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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: E-28

Last update of repository: 15 March 2020

Institut russkoi literatury (Pushkinskii Dom) RAN (IRLI/PD)


Fonogrammarkhiv
[Phonograph Archive]

Telephone: +7 812 328-09-02

Reading room: +7 812 328-09-01 add. 3-14

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: http://www.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default....  (Rus); http://www.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default....  (Eng)

Opening hours: MWTh 12:00–17:00 (by appointment)

Head: Svetlana Viktorovna Podrezova


Holdings
sound recordings—ca. 100,000 (1890–1990s); films—6 (1960s)

The Phonograph Archive, which is under the Division of Russian Folk (Otdel russkogo fol'klora) and among the richest collections of recordings in the world, retains folklore recordings of more than 100 ethnic groups on various media dating from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. The archive is now administratively part of the separate IRLI division specializing in folklore. Phonographic materials have been acquired by gift from various institutions and individuals, and others recorded during field expeditions, or received on exchange from foreign repositories.
        Some of the collections that were acquired by PD starting in the 1930s had been brought together in various other institutions and, as mentioned above, consolidated in BAN and subsequently PD in the 1930s—for example, the Ethnographic Music Commission of the Russian Geographic Society (1926–1927), the phonograph archives of the Folklore Sectors of the Institute for the Study of Peoples of the USSR of the Academy of Sciences (1927–1932), the Leningrad State Conservatory, the Institute of Oriental Studies, and the Museum of Ethnology (narodovedenie) in Moscow, and a number of collections from the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences. Of special value are the collections on wax cylinders (valiki), preserving the first recordings of folklore of the former Russian Empire and other peoples of the world, including those recorded in originating locations, as far away as the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
        Many of the collections are valued for their association with well-known Russian collectors and researchers (musicians, ethnographers, and folklore specialists) and for the fact that they were gathered for defined scientific aims—such as the study of specific folklore genres, types of poetic creations, or comparison of various local dialects. Among the early collections of significance are those of E.E. Lineva (1900–1912, from Russia and the Balkans), A. Dirr (1909, from peoples of the Northern Caucasus), S.A. Rybakov (1899, from peoples of Central Asia and the Russian Orenburg region), S.M. and E.I. Shirokogorov (1915–1917—peoples of Siberia and the Altai region), and V.I. Iokhel'son (1902–1911—peoples of the Far North, Alaska, and Kamchatka). The collection of Iu.I. Blok (1890–1919) includes recordings from life in the Arctic during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and also has the voices of L.N. Tolstoi and his family and P.I. Tchaikovsky (Chaikovskii), as well as performances by the composers A.S. Arenskii and S.I. Taneev, and recitations by the actors A.P. Lenskii and A.I. Iuzhin, among others.
        There are various recordings on wax phonographic cylinders (1920s–1950s), wax and celluloid records, and magnetic tapes (1950s–1990s) from various collectors during the Soviet period—I.E. Ozarovskaia (from Arkhangel'sk Oblast), I.V. Efremov, Z.V. Eval'd, E.V. Gippius, E.S. Litvin, and F.A. Rubtsov, among others. There are recordings of folk-sayings, tales, songs, byliny, ballads, fairy tales, proverbs, chastushka rhymes, and the like, and also recordings of instrumental music. Many recordings of Slavic folklore were gathered during field expeditions of the Folklore Sector of IRLI in central and northern parts of European Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Eastern Siberia, and Mongolia. Urban culture during the Soviet era is revealed in recordings made at industrial enterprises in Leningrad and other manufacturing regions of the USSR, as well as from various amateur performance competitions (smotry samodeiatel'nosti), demonstrations, walking tours, and other types of public events. During the 1960s, film strips were also prepared during some of the folklore expeditions, supplementing sound recordings.
        The Phonograph Archive also retains recorded copies of the collection of wax recordings from the Berlin Phonograph Archive (1,385 units), which was among the trophy collections brought to the USSR after World War II, and transferred to IRLI in 1956 from the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (the originals were returned to East Germany in 1965). This collection has recordings of folklore from peoples throughout the world, including recordings of Russian prisoners of war during World War II.
        Among gifts from foreign institutions and individuals, most valuable are the anthologies in commercial recordings on the theme of “Folklore of the Peoples of the World,” including the UNESCO collections, “Folklore of the Azore Islands (received from A. Santos of Portugal), “Folklore of the Canadian Eskimos” (received from France), and folklore recordings received from Bulgaria, Finland, and Czechoslovakia.


Working conditions:
There is no formal reading room, but researchers are accommodated in the working rooms of the Phonograph Archive, which have equipment for listening to recordings on different media and recording under studio conditions. Recordings are delivered soon after orders are placed. Use of some collections (including the Berlin Fonogram Archive and several private collections) require the permission of their original proprietor.

Reference facilities:
There are annotated lists of collections within all fonds. There are opisi of fonds and collections of national groups (language groups). There are alphabetic card catalogues by name of the phonograph collections (first lines of texts or verses), collections according to their collectors, collections by ethnic group, and a register of expeditions, as well as local and studio recordings (concerts and other exhibitions). A computerized catalogue has been started for some of the collections and for the inventory register books.

Copy facilities:
Copying facilities are available for sound recordings.


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted