The Voice

In 1921, a group of fact-finders were dispatched by the new Bolshevik regime to collect data and artifacts for a museum about the history of Russia’s revolutions, from the Decembrist Revolt of 1825 through the 1917 revolution that led to Communist rule.

Trains were sent to different Russian regions to collect materials from town archives, and the fact-finders, who watched as the Russian Civil War continued to rage, eventually returned with their quarry in tow. But plans for the Museum of the Revolution, a pet project of Lenin’s, were put on hold, and eventually discarded.

No one gave too much thought to the whereabouts of the documents—until now.