Voluminous quantities of Russian materials exist in the Library of Congress collections in microfilm and/or microfiche formats. The materials range from newspapers and serials to books and archival documents. Many of these are the result of the Library's own preservation programs, whereby deteriorating materials from the general or special collections are microfilmed to preserve the content. For instance, a number of long and complete runs of serials have been preserved in this fashion such as the important historical journal Istoricheskii viestnik. Other titles have been purchased from commercial micropublishers. This section of the guide to the LIbrary's Russian collections introduces some of the larger microfilm sets of specialized content for Russian, but is by no means comprehensive.
Microformat materials are available in a number of different reading rooms. The European Reading Room holds many Russian newspaper titles on microfilm. See the guide covering Russian Newspapers for more information. The European Reading Room also holds a number of large sets such as the 1937 and 1939 Soviet censuses of population and the Russisches biographisches Archiv. Materials may be requested at the European Reading Room reference desk.
In addition to the European Reading Room, the Microform and Electronic Resources Center (MERC) has many thousands of volume equivalents of Russian print materials (books and journals). MERC houses an excellent collection of the most important commercially-published microform projects and sets, such as the Inter-Documentation Company's microfiches of the Russian holdings (primarily serials) at the Helsinki University Library; the Russian History and Culture series issued by University Microfilms; and the Russian Revolutionary Literature series published by Research Publications, Inc. The Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room is another research center at the Library which holds significant Russian content on microfilm such as Russian newspapers from the diaspora. Regardless of where the materials are housed, each reading room has a number of microfilm reader/scanners available for use.
A special microform set of note is the collection of American dissertations in MERC. The Library of Congress holds decades of undigitized dissertations from United States institutions of higher learning in an uncataloged collection. To access the content, use the subscription database Proquest Dissertations and Theses Global to find desired titles on Russian studies and show the database records to staff in MERC. They can verify which titles are held and retrieve the microform from offsite storage.
Microform records appear in the online catalog interspersed with materials in print format. The keyword "microform" may be added to a keyword search to identify materials in this format. In the descriptions below, titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Additional links to online content are provided when available. All microfilm located in the European Reading Room (Eur) and the Microform and Electronic Resources Center (MERC) are eligible for interlibrary loan. Microfilm held in the Manuscript Division must be used onsite.
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Microfilm sets annotated in this section all contain original documents held in archives from Russia, other countries, or in non-governmental institutions in the United States. In the descriptions below, titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
Archives of the Soviet Communist Party and Soviet StateAssociation of Workers of Revolutionary Cinematography (1923-1932)Boris I. Nicolaevsky Collection in the archives of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and PeaceBritish Foreign Office--Russia correspondenceBritish intelligence on Russia in Central Asia, c. 1865-1949: India Office political and secret files and confidential printBund archive in RGASPI, MoscowDepartment for relations with foreign communist parties (International Department of the Central Committee), 1953-1957 [microform] : from the holdings of Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, Moscow, RussiaFond 89, Kollekt︠s︡ii︠a︡ kopiĭ rassekrechennykh dokumentov [microform] = Fond 89, Declassified documents, collection of duplicates.Meyerhold Theatre, 1920-1938 : from the holdings of Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, Moscow, RussiaMoscow Lenin Order Mosfilm Studio (1938-1945)Moscow State Jewish Theater (GOSET); Moscow State Jewish Theater School (MGETU)Old Russian Manuscripts of the Pushkinskii Dom (IRLAN)Records of the Communist Party of the United States of America, 1914-1944Russian intelligence files on AsiaThe Soviet estimate: U.S. analysis of the Soviet Union, 1947-1991The microfilm sets described in this section contain reproductions of original documents produced by the United States Department of State and held in the National Archives and Records Administration in Maryland. Many additional sets have been published by NARA and are available for use in other libraries or in NARA itself. In the descriptions below, titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to commercial relations between the United States and Russia/the Soviet Union, 1910-1949Confidential U.S. State Department central files. The Soviet Union, 1945-1949: foreign affairs.Confidential U.S. State Department central files. The Soviet Union, 1950-1954: foreign affairs.Confidential U.S. State Department central files. The Soviet Union, 1950-1954: internal affairsConfidential U.S. State Department central files. The Soviet Union, 1955-1959, foreign affairs: decimal numbers 661 and 611.61Confidential U.S. State Department central files. The Soviet Union, 1955-1959, internal affairs: decimal numbers 761, 861, and 961Confidential U.S. State Department central files. The Soviet Union 1960-January 1963: foreign affairs: decimal numbers 661 and 611.61Confidential U.S. State Department central files. The Soviet Union 1960-January 1963: internal affairs: decimal numbers 761, 861, and 961Confidential U.S. State Department central files. The Soviet Union, February 1963-1966: subject-numeric categories--AID, CSM, DEF, and POLConfidential U.S. State Department central files. The Soviet Union, 1967-1969The microform sets listed in this section contain biographical entries or information on noted individuals from all eras of Russian history. In the descriptions below, titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
Biographisches Archiv der Sowjetunion (1917-1991)Card Catalog of Russian Personalities (Modzalevskii Collection)Russisches biographisches ArchivSoviet Biographic Archive, 1954–1985.Leaders of the Russian RevolutionThe Library of Congress holds many census publications from Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation. Most are held in the general collections, but some have been reformatted into microfilm. The set of published results from the 2010 All-Russian Population of Census is held in the European Reading Room Reference Collection and in electronic format as part of the Russian e-book collection. In addition, the results of the 2002 All-Russian Census of Population are available via an onsite only database Universal Database of Russian/NIS Statistical Publications. Below are descriptions of several microfilm collections, but this list is far from a comprehensive list of all Russian census publications available in any format at the Library of Congress. In the descriptions below, titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
Pervai︠a︡ vseobshchai︠a︡ perepisʹ naselenīi︠a︡ Rossīĭskoĭ Imperīi, 1897 g.Vsesoiuznaia perepis' naseleniia 1939 goda / The All-Union [Soviet] Population Census, 1939; The all-union population census, 1937 = Vsesoi︠u︡znai︠a︡ perepisʹ naselenii︠a︡ 1937 godaVsesoiuznaia perepis' naseleniia 1959 goda / The All-Union [Soviet] Population Census, 1959
International population census publicationsThe Library of Congress has hundreds of Russian newspapers on microfilm. Besides the collections described below, individual Russian newspaper titles and holdings on microfilm are listed in three guides Russian Newspapers in the Library of Congress, Soviet Independent Press 1987-1992 and Russian Newspapers Published in the United States. In the descriptions below, titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
Anti-Soviet newspapers, 1918-1922Late Soviet and post-Soviet Transitional PressMuslims in Russia, 1881-1918Odnodnevnye gazety SSSR 1917-1983 = One-day newspapers, 1917-1983Soviet and Russian emigré periodicals, 1917-1948Soviet independent press, 1985-1992The microform sets detailed in this section are reproductions of historical card catalogs of significance for Russian studies research. In the descriptions below, titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
Card Catalogs Old and New of Publications Chiefly in Russian in the Slavic Department of the University Library. by Katalog byvshei biblioteki russkogo zagranichnogo istoricheskogo arkhivaSlavic Cyrillic Union Catalog of pre-1956 ImprintsThe microform collections listed in this section are reproductions of published and/or archival materials that do not fit under one of the above categories. In the descriptions below, titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
Birobidzhan: an experiment to create a Soviet Jewish homeland.Exhibition catalogs of the State Hermitage, St. Petersburg, RussiaJews in Late Imperial Russia: forgotten sourcesRadio Free Europe-Radio Liberty: publications on microficheRussian and Ukrainian pamphlet and brochure collection, 1866-1949: Introduction, Inclusive title listings for Classes B-Z.Russian history and culture: scarce books on 19th and 20th century Russia from the Helsinki University LibraryRussian Imperial Government publications: collection of publications of the Russian Imperial Government and of several non-governmental organizations of the Russian EmpireRussian military intelligence on Asia: secret prints, 1883-1913.Russian revolutionary literature at Houghton Library of Harvard UniversitySobranie dokumentov Samizdata: [materialy perepechatany iz Arkhiv Samizdata do ...] by Zemstvo Statistics: Russia c. 1870-1917
