John M. Constantinoff

[3] He and the Kroonland's other sailors received a Congressional Silver Medal for their rescue efforts in a ceremony hosted by Commerce Secretary William C.

[4] Around 1918, Constantinoff immigrated to the United States, where he settled in New York City[5] In December 1918 he participated in the second convention of the anti-Bolshevik Federation of Russian Organizations in America, held at Beethoven Hall in Manhattan.

Constantinoff ran for chairman of the group with the support of the fraternal and religious organizations at the convention, against Konstantin Oberuchev, the candidate of the Federation's Mensheviks.

[15] The primary sources of his collections were a small number of book dealers specializing in Russian materials, such as Viktor Kamkin and George Sabo, as well as corporations in New York and Moscow like Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga.

[20] Approximately half of the collection consists of Russian-language theosophical books and periodicals, by authors such as Helena Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner.

[1] Books from imperial collections like these could be obtained for very little money following the Russian Revolution, allowing dealers like Constantinoff to acquire large numbers for an average price of $2.