Links to the Most Important Sites on Archival Research

ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia and Ukraine www.iisg.nl/~abb
Information system on archival repositories in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, maintained by Patricia K. Grimsted in collaboration with Federal Archival Service of Russia (Rosarkhiv). Provides up-to-date information on archives in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Ukraine, their addresses, business hours, holdings, and published finding aids. Also contains an English translation of the Regulations for the Work of Users in Reading Rooms of State Archives of the Russian Federation (Rosarkhiv, 1998).
Archives in Russia / Arkhivy Rossii www.rusarchives.ru
The official site of Rosarkhiv, maintained in collaboration with The Open Society Institute (The Soros Foundation), in Russian. Provides up-to-date information on archives in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and regional archives in Russia, their addresses, business hours, holdings, published finding aids, and on-line archival guides, opisi, and other data bases. Contains information on declassified documents, new and ongoing archival projects, archival laws and regulations. Also, publishes the text of the new federal bill on archives (Moscow, 2004): "Об архивном деле в Российской Федерации".
Access to Russian Archives Project online.eastview.com/projects/ticfia/index.html
The new East View project, in collaboration with Rosarkhiv, is creating a digital database of approximately 105 regional and national guides to Russian archives. When complete, the digital database will provide the most comprehensive access to the holdings of the entire Russian archive system in one simple user-friendly electronic format.The site contains general information, complete title list, and a proposed schedule.
Go to ARA alfa version for the fast growing collection of on-line archival guides, opisi, and documents, in Russian. It allows to search the existing database, the "catalogue" option contains the on-line guides of some federal and regional archives (RGAE, RGVA, RGALI, etc.), and the  "index" button provides the alphabetical list of all fonds in those archives.
UNESCO
Archives Portal 		www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_archives/pages/index.shtml
The site is dedicated to archival studies in general and provides numerous links worldwide to archival sites, data bases of finding aids, primary sources on-line, etc., as well as information on archival associations, education and training, international projects, and so on.
Yale
Russian Archive Project 		www.yale.edu/rusarch/archive.html
The site serves, in its organizer's words, "as a clearing house for information in order to facilitate access to the newly available documents in the archives of the former Soviet Union." Provides links to other websites on archival information in Russia and FSU and on private/institutional archival collections in the U.S. Has a description of Yale University's collection of photocopied declassified documents from the Russian State Military Archive, and a list of publications focussed on archival research in Russia and FSU.
Russian/
Commonwealth
of Independent States Collection
of the Hoover Institution		 www.hoover.org/hila
The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, hosts the Russian Archives project, Museum of Russian Culture Project, and Archives of the Soviet Communist Party and Soviet State: Microfilm Collection.  The Hoover collections on twentieth-century Russia and other former Soviet republics contain documents on different topics, from the prerevolutionary political parties and movements, to the Russian-Japanese War, to World War I, to private collections, along with huge collections of documents on the Soviet period, from the War Communism, to the NEP, to the Comintern and World War II. The site provides collection descriptions, on-line opisi (finding aids series) and dela (document series) numbers, particularly of the CPSU archives held in RGANI (former TsKhSD), RGASPI (former RTsKhIDNI), and GARF, and digital collections of photos and other images.
Library of Congress Soviet Archives Project www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Experimental/soviet.exhibit/soviet.archive.html
The site provides scanned images of Soviet archival documents (handwritten and typed) with English translations of the texts. Good opportunity to test and develop your reading skills before going to Russian archives!
ArkhivNet arkhiv.net
This new site is work in progress by Kevin M. Bray, Ph.D. student of the University of Toronto. According to the author, "the main goal of the site is to maximize the value of archival publications. The main focus of the site is published documentary sources from the Soviet period." Also, the database has listings for documents about the Afghan war, Cuba, American socialist movements, and contains documents connected to the Soviet Union or socialism between 1917 and 1991. "The most stringent limit is whether the document is published: it must be printed somewhere, or posted on a website, or somehow otherwise publicly accessible."
CIA Electronic Collections on the Soviet Union and International Communism www.foia.cia.gov/soviet_estimates.asp
The site of Special Collections of the Declassified National Intelligence Estimates on the Soviet Union and International Communism, contains on-line descriptions and catalogues, as well as the photo collections on WWII (at www.archives.gov/index.html).
CESWW cesww.fas.harvard.edu/
The site "Central Eurasian Studies World Wide» is sponsored by the Harvard Program on Central Asia and the Caucasus and provides resources for the study of Central Eurasia.
Russian Empire in Pictures all-photo.ru/empire/index.ru.html
An excellent collection of old photos and other images on Russian history, cities, economy, parties, people, culture, emigration, etc., of the prerevolutionary period and early Soviet times.
History Web Resources of the Moscow State University www.hist.msu.ru/ER/English/
An excellent collection of on-line primary published resources on history, Russian and Slavic resources among others.
Note: Although somewhat unstable (it may not open from the first attempt) this site is worth trying due to the variety and richness of the sources presented.
Russian Museums www.hist.msu.ru/ER/museum.htm
This beautiful site offers on-line access to most Russian museums and their collections, document collections among them.
Note: As the previous site, this one may not always work, but is worth trying.
SERAP www.utoronto.ca/ceres/serap/
This site lists the books and document collections held at the Stalin-Era Research and Archives Project holdings housed at the Petro Jacyk Central and East European Resource Centre, Robarts Library, University of Toronto.
CERES Web Resources www.utoronto.ca/crees/research.htm
The site of the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies of the University of Toronto provides a database of links to Internet sites focussing on the former Soviet Union and East Central Europe.

Guide to Slavic Resources at the University of Toronto Library

 link.library.utoronto.ca/MyUTL/guides/index.cfm?guide=pjrc
This site provides resources for the research focussing on the former Soviet Union and East Central Europe.
PJRC www.utoronto.ca/jacyk/Resources.htm
The resources held at the Petro Jacyk Central and East European Resource Centre, Robarts Library, University of Toronto.
The World Wide Web Virtual Library History Index vlib.iue.it/history/index.html
The site contains some useful links, arranged by categories such as countries and regions, research methods and materials (finding aids for archives and libraries among them), historical topics, etc. It could be used as the starting point for further search in many fields of Slavic studies, particularly in the studies on former Soviet republics other than Russia.
Russian History Index: vlib.iue.it/hist-russia/Index.html
American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES) www.library.uiuc.edu/absees
The site, maintained by ABSEES at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, primarily focuses on materials published in the United States and Canada, but, according to Aaron Trehub, the ABSEES's executive editor, its goal is "to turn it into an International guide to scholarship in [the] field." The Slavic Virtual Reference Desk, at www.library.uiuc.edu/spx, of the Slavic Reference Service also based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, provides on-line Q&A access to reference librarians from the Slavic Reference Service, as well as the Jagiellonian Library (Jagiellonian University) in Krakow, Poland, and the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, Russia.
A Research Guide to Soviet History www.lib.unc.edu/cdd/crs/international/slavic/guides/history_0.html
This site, prepared by Donald J. Raleigh, University of North Carolina, offers up-to-date major bibliography on Soviet history.
REESWeb www.ucis.pitt.edu/reesweb/
The site is sponsored by the Center for Russian and East European Studies of the University of Pittsburgh and provides links to numerous sites on Russian and East European studies, webpages of Russian cities and exhibitions, image collections and listservs.
Research in Former Soviet Archives on Issues of Historical Political Economy www.soviet-archives-research.co.uk/
This site is maintained by the International Contact Group for the purpose of promoting "academic research in the archives of the former Soviet Union, especially by younger scholars, on issues of historical political economy including topics in economic history, economic and political institutions, and decision-making of all kinds, and also research on comparative and international lines."
Sher's Russian Index www.websher.net/inx/icdefault1.htm
Provides information on different aspects of life in Russia such as history, religion, sports, cities, art, music, newspapers, libraries, books, travel, etc.
Praxis International Educational Foundation merton.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/getty/centerhome.html
Praxis International and its division, The Center for the Study of Russia and the Soviet Union, administer the Russian Archive Project whose main goal is to publish finding aids and guides to Russian archival collections. Their programs also help students and independent researchers to do their research in Russia in a more efficient way by providing them with visa invitations, affiliation, necessary documents to Russian archives and libraries, as well housing and transportation arrangements. The fee for the service is very reasonable.
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies www.aaass.org
The Association represents American scholarship in the field of Russia, Central Eurasian, Central and East European studies. The site contains information on the Association's activities, membership, annual conventions, as well as its publications and awards. It also gathers and makes available to Slavic scholars information of importance that helps them find employment; support their research, teaching, and study; network with other scholars; and present and publish their research.
Canadian Association of Slavists www.ualberta.ca/~csp/cas/association.html
The website of the Canadian Association of Slavists, contains information on the association's activities, publications, members, and programmes.
The Government of the Russian Federation www.government.gov.ru
Official site of the Government of the Russian Federation, provides daily information on the current situation in Russia.
Embassy of the Russian Federation, Ottawa, Canada www.rusembcanada.mid.ru/
Official site of the Canadian Embassy of the Russian Federation, provides information on visas to Russia and other related issues.
Consulate General of the Russian Federation, Toronto, Canada www.toronto.mid.ru/
Official site of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Toronto, provides information on visas to Russia and other related issues, for the residents of Toronto and the area.
New Russia www.interknowledge.com/russia
Original official site of the Russian National Tourist Office, provides information on travel, cities, hotels, culture, entertainment, etc.
   

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