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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: H-4

Last update of repository: 16 March 2020

Gosudarstvennyi tsentral'nyi muzei sovremennoi istorii Rossii (GTsMSIR)


Dokumental'nye kollektsii
[Documentary Collections]

Website: https://www.sovrhistory.ru/collections/


Holdings

Total: 1880s–to present
personal records—over 350 fonds (1880s–to present); photographs—over 170,000 units (late 19thc.–to present); negatives—over 170,000 units (late 19thc.–to present); postcards—ca. 50,000 units; posters—over 70,000 units

The Documentary collection contains extensive and varied manuscript and graphic materials relating to the history of the revolutionary movement in Russia, as well as copies of documents from other archives. The documents are grouped chronologically in two fonds: the first covers the period from the beginning of the workers’ movement and the spread of Marxism in Russia (1883–1894) to 1945; the second extends from 1945 to the present.
        The collection contains documents relating to the history of the workers’ and democratic movement in Russia (dating back to the 1880s). Here there are documents from the pre-October period from all over the country, such as deeds attesting to the sale, purchase, or division of land, and loan receipts and promissory notes signed by peasants (1883–1906).
        There is rich documentation on the 1905 Revolution, including the original petition presented by the workers of St. Petersburg to the Emperor in January 1905 and manuscripts of participants in the uprising (N.V. Sineva, F.K. Golovanov and A.V. Ukhtomskii).
        The museum has a large collections of photographs (https://www.sovrhistory.ru/collection...) and negatives (https://www.sovrhistory.ru/collection...), including photographs from the revolutionary years of 1905–1907, which include photographic portraits of prominent figures in the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party (RSDRP) and other members of the revolutionary movement together with scenes from the period. Another collection of documents relating to the mutiny of sailors on the battleship “Potemkin” in June 1905 was acquired from the Romanian doctor, Rolle Arbor.
        The museum collection also has a personal fonds and topical collections (https://www.sovrhistory.ru/collection...) contains personal papers and individual documents from the archives of a number of professional revolutionaries, such as R.S. Zemliachka (pseud. of Samoilova), F.I. Makharadze, and S.I. Mickiewicz. Among the papers of E.V. Baranzin and N.N. Panin there are letters written from prison by P.A. Moiseenko and N.E. Bauman and manuscript writings of V.K. Kurnatovskii.
        The museum has amassed a considerable collection of broadsheets and leaflets (https://www.sovrhistory.ru/collection...) issued by the Central Committee of the RSDRP, the Bureau of the Majority Committee (Biuro Komiteta Bol'shinstva), and by committees and other organizations in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhnii Novgorod, Voronezh, and Odessa. By far the largest and most complete of these is the collection of leaflets issued by the Moscow RSDRP Committee during the 1905 Revolution.
        The documentary fond for the period of the October Revolution, foreign military intervention, and the Civil War (1917–1920) is one of the largest, containing some 80,000 units. It is arranged thematically and chronologically into four sections: the preparation and carrying out of the October Revolution throughout the country, the establishment and consolidation of Soviet rule, the fight against internal counterrevolution, and the Civil War and foreign intervention. This fond contains photographs taken by such well-known photographers of the day as V.K. Bulla, Ia.V. Shteinberg, and M.I. Abrosimov, as well as photographic chronicles of political life in a number of cities in European Russia, Siberia, and Ukraine. The museum possesses a large collection of documentation relating to the work of the factory committees and the trade unions, which includes leaflets, documents, and photographs.
        The museum also retains personal papers of various revolutionaries and prominent party and state officials, such as A.A. Andreev, N.E. Bauman, K.E. Voroshilov, F.E. Dzerzhinskii, N.K. Krupskaia, G.K. Ordzhonikidze, and Ia.M. Sverdlov.
        Of particular note in this connection are the documentary materials taken overfrom the former M.I. Kalinin Museum, honoring the prominent Communist leader, Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (1875–1946), which became a branch of the Museum of Revolution in 1990, but was then closed down. The fond of Kalinin—™s personal papers contains materials relating to his official activities, biographical documents, correspondence with family and friends, and documents relating to various anniversary celebrations. There are also a number of newsreels, other documentary films, sound recordings, and an extensive collection of photographs (close to 8,000, 1889–1983).
        The period from 1921 to 1941 in the history of Soviet society is largely reflected in documentation relating to the building of factories, plants, and collective farms, as well as scientific, cultural, and educational establishments. As a rule, the personal papers ofthose who managed the economy, as well as of prominent individuals from the realms of science and culture, and those who distinguished themselves as leading workers during this period, are arranged in thematic collections.
        Another very large collection in the museum is devoted to the history of the Second World War. This collection contains letters from frontline soldiers and from those who worked behind the lines editing newspapers and magazines. There are also operational documents relating to troop movements on various fronts, partisan operations in the Minskand Polessia Oblasts, as well as memoirs of war veterans, directors of firms and enterprises, concentration camp inmates, and Soviet citizens who fought in the Resistance in various European countries. There is also a collection of manuscripts and publications of the Soviet Information Bureau (Sovinformbiuro), which were prepared for the foreign press together with the photograph archives of the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations Abroad (Vsesoiuznoe obshchestvo kul'turnoi sviazi s zagranitsei—VOKS) and the Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union (Telegrafnoe agentstvo Sovetskogo Soiuza—TASS).
        The postwar period is represented by a large number of documents on the work of labor heroes, leading exemplary workers, and winners of various prizes. Collections havealso been developed on Soviet cosmonauts, outstanding scientists and scholars, and representatives of the literary and cultural intelligentsia.
        The museum has a considerable amount of documentation on the international workers’ and national liberation movementsarranged in several collections. These include leaflets, newspapers, brochures, photographs, and other documents on revolutionary events from 1917 to the present day in countries such as Hungary, Germany, Italy, Spain, Cuba, and Yugoslavia.
        The division also retains alarge collection of posters, which includes the work of D.S. Moor (pseud. of D.S. Orlov), V.N. Deni (pseud. of V.N. Denisov), and the Kukryniksy (pseud. of P.N. Krylov, M.V. Kupriianov, and N.A. Sokolov).
        The modern Russian history is represented by materials from personal fonds of the President of USSR M.S. Gorbachev, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) V.V. Zhirinovsky, among others.


Working conditions:
Researchers work in the sector workroom, since there is no reading room. The Photograph Archive is part of the Documentary Sector.

Reference facilities:
There is a systematic catalogue with proper names, subject, thematic, and geographic entries, as well as inventories (opisi) of collections.

Copy facilities:
Photographic copies can be prepared for researchers, and xerox copies can also be ordered.


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted