armistice Day in World War I by depicting the order of battle on the western front, 11 a.m., November 11, 1918.