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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: B-7

Last update of repository: 3 December 2020

Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva (RGALI)


Access & Facilities

Access
All previously classified institutional fonds (such as Glavlit) and fonds of or relating to repressed or émigré writers, have now been opened for research. Access to some materials in individual personal fonds may be limited according to agreement with their creators, donors, or heirs.
        For the list of fonds, files, and some individual documents that have been declassified through 2010–2012 see the “Database of the declassified files and records of federal state archives”: http://unsecret.rusarchives.ru/.

Working conditions
Orders are limited to 20 original (the number of folios in the file should not exceed 1,500 for institutional fonds and 500 — for personal fonds) and 10 microfilms per day, which are normally delivered within 2–3 working days.
        For more details see British guide: Russian & Ukrainian Archives Guide available electronically: https://research.reading.ac.uk/archiv....

Copy facilities
Xerox, digital, and photocopying facilities are available, although copying of unpublished manuscripts is limited by copyright regulations. A license agreement is required for copies intended for commercial use.

Reference facilities
The electronic catalogue of fonds is available on the website of RGALI: http://rgali.ru.        
Researchers can use opisi of all fonds (4,817) in the archival reading room. A special archival reference room in the basement houses an extensive card catalogue, covering subjects (230,000 cards) and names (1,340,000 cards) of persons found in many fonds—including references within files—with more than 1,500,000 cards, covering approximately 60–70% of the archival holdings. There are 55 annotated catalogues of special types or complexes of documents, or those devoted to specific individuals.

Library facilities
Researchers working in the archival reading room can use materials in the extensive RGALI scientific reference library (ca. 149,000 vols.). The library has acquired the personal libraries and collections of a number of individuals, such as A.E. Kruchenykh, V.V. Vishnevskii, and A.V. Lunacharskii. There are many books with authors' dedications, for which a special catalogue is being planned. The library also has a large collection of Russian émigré literature and a significant collection of music scores.
        There are alphabetic and systematic card catalogues, a special card catalogue of autographed books, and a catalogue of books and articles produced on the basis of RGALI materials.


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted