European History

USSR in Primary Sources

Guide to researching early modern and modern European History at Boston College.

What's on This Page

This page has a lot on it. You can use the following anchors (links down the page) to jump straight to a relevant box.

Broad Collections

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
ARTstor is a database of more than 1.3 million digital images. It covers many time periods and cultures and represent architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, etc. Users are required to create a personal account to access this database off campus.

Euro Docs: History of Russia
A list of links to different primary source collections available online. Collections divided by periods, from "Ancient Rus through 1440" to "Russia 1991 to the present."
Europeana
Interface in English or other, major European languages. Content in multiple languages.
Europe-wide unified search of digitized collections. Images, audio, texts, and more. Funded by the EU. Covers more than 1,000 years of history. Strongest for 1500 to 2000.
Open Access.

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
A digital repository for the nation's research libraries, HathiTrust brings together the digitized book and serial collections of major universities and other partner institutions, a significant portion of which is in the public domain and available full text. Boston College's status as a partner makes it possible for members of the Boston College community to download any of the out-of-copyright items as PDFs.

International Institute of Social History: Digital Collections
More than 1.5 million documents from across Europe and farther, including diverse publications, visual materials, serials, posters, photographs, drawings, ephemera, postcards, some audio and visual recordings, a few comics and games as well.
Open Access.
World Digital Library: Russia
More than 4,000 curated documents, drawn from the LOC and other sources from across Russian history (premodern and modern) including photographs, maps, prints, and books.

Essential Broad Russian Collections

Presidential Library (Russia)
Includes several electronic collections.
Russian State Library
The Russian State Library comprises the unique domestic and foreign collections in 367 languages of the world. The size of all holdings exceeds 46 million items, and about three million of them are particularly valuable editions and other documents.
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Collections are divided by categories of publications and are available in the respective reading rooms. In addition, more than 1.3 million documents have been digitized and made part of the E-library of the Russian State Library. Hundreds of thousands of network remote resources purchased by the Library for readers are also available.

Digital Libraries and Archives about Soviet Russia

Anti-Soviet Electronic Library: Historical Materials and Books
Interface and content in Russian.
A collection of historical materials, autobographies, fiction, samizdat, and memoirs relating to life in the Soviet union from an anti-Soviet perspective. Most of the books provided are in the PDF, HTML, DOC, or DJVU formats.
Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library Digital Collections
Interface in English or Russia, content predominately in Russian.
Includes digital facsimiles of Russian state documents, personal papers, rare books, and more.
FEB: Fundamental'naia Elektronnaia Biblioteka
Interface and content in Russian.
A full-text repository of Russian literature, folklore, and literary criticism spanning the 11th-20th century.
German-Russian Project for the Digitalization of German Documents from the Archives of the Russian Federation
This collection includes over 500 digitized books, reports, images, and other documents relating to Germany during the First and Second World Wars as well as the German secret police (1912-1945).
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This site is in German and Russia.
Togda
Digital humanities project focused on the USSR in the 1920s to the 1950s with an emphasis on avant-garde figures. Includes digital facsimiles of books, arts, and more.

Data & Statistics

Russian Historical Statistics
Historical statistics on the social and economic development of Russia over the last two centuries (population, labour, industrial output, agricultural output, services, capital, land) for 1795, 1858, 1897, 1959, 2002.

UNdata This link opens in a new window
An integrated search portal for selected free international statistics from the World Bank, World Development Indicators (WDI), Global Development Finance (GDF), International Monetary Fund (IMF), UNESCO and other organizations. It includes a large number of economic and social indicators for 274 countries and areas.

For access to additional datasets, visit out Historical Data & Statistics page.

Document Collections and Readers

Russian Revolution

The shelves in O'Neill library around DK265 have additional source books and readers.

Memories of Revolution by Anna Horsbrugh-Porter (ed)
Call Number: O'Neill Stacks DK265.69 .M46 1993
Publication Date: 1993
Preserving the childhood memories of some of the last generation of White Russian women to experience the revolution first-hand, this poignant collection of interviews and photographs provides a unique record of life in Russia.
The Russian Revolution and Its Global Impact by Jonathan W. Daly; Leonid Trofimov
Call Number: O'Neill Stacks DK265 .D24 2017 LOCATE
ISBN: 9781624666254
Publication Date: 2017
"Daly and Trofimov pair their lucid introductory essay with documents from Soviet officials, intellectuals in South America, W. E. B. Du Bois in the United States, and others, so readers will quickly realize how revolutionary ideas cross oceans and transcend geopolitical boundaries."

USSR

Stalin and the Lubianka: A Documentary History of the Political Police and Security Organs in the Soviet Union, 1922–1953 by David R. Shearer and Vladimir Khaustov (eds.)
Call Number: JSTOR
Publication Date: 2015
This fascinating documentary history is the first English-language exploration of Joseph Stalin's relationship with, and manipulation of, the Soviet political police. The story follows the changing functions, organization, and fortunes of the political police and security organs from the early 1920s until Stalin’s death in 1953, and it provides documented detail about how Stalin used these organs to achieve and maintain undisputed power. Although written as a narrative, it includes translations of more than 170 documents from Soviet archives.

Soviet Leaders and Thinkers

Stalin Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
The Stalin Digital Archive (SDA), the result of a partnership between the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGASPI) and Yale University Press (YUP),provides access to rare primary and secondary research, previously only available in hard copy in the RGASPI archive

Chernyaev Diary 1980
For the first time in English of his extraordinary Diary for 1980 At the time, Chernyaev was Deputy Director of the International Department of the Central Committee responsible for the International Communist Movement (ICM) and fraternal parties. The diary traces the further decline of the top Soviet leadership, the emergence of strikes and other labor unrest in the Soviet Union in the midst of a deteriorating economy, and the dark cloud of two invasions—one that already happened—Afghanistan, and one that Chernyaev fears might happen—Poland.
Leon Trotsky exile papers (Harvard)
Over 100 digital facsimiles of the papers of Russian revolutionary and Soviet leader Leon Trotsky from his period of exile in Coyoacán, Mexico.
Marxists Internet Archive
The most complete library of Marxism with content in 62 languages and the works of over 720 authors readily accessible by archive, sujbect, or history.

Films and Video

Iskusstvo kino This link opens in a new window
Russias premier journal of cinema offers Russian and foreign movie reviews, articles on filmmaking and cinema culture, criticism, and essays. It traces Russian arts and culture from the socialist realism era all the way through contemporary filmmaking
Socialism on Film This link opens in a new window
Collection of documentary, newsreel and feature films reveals the world as seen by Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, and Latin American filmmakers. Ranging from the early 20th century to the 1980s, material encapsulates the themes of war, revolution, news, current affairs, culture and society.

News: Newspapers and Periodicals

Iskusstvo kino This link opens in a new window
Russias premier journal of cinema offers Russian and foreign movie reviews, articles on filmmaking and cinema culture, criticism, and essays. It traces Russian arts and culture from the socialist realism era all the way through contemporary filmmaking
Jewish News Archive This link opens in a new window
Collection of Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is the archive of original reporting from around the world that documents Jewish experience of the 20th century, much of it not written about in the mainstream media. There are contemporaneous articles reported from Europe between 1937-1945 that document the Holocaust on a daily basis, articles documenting the experience of Russian Jews throughout entire reign of Communism, coverage of life in then-Palestine before the new state was inaugurated in 1948, and much more. 1923-current.

Newspapers at Belgrad University
Digitized newspapers, predominately in Serbian, from the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Includes Pravda.
Current Digest of the Russian Press
Founded in 1949, the Current Digest was first published as The Current Digest of the Soviet Press (1949-1991), followed by The Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press (1992-2010), and now The Current Digest of the Russian Press. Each week the Current Digest presents a selection of Russian-language press materials, carefully translated into English.

World News, including Russia

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) This link opens in a new window
1941-1996. Transcribed and translated foreign broadcasts and news. The original mission was to monitor, record, transcribe, and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. Now offers the opportunity for students to expand their research into primary sources that originated in languages they do not have.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni includes thousands of U.S. and non-U.S. news sources; legal materials: case law, statutes and law reviews; and company/business information. Strength from 1990 to the present. Nexis Uni replaces Lexis-Nexis Academic.
World News Connection This link opens in a new window
Full text news (1995-2013) compiled from thousands of non-U.S. media sources translated into English, the information in WNC covers significant socioeconomic, political, scientific, technical, and environmental issues and events. Coverage is by region and includes: East Asia, Near East and South Asia, China, East Europe, West Europe, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.

For historical newspapers and television, visit BC Libraries' Historical News page.

Soviet Period

Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System
Transcripts of interviews conducted with refugees from the USSR during the early years of the Cold War. A unique source for study of Soviet society between 1917 and the mid-1940s, compiled in English.

Gov. Docs. and State Papers

HeinOnline World Constitutions Illustrated
Hein Online collection of country constitutions, constitutional hierarchies , and texts and journals on constitutional law. Includes English translation of the Constitution of 1833; Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, 1918; and more.

Law Library Microform Consortium (LLMC) This link opens in a new window
Includes federal legislative, administrative and judicial materials from the collections of government and academic law libraries. With new materials added regularly, this on-going digitalization project will eventually include full-text of materials in many areas including--under Online Services, Other Coutnries--"Russia (Empire to 1917)" ; "Russia (Soviet Republic, 1917-1991)" ; and "Russia (Federation, 1991- )." Documents include English language translations of limited years.

LOC's Guide to Russian Law Online
The US Library of Congress Guides to the Russian Constitution; Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches; as well as general sources. Focused on contemporary Russia.

Photographs and other Images

Americans in the Land of Lenin: Documentary Photographs of Early Soviet Russia (Duke)
More than 750 photographs taken by an U.S. citizen.

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
ARTstor is a database of more than 1.3 million digital images. It covers many time periods and cultures and represent architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, etc. Users are required to create a personal account to access this database off campus.

Alexander Palace Time Machine
Interface in English. Content in translation in English.
This website includes photographs, letters, diaries, and memoirs.
Images of Russia and Caucasus Region, 1929-1933 (UW Milwaukee)
"Images of Russia and Caucasus Region 1929-1933 presents 800 images of Russia and the central Caucasus including the Republic of Georgia and Dagestan from the William O. Field Collection housed at the American Geographical Society Library. The photographic collection is supplemented by Field's diaries and travel notes, and a selection of maps of the Caucasus region."
Russian Archives Online
RAO's extraordinary film and photo collections from premier Russian archives are available to preview and license to media professionals.
Stalinka: Digital Library of Staliniana
The online collection comprises visual images of photographs, posters, paintings, banners, sculptures, chinaware, pins, etc. relating to Stalin/ism.
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Institution: University of Pittsburgh

Posters

The Chairman Smiles (International Institute of Social History)
The former Soviet Union, Cuba, and China: three countries where posters played an important political role and received a large amount of artistic attention. This is a selection of 145 political posters, famous masterpieces as well as equally beautiful but unknown examples drawn from the collection of the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam.
Communism [Hoover Institute]
More than 1,500 items, predominately political posters and some sound, from the 20th and 21st centuries related to different communist parties or messages related to communism. Most documents come from Germany, France, Hungary, the USSR, and the United States. There are some posters from China.
Russian Posters Collection, 1919-1989 and undated (Duke)
This collection of 20th-century Russian posters spans almost the entire history of the Soviet Union (1917-1991). It can be divided into three main series, each representing distinct eras in the history of Communist political advertising. The General Political Poster series features works from the earliest days of Soviet power and is especially strong for the late 1920s, a period that coincides with the "cultural revolution" of I. V. Stalin.
Sovposters.ru
Interface and content in Russian.
"Soviet posters fascinate with their directness and pronounced ideological undertones. Looking at them, you remember the spirit of that era. The heart sinks inside from power, openness and global disappointment at the end. The site was created in order to look at the posters of the Soviet era and plunge into that time."
Windows on War: Soviet Posters, 1943-1945 (Nottingham)
The University of Nottingham's rare collection of Soviet war posters is unique in the UK, and is one of the largest internationally.

Human Rights

Amnesty International Library
Interface and content in English (and other languages).
Access to AI's more recent country and research reports beginning in 1961 and moving to the present.
Open Access.
Human Rights Watch Reports
Interface and content in English (and other languages).
HRW's reports from 1987 forward. Can search by country, year, keyword, and topic.
Open Access.

Human Rights Studies Online This link opens in a new window
Human Rights Studies Online provides documentation, analysis, and interpretation of major human rights violations and atrocity crimes worldwide. The collection includes text and video that give voice to the countless victims of human rights crimes in the 20th and early 21st centuries committed during the Holocaust, and in Armenia, Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Darfur, and other locations.
BC login necessary.

For additional suggestions, visit BC Libraries' Human Rights History research guide.

International Organizations

OECD iLibrary
Includes key OECD publications such as: Financial Market Trends, Higher Education Management and Policy, Nuclear Law Bulletin, OECD Economic Outlook, OECD Economic Studies, OECD Economic Surveys, OECD Journal of Competition Law & Policy, and OECD Papers. Cover from 1990s onward.
United Nations Documents
ODS is the UN's Official Document System. You can search for UN documents by keywords, then narrow your search.

For additional international organizations' primary source sets, see the cooresponding Global History Research Guide.

Additional Documents

Cold War [Hoover Institute]
More than 5,500 items from 1947 to 2008 pertaining to the Cold War, predominately recordings of radio broadcasts.
Wilson Center Digital Archive
from the Wilson Center, includes declassified documents, images, oral history transcripts and the Database on Inter-Korean Relations

Topics: U.S. Foreign Relations

Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
Declassified documents on the most critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post World War II through the 21st century

Foreign Relations of the United States
Official historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions, declassified and edited for publication. Complete run available via Hein Online; latest volumes also available directly from the U.S. Department of State.
Russia Programs (National Securities Archive)
Russia Programs work to increase understanding and cooperation between Russia and the United States by documenting history of U.S.-Soviet-Russian relations, creating connections between scholars and practitioners and engaging the next generation of students in joint learning and research on the issues of mutual security, nuclear weapons and diplomacy with the emphasis on increasing empathy in U.S.-Russian relations today. Russia programs encompasses three interconnected projects.

Burns Box

In our very own special collections library (Burns), you'll find a selection of material on your topic. Consider visiting the library and seeing history in your hands. To do so, you should start by searching for material through BC Libraries' catalog and then ordering it (if you haven't registered, you'll be prompted). For a guide on the process, check out the "Finding Burns Material" page. You might also check out the following recommendations:

I. M Maĭskiĭ (Ivan Mikhaĭlovich) Diaries
Diplomat Ivan Maisky's diaries from Soviet Russia at the Boston College Libraries.

Soviet propaganda posters
Call Number: Burns Reading Room Use Only MS2017-056
Publication Date: 1978-1982
Russian-language posters published in Moscow, Russia. The posters show images celebrating the achievements of the Soviet Union, including young Soviet workers, military and scientific innovation, and political leaders. Two of the posters are in Armenian, with publication notes in Russian.
Finding Aid
Pacificus Kennedy, OFM papers by Pacificus Kennedy
Call Number: Burns Reading Room Use Only MS2006-001
Publication Date: 1917-1987, bulk 1975-1985
Papers of twentieth-century Franciscan friar and scholar Pacificus Kennedy, OFM, primarily concerning his research interests in communist Russia and Catholicism. The collection includes correspondence, research materials, and writings.
Finding Aid

U.S. Views of the USSR

Robert F. Drinan, SJ, papers by Robert F. Drinan
Call Number: Burns Contact Burns Library: Advance notice needed CA2008-001
Publication Date: 1955-2007 (bulk 1970-1981)
These two groups of Robert F. Drinan papers are composed of correspondence, speeches, legislative files, publications, photographs, audio and video recordings, artifacts, and other items. Most of the material relates to Drinan's career in Congress from 1971-1981, and documents his views on such issues as Watergate, the Vietnam War, human rights, criminal law, and Soviet Jews.
Finding Aid.

O'Neill Library

Bapst Library

Burns Library

Educational Resource Center

Law Library

Social Work Library

Theology & Ministry Library

O'Connor Library

Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies

European History

USSR in Primary Sources

What's on This Page

Broad Collections

Essential Broad Russian Collections

Digital Libraries and Archives about Soviet Russia

Data & Statistics

Document Collections and Readers

Russian Revolution

USSR

Soviet Leaders and Thinkers

Films and Video

News: Newspapers and Periodicals

World News, including Russia

Soviet Period

Gov. Docs. and State Papers

Photographs and other Images

Posters

Human Rights

International Organizations

Additional Documents

Topics: U.S. Foreign Relations

Burns Box

U.S. Views of the USSR