WIDENER RECEIVES PERSONAL ARCHIVES OF THE LATE LEON TROTSKY IN DEAL

Climaxing fifteen months of long-distance pow-wows, Harvard's Widener Library has recently succeeded in securing possession of all the personal archives of the late Leon Trotsky. The famous Russian revolutionary was assassinated a few weeks ago in Mexico by a reputed emissary of Stalin's OGPU.

Keyes D. Metcalf, Director of Widener Library, personally conducted the negotiations, securing thousands of documents which are ultimately destined for the Treasure Room, but are still reposing in their original crates to date. Headlining the items is a copy of the so-called "Testament of Lenin."

The collections fall into three groups: Trotsky's manuscripts, his to-and-fro correspondence with Russian leaders, and a group of 15,000 "international archives" covering the years of Trotsky's exile.

Revolutionary Documents

Of unlimited value for historians, these letters, speeches, manuscripts, telegrams, and other important papers will form the basis of future estimates of the shadowy days of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath.

Accompanying Trotsky in his weary Odyssey from Russia through Turkey, Scandinavia, and ultimately to Mexico, the boxes and dossiers of documents had an interesting history. Apparently certain items are still in war-torn Europe, and while it is hoped that they may eventually wend their way to the Treasure Room, copies of the originals are believed to be included among the new Harvard acquisitions.

Rumer of Assassination

According to a story published in a Dallas, Texas, newspaper, Trotsky's impending disposition of his archives was resented by former colleagues and friends of the exiled leader. The unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him by machine-gun fire, which preceded the recent axe-murder by three months was described in the Dallas report as the outcome of this smoldering resentment.