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Russia and Eurasia Collections at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Featured Collections

Russian pictorial collection

Photographs, postcards, glass plates, and slides, depicting industrial, economic, cultural, religious, and military scenes in imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, scenes of daily life, scenes from notable historical events, especially the Russian Revolution, and prominent personalities from the tsarist and Soviet periods.

Photo: Russian pictorial collection, envelope DU, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, copyright Stanford University. 

Pasternak family papers

Correspondence, diaries, memoirs, other writings, biographical data, printed matter, drawings, photographs, and other audiovisual material relating to Russian art and literature, culture in the Soviet Union, and Russian émigré life. Includes papers of Leonid and Rosalia Pasternak; their sons, the poet and novelist Boris Pasternak and architect and memoirist Aleksandr Pasternak; their daughters, Josephine Pasternak and Lydia Pasternak Slater; and other family members.

Photo: Pasternak family papers, Box 38, Folder H, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, copyright Stanford University. 

Archives of the Soviet communist party and Soviet state microfilm collection: State Archives of the Russian Federation (Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv Rossiĭskoĭ Federat͡sii - GARF)

Relates to political conditions in the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991. Filmed from finding aids and holdings dating from 1903 to 1991 of the Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv Rossiĭskoĭ Federat͡sii.

Photo: Archives of the Soviet communist party and Soviet state microfilm collection: State Archives of the Russian Federation, Reel 1.991, Opis 9, File 52, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, copyright Stanford University. 

Nicolaevsky (Boris I.) collection

Correspondence, memoranda, writings, speeches, memoirs, minutes of meetings, conference proceedings, leaflets, resolutions, bulletins, reports, clippings, newspapers, other printed matter, and photographs relating to Karl Marx and the international socialist movement; the First, Second, Third and Fourth Intenationals; Russian revolutionary, anarchist and socialist movements, especially the Rossiiskaia sotsial- demokraticheskaia rabochaia partiia (RSDRP) and its Menshevik wing; the Partiia sotsialistov-revoliutsionerov (PSR); the Russian Revolution and Civil War; Russian politics and government in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; communism in the Soviet Union; Russian emigre politics; the Vlasov movement during World War II; and Russian displaced persons after World War II. Includes records of the RSDRP, the PSR, and other organizations; and papers of Rafail Abramovich, Pavel Aksel'rod, Viktor Chernov, Leon Trotsky, Iraklii TSereteli, and many others. Also includes papers of B. I. Nicolaevsky. Includes documents from Anna M. Bourguina.

Photo: Boris I. Nicolaevsky collection, Box 754, Folder 1, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, copyright Stanford University. 

Russia newspaper collection

The newspapers in this collection were originally collected by the Hoover Institution Library and transferred to the Archives in 2019. The Russia newspaper collection (1876-2022) comprises nine-hundred and sixty-six unique titles of publication in Russian, Armenian, Ukrainian, English, French, German, Kazakh, Czech, Ruthenian, Kalmyk, Georgian, Turkmen, Yiddish, Tatar and Uzbek. The collection includes Russian émigré newspapers and periodicals, for which local subjects have been created. Some titles also exist on microfilm. Information about microfilm availability as well as further analyzed title information can be found in Stanford University Libraries catalog.

Photo: Russia newspaper collection, Box 111, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, copyright Stanford University. 

Introduction to the Collections

Materials begin with mid-19th century Russian legations in the German states. Others cover major events in the Eurasian heartland: the Russo-Japanese War, First World War, revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War, anti-Communist emigration, development of the USSR, Second World War, emergence of the dissident movement, and the collapse of the Soviet Union and development of newly independent states since 1991.

Note: This guide is a starting point for research at the Hoover Library & Archives. It is not comprehensive, and you may find other material relevant to the topic. For a guide on how to search our collections yourself, you can click here. 

Library & Archive materials

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Materials available online

  Andreyev (Leonid) miscellaneous papers

              1900-1922

Plays, poems, short stories, letters, and photographs relating to Russian literature and drama, and to conditions in Russia during World War I. Includes diary of Anna Andreeva, wife of Leonid Andreyev. In part, photocopy.

  Baratov (N. N.) papers

              1898-1965

Correspondence, memoranda, diaries, reports, military documents, maps, clippings, and printed matter relating to Russian military activities in Persia and the Caucasus during World War I, and to the Russian Revolution.

  Buchman (Alexander H.) papers

              1920-2003

Correspondence, writings, police reports, printed matter, motion picture film, still photographs, negatives and slides relating to Leon Trotsky and Trotskyism, especially in China and the United States, to the Trotskyist C. Frank Glass, and to Rayna Prohme, revolutionary American journalist in China.

  Radio Free Liberty/Radio Free Europe broadcast records

              1917-2014

American radio broadcasting organization operating Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Includes sound recordings of broadcasts, as well as documents used for creating broadcasts including scripts, correspondence, and memoranda relating to broadcasts by Radio Free Europe to audiences in Eastern Europe and to broadcasts by Radio Liberty to audiences in the Soviet Union. The entire collection is 7,704 linear feet (15,207 boxes).

  Radio Free Liberty/Radio Free Europe corporate records

              1945-2006

The records of the American radio broadcasting organization operating Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) include correspondence, memoranda, reports, financial and legal records, technical specifications, opinion survey data, serial issues, other publications, and microfilm relating to operations of Radio Free Europe in broadcasting to audiences in Eastern Europe and of Radio Liberty in broadcasting to audiences in the Soviet Union, as well as non-broadcast operations of RFE/RL's predecessor, the Free Europe Committee, Inc. 

   Register of the Okhrana records

               1883-1917

Correspondence, telegrams, memoranda, reports, agreements, minutes, histories, financial records, lists, press summaries, and photographs relating to American relief in the Soviet Union following the Russian Civil War, and food and public health problems, agriculture, economic conditions, transportation and communications, and political and social developments, in the Soviet Union.

    Trubetskoi (Grigorii Nikolaevich) papers

               1914-1929

Writings, correspondence, printed matter, and photographs relating to Russian foreign policy, the Russian Civil War, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian émigré affairs.

 

     Vladimirov (Ivan A.) paintings

               1918-1923

Depicts scenes of daily life during the Russian Revolution. 

     Vrangel' collection

                1916-1929

Reports, orders, correspondence, memoranda, dispatches, financial records, minutes, printed matter, maps, and photographs relating to Russian military operations in France during World War I; White Russian diplomatic activities and military operations, especially in southern Russia, during the Russian Revolution and Civil War, including military purchasing and intelligence operations; administration of territory under White Russian control during the Civil War; the evacuation of White Russian military personnel and civilians from the Crimea in 1920; and the resettlement of Russian refugees in Turkey and various European countries. Includes records of the Russian Expeditionary Corps in France, the Volunteer Army, the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, the Northwestern Army, the Foreign Supply Directorate, military representatives in foreign countries and attached to the Allied Supreme Command, and the Russian Army in exile, and some personal papers of Baron Petr Vrangel', commander-in-chief successively of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia and Russian Army.

     Zborovskii family papers

                1917-1960

Correspondence and photographs, relating to conditions of the Russian imperial family in captivity following the Russian Revolution, and to Russian emigre affairs. Includes letters written by the four daughters of Tsar Nicholas II and by the Tsar's sister Grand Duchess Olga Aleksandrovna. Also includes papers of the children of Erast Zborovskii, Viktor and Ekaterina.