“Mrs. Pitirim Sorokine on Way to This Country Now”

Those who became friends of Dr. Pitirim Sorokine during his brief stay in Decatur Friday will be interested to know that he left for New York that evening to meet Mrs. Sorokine, who is coming on a steamship [the Belgenland from Cherbourg, France; it arrived in New York City on March 28, 1924] from Russia within the next day or two. Dr. Sorokine was banished from Russia two years ago. and this will be their first meeting since that time. *

Mrs. Sorokine, like her husband, is a member of the intelligentsia. She is a botanist of considerable reputation.

While in this country. Dr. Sorokine has been seeing to the publication of a book by the Dutton Co., and now has another in preparation, to be brought out by Lippincott’s under the editorship of Dr. [Edward C.] Hayes of the University of Illinois. In addition, he is doing considerable lecturing. He expects to be at the University of Missouri before long, and to pass the summer with Mrs. Sorokine, at the University of Minnesota.

— Mrs. Pitirim Sorokine on Way to This Country Now,” The Decatur Herald (Decatur, Illinois), Sunday, March 23, 1924, pg. 17

* This was not accurate, since the Sorokins emigrated together from Russia upon Pitirim Sorokin’s expulsion and settled together in Prague before Pitirim Sorokin left Czechoslovakia for the United States. And, when Sorokin made his visit, he had not made a decision, at that time, not to return to Czechoslovakia. Over time, his reception in the United States, among other considerations, induced him to remain there. The Sorokins became U.S. citizens in 1930, when they were residing in Minnesota.

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Elena Petrovna Sorokina (née Baratynskaya; 1894–1975) was, as noted above, a botanist. Her scientific papers were published under the name Helen P. Sorokin.

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   May 2019

Author: Roger W. Smith

Roger W. Smith is a writer and independent scholar based in New York City. His experience includes freelance writing and editing, business writing, book reviewing, and the teaching of writing and literature as an adjunct professor at St. John’s University. Mr. Smith's interests include personal essays and opinion pieces; American and world literature; culture, especially books and reading; classical music; current issues that involve social, moral, and philosophical views; and experiences of daily living from a ground level perspective. Sites on WordPress hosted by Mr. Smith include: (1) rogersgleanings.com (a personal site comprised of essays on a wide range of topics) ; (2) rogers-rhetoric.com (covering principles and practices of writing); (3) roger-w-smiths-dreiser.site (devoted to the author Theodore Dreiser); and (4) pitirimsorokin.com (devoted to sociologist and social philosopher Pitirim A. Sorokin). View all posts by Roger W. Smith