Major Russian Collections in American Libraries

Major Russian Collections in American LibrariesAuthor(s): Charles MorleySource: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 29, No. 72 (Dec., 1950), pp. 256-266Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4204199 .

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MAJOR RUSSIAN COLLECTIONS IN

AMERICAN LIBRARIES

European scholars may be surprised to learn that libraries in the United States possess some of the largest collections of Russian materials outside the U.S.S.R. The libraries began their collections long before Ameri? cans showed any active interest in Russian studies. The materials are distributed rather unevenly, geographically speaking, for they are located

primarily in the libraries along the east and west coasts. In the order of the size of their Russian collections, the libraries are listed as follows :

Library of Congress

Possessing "

the largest collection of Slavic material in the western

hemisphere," * the Library of Congress had really begun its acquisitions

programme in the Slavic field only in 1907. It was in this year that the Yudin Library was transferred from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia 2 to the new

Library of Congress building in Washington. Gennady Vasil'evich Yudin

(1840-1912), a manufacturer and distributor of liquor,3 living in the heart of Siberia on the Trans-Siberian railroad, had spent much of his mature life and much of his wealth in collecting books. Approaching his declining years, Yudin was anxious to make appropriate disposition of what had become perhaps one of the finest and largest private libraries in the world. He would have liked to present his books to some public institution, but felt he did not have

" sufficient financial means

" at his

disposal and that his affairs were no longer in "

their former flourishing condition." 4 In offering his books to the Library of Congress for

$40,000, which was only one-third of their original cost, Yudin was motivated only in part by pecuniary considerations.5 He hoped to

1 Sergius Yakobson, " The Library of Congress, its Russian program and activi?

ties " in the American Review on the Soviet Union, VII, No. 4 (Aug. 1946), pp. 51-66. 2 While in exile in Siberia in 1897, Lenin received Yudin's permission to do research in the library for his book, The Development of Capitalism in Russia. See Archibald MacLeish,

" A Slavic Center for the Library of Congress " in The American

Review on the Soviet Union, VI, No. 1 (Nov. 1944), pp. 11-14. 3 Yudin did not regard his business, in which he had worked "in an honest way for 40 years," as derogatory, even though that appeared to be the prevailing opinion in Russia. "

They think differently abroad," said Yudin in a brief auto? biographical sketch which he had written several years before his death. He pointed out that Bismarck had once stated in the Reichstag : " Ich bin selbst Schnapsfabri- kant." See Sergius Yakobson,

" An autobiography of Gennady Vasil'evich Yudin "

in The Library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, III, No. 2 (Feb. 1946), pp. 13-15- 4 See letter of Yudin to Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, dated Feb. 8, 1904, and reprinted in part in the Report of the Librarian of Congress (1907), p. 22.

5 In his annual report for 1907 the Librarian of Congress states that although the Yudin collection " ranks legally as a purchase," he prefers

" to record it as primarily a gift," since Yudin's " chief inducement to part with it was the desire to have it render a useful public service in our National Library." See ibid., p. 20.

256



RUSSIAN COLLECTIONS. 257

contribute to the establishment of closer relations between Russia and the United States and to make his library

" accessible to the world of

science "

; he knew of no "

more honoured place for it than the American National Library."

6

The Yudin collection is especially rich in Russian bibliography, history, and literature. Besides the standard works of noted Russian

bibliographers, the collection contains complete sets of Russian biblio?

graphical periodicals and many indices to Russian magazines and society publications. No important work of Russian historians and critics is

lacking.7 In literature, the best edition of every important Russian writer is included.8

Of special interest to the historian are the source materials and

periodical publications in the Yudin collection. Here are found, for

example, complete sets of publications of Russian historical and archaeo?

logical commissions, both provincial and national. Thus local history, including the history, archaeology, and description of Siberia, is well

represented. Government documents, published by various official

departments and agencies, are very numerous. There are more than

sixty complete files of literary and historical journals, totalling about six thousand volumes ; some of these date back to the 18th century, that is, to the beginning of periodical literature in Russia.9 Among the manu?

script materials are records of Russian settlers along the American west coast and in Alaska.10

The Yudin collection, with its 80,000 volumes, has served as a firm base upon which the Library of Congress has been able to build its future

acquisitions programme in the Slavic field. Many gaps had to be filled and current materials had to be purchased; the Library of Congress has taken vigorous steps in both directions. The Library has made numerous additions to its reference books, such as encyclopaedias, statis? tical yearbooks, handbooks, and dictionaries. Purchases have been made in the fields of economics and political science.11 The State

Department, government agencies, and Russian book dealers in the United States have all served the Library of Congress in its efforts to secure current Soviet publications. The exchange programme of the

Library has also been exceedingly helpful in this regard. Today the Slavic collections of the Library number well over 200,000 volumes.12

Separated from the regular Slavic materials, but included in the 6 See letters of Yudin to Herbert Putnam, dated Feb. 8, 1904, and Aug. 23, 1906,

in ibid., pp. 22-23. 7 Alexis V. Babine, The Yudin Library (Washington, 1905), p. 9. The text of this book is in English and in Russian.

8 Report of the Librarian of Congress (1907), p. 21. 9 Babine, op. cit., pp. 9, 17, 27. 10 Ibid., pp. 29-31. 11 The Reports of the Librarian of Congress for the years 1930-1940 illustrate the

nature of Russian acquisitions during that particular decade. The sections of the Reports dealing with this subject were prepared by Nikolai R. Rodionoff. For current acquisitions see Monthly List of Russian A ccessions which has been published by the Library of Congress since 1948. 12 Yakobson,

" The Library of Congress, etc.," loc. cit.



258 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

total count, are the Russian legal sources and books in the Law Library. The collections of Russian law are

" one of the most important, if not

the most important/' outside Russia.13 These include collections of

statutes, court reports, annotated editions of codes, textbooks, periodi? cals, and the outstanding legal treatises. Some of the documents and

books are quite rare, dating from the 17th century. Most numerous are

the publications of the 19th and 20th centuries; the Full Collection of Laws (Polnoye Sobraniye Zakonov), for example, and many histories of

Russian law are included. It has been estimated that 85 per cent of the

books on law and allied subjects published in the Soviet Union are

available in the Law Library.14 Most of the Russian holdings of the Library of Congress had until

recently remained uncatalogued and were therefore kept apart from the

general collections. Thanks to a generous grant from the Rockefeller

Foundation, the cataloguing of the Russian material was undertaken in

full force during the war and has since made tremendous progress. As

the Russian books are incorporated into the general collection and

brought under the control of the public catalogue, they are made more

readily accessible to the scholar. Of great value to the student of Slavic Europe is the Slavic Union

Catalogue located in the Library of Congress. Already containing

approximately 200,000 titles, the Slavic Union Catalogue is an attempt to list all the Slavic books available in the United States with an indica?

tion of the particular library in which they are located. The catalogue is in a constant process of expansion. Though it may never be complete, because of the difficulty of securing full cooperation of all the libraries in the country, it is, nevertheless, the best means of determining where a particular Slavic book can be found.15

It is the aim of the Library of Congress to serve as a centre for Slavic

Studies in the United States. Certainly much progress has already been made toward the achievement of this objective.16

New York Public Library

Second only to the Library of Congress in the quantity and quality of its Russian materials is the New York Public Library. This position has been achieved through a careful purchasing programme, extending over a long period of years, as well as through numerous gifts which have been made to the library. Some of the library's special collections are well known. One of the most unusual is the George Kennan Col?

lection, presented to the library in 1919-1920, by the author of Siberia

13 Yakobson, " The Library of Congress, etc.," loc. cit. 14 Ibid.

15 MacLeish, " Slavic Center," loc. cit.

16 Some of the ideas suggested in 1944 DV Archibald MacLeish, at that time Librarian of Congress, have since been realised. Among others proposed by Mr. MacLeish, but not yet achieved, were the establishment of a Chair of Russian studies and Consultantships. See ibid.




and the Exile System (N.Y., 1891). It contains over 700 pieces of manu?

scripts, about 500 photographs, some 650 books and pamphlets, and

many magazines.17 The Chief of the Slavonic Division, Abraham Yar-

molinsky, regarded it as "

one of the most important assemblages of Russian material ever presented to the library/'18 In 1885-1886 Kennan had studied the political prison system in Siberia. Here he made the

acquaintance of many Russian liberals and revolutionists who were serv?

ing terms as political prisoners and exiles. From them he acquired documents dealing with the early phases of the Russian revolutionary movement and with the Siberian exile system. The documents consist of diaries penned in prison cells, biographical sketches, lists of prisoners, and copies of official records relating to the life of the prisoners. Letters form a large part of the manuscript materials. These came not only from individuals whom Kennan had met personally, but also from readers of his book. Among Kennan's correspondents were such well- known figures as Burtsev, Lavrov, Breshkovskaya, and many others. The letters date mostly from the 1880's and the early 1890's. Some of them relate to the Yakutsk Massacre of 1889.19

Equal in interest to the manuscripts is the pictorial material in the collection. Included among the photographs are more than 200 portraits of political exiles. Other photographs and sketches show prisons and barracks in various cities, convict steamers and barges, penal settlements, and mines. The printed matter, consisting of books, pamphlets and

magazines, some 300 titles in all, deals with subjects ranging "

from

bibliographical studies to song books/' 20 The bulk of the printed material does relate, however, to Siberia and its prison population.

The Kennan Collection served as a valuable supplement to the

library's own material on revolutionary movements. Already gathering such material for a number of years, the library possessed a collection which included underground pamphlets and periodicals and an entire

library owned by a New York socialist organisation.21 In 1931 the New York Public Library made another important

addition to its Russian holdings : 2,200 volumes from the library of the Grand Duke Vladimir Aleksandrovich. Most valuable for dynastic, administrative, and military history of the Romanov Empire, the col^ lection contains many important government publications, including confidential reports.22 Court life, for example, for the years 1695 to

1815 is chronicled in detail in the 143 volumes of the Journal of Court Functions (Kamerfur'yerskiy tseremoniaVnyy zhurnal). In addition,

17 These aggregate figures are taken from Karl Brown, Guide to Reference Collec? tions of the New York Public Library, (N.Y., 1941), p. 237. For a more detailed description of the collection see Abraham Yarmolinsky,

" The Kennan Collection "

in the New York Public Library Bulletin, XXV (1921), pp. 71-80. 18 Yarmolinsky, " The Kennan Collection," loc. cit.

19 Ibid., pp. 71-75. 20 Ibid., p. 77. 21 Brown, op. cit., p. 238. 22 Abraham Yarmolinsky,

" Recent Russian accessions in American Libraries "

in the Slavonic and East European Review, XII, No. 36 (April 1934), PP* 749~5?*



26o THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

there are more than 250 manifestoes which were issued during the 19th

century to mark such occasions as royal births, baptisms, weddings, and deaths.23 An interesting, important, and confidential file is that of

the Compilation of His Majesty's Notations (Svod vysochayshikh otmetok) for the reign of Alexander III and part of Nicholas II. This was an

annual publication of the notes penned by the Emperor on the reports of the provincial governors. The annual reports, some of them secret, of the various government agencies and departments are included in the

collection.24 A large portion of the books and documents concern military affairs.

There are a number of monographs on Russia's wars of the 19th century, as well as on the Russo-Japanese war. Regimental histories total more

than sixty volumes; military schools, military costumes, and army administration are the subjects of many other volumes. A wealth of

information on Russia's Asiatic possessions can be found in a publication of the General Staff entitled Collection of Geographic, Topographic, and

Statistical Materials on Asia (Sbornik geograficheskikh, topograficheskikh i statisticheskikh materialov po Azii). The file is practically complete, containing 81 volumes issued during the years 1883-1914. Also of

importance on the subject of Russia's Asiatic possessions are the Pro?

ceedings (Materialy) of the Imperial Commission for the study of land

ownership in the Trans-Baikal region published in 16 volumes (1898).25 Although the library of the Grand Duke Vladimir Aleksandrovich

is strongest in the categories outlined above, the collection includes many items in the following fields : biography, ecclesiastical architecture, church history and institutions, folk-lore, genealogy, local history, social

service, and statistics.26 Three other special collections are worthy of note. Mrs. Gertrude

King Schuyler, widow of the biographer of Peter the Great, presented her husband's library of more than 500 books, periodicals, and pamphlets to the New York Public Library. Most of these concerned Russian

history.27 Miss Isabel F. Hapgood turned over to the library her col? lection of about 100 letters from eminent Russians (of the late 19th and

early 20th century) with whom she corresponded. Further, Miss Hap? good was instrumental in securing for the library about 550 volumes of

theological works from the Holy Synod and about 650 official documents from the Russian government. Finally, the library acquired the John Reed Russian Collection, consisting of material published chiefly in

1917-1918.28 23 Abraham Yarmolinsky,

'' The Library of the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandro- vich (1847-1909)

" in the New York Public Library Bulletin, XXXV (1931), pp. 779-82. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid.

26 Yarmolinsky lists a score of representative titles in his article describing the collection. See ibid., pp. 780-82. 27 New York Public Library Bulletin, V (1901), p. 88 ; also Brown, op. cit., p. 237. 28 Brown, op. cit., pp. 236-38. On p. 238 Brown summarises the Russian special collections of the New York Public Library.




With a view to expanding its Slavic holdings, the New York Public

Library sent its Chief of the Slavonic Division to Europe. He made the

trip in 1923-1924, and visited such cities as Riga, Leningrad, Moscow, and Warsaw. The trip was significant not only for its immediate results ?the acquisition of some 9,000 books, pamphlets, and periodicals?but also for the connections established with the main book-selling and pub? lishing agencies in Eastern Europe.29 Among the 9,000 items were about 1,000 historical works, many of which were sources, 300 volumes on geography, and 75 bibliographies. The Chief of the Slavonic Division succeeded in securing publications of the Archseographical Commissions, the Academy of Science, and other societies, family archives, and the

Reports of the Imperial Duma. He was interested in acquiring material on the history of the revolution and on conditions in the Soviet Union.

Further, the stenographic reports of Soviet and party congresses were likewise obtained.30

Fifteen years ago the New York Public Library had 67,700 volumes in its Balto-Slavonic collections, the largest proportion of these being in the Russian language.31 Today the figure is no doubt considerably larger, as the library has continued to make extensive purchases in the Slavic field. The student of Russia will find that Russian history in

general (economic, political, social) is well represented in the New York Public Library. Especially numerous are official government serials, such as the Full Collection of Russian Laws, annual reports of the minis?

tries, and the Official Messenger [PraviteVstvennyy Vestnik).32 The

periodical files are perhaps more complete than that of any other library in the country.33 Many Russian newspapers can likewise be found here. It should be pointed out, however, that as far as Russian newspapers are concerned, no American library has large holdings. Only the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress have Russian newspaper files worthy of mention, but even these are neither extensive nor complete.

The history of political thought, the revolutionary movement, the revolutions of 1917, and the rise of the Soviet Union are, all topics that are well represented by the library's holdings. Every effort has been made to secure the important works of Russian emigres, many treating of some of the subjects just listed, others in the nature of memoirs and

political pamphlets. The legislative and administrative publications of the central government and of some of the constituent republics are also available here.34

29 See Yarmolinsky's report of his trip in an article entitled " The Slavonic Divi? sion : Recent Growth " in the New York Public Library Bulletin, XXX (1926), PP- 71-79. 30 Ibid.

31 Brown, op. cit., p. 235 ; Also Robert B. Downs, Resources of the New York City Libraries (Chicago, 1942), pp. 79 and 204. 32 Brown, op. cit., p. 235. 33 A list of these was compiled in 1916. See " Russian and Other Slavonic Periodicals " in the New York Public Library Bulletin, XX (1916), pp. 339-72. 34 Brown, op. cit., pp. 235-36.




In doing research in the New York Public Library it is essential to

use the Slavic Division Card Catalogue where all of the library's Slavic

materials are listed, including titles in Cyrillic ; the latter, for example, are not included in the Public Catalogue. Further, the Slavic Division

Catalogue is much richer than the Public Catalogue in references to

periodical articles.

Harvard University Libraries

Purchasing at first only translations of Russian books and works in

western European languages on Russia, the Widener Library today has

the largest Russian collection of any American university library. As

late as 1911, the Slavic collection at Harvard totalled only 8,150

volumes; 35 today, if one includes the materials in the Law School

Library, it contains some 65,000 volumes.36

The purchase in 1895 by Professor A. C. Coolidge of the entire lot

offered by one of Russia's leading book dealers laid the foundation for

Harvard's excellent collection of Russian materials. This base was at

first extended only very gradually through gifts and other purchases. A number of books on nihilism and a collection of publications of the

Social Revolutionary party were presented to the library.37 Notable

additions to Harvard's Russian collection were made during and imme?

diately after the visit of Mr. Coolidge to Russia in 1921-1922 as a member

of the American Relief Administration. During his stay in Russia, Professor Coolidge concentrated on the acquisition of materials on

history. He had a list of desiderata which had been compiled by Pro?

fessor Robert H. Lord and the help of Professor F. A. Golder, who had

done his graduate work at Harvard and who was familiar with Harvard's

holdings.38 As in the libraries already discussed, nearly complete files of govern?

ment documents, periodicals, and society publications can be found in

the Harvard Libraries. The Widener Library is very strong in books

of travel and description, in its general Russian history collection, and

in books dealing with the development of the revolutionary movement.

35 Harvard University Library. Bibliographical Contributions. No. 60. Des? criptive and Historical Notes on the Library of Harvard University (2nd ed., Cambridge, 1911), pp. 28-29. In fourth edition (1934), written by Alfred C. Potter, see pp. 126-27. 36 According to a survey made in 1946 the Widener Library contained 50,000 volumes and the Law Library 14,600. See Toby Cole,

" Guide to Russian Collections in American Libraries " in New York Public Library Bulletin, LI (Nov. 1947), pp. 644-50. 37 Ivan Panin and Mr. Coolidge gave 100 volumes on nihilism ; the Social Revolu? tionary publications, some 162 volumes and pamphlets, were the gift of N. V. Chaykovsky in 1907. 38 Professor Golder was engaged primarily in collecting books for Herbert Hoover. See Harvard University Library. Harvard Library Notes, I, No. 9 (Dec. 1922), pp. 203-08.




It has been strengthened in the latter field by the recent acquisition of the Trotsky archives. These consist largely of manuscript materials,

including Trotsky's correspondence and typescripts of his books. Access to the archives is restricted, but special permission to use them can be secured from the Harvard Library authorities.

In its Law Library, Harvard possesses the outstanding Russian legal collection in the country. Much of this material still remains to be

catalogued. The recently established Russian Research centre receives a large number of current Soviet periodicals.

The Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace

A chance reading by Herbert Hoover of some remarks made by President Andrew D. White of Cornell on the difficulty he experienced in the study of the French Revolution because of the lack of contem?

poraneous documents gave birth to the idea of a library on war, revolu?

tion, and peace.39 Herbert Hoover, heading relief work in Europe during and after the first world war, took full advantage of the oppor? tunity of collecting and preserving documents concerned with the war and its consequences. He appointed E. D. Adams, professor of history at Stanford University, to organise this task effectively and placed under him some fifteen professors and students of history whom Professor Adams assigned to carry out the detailed work in various countries.40

In Russia, the work of collecting materials was the responsibility of Professor F. A. Golder, likewise of Stanford. The work was begun by Professor Golder while he was serving with the American Relief Admin?

istration, and he continued to collect Russian materials for the Hoover

Library until his death in 1929. After his death, Professor Harold H.

Fisher, now Chairman of the Hoover Library, became responsible for

acquisitions in this field. Many other Russian scholars gave their aid and advice to the Hoover Library in its Russian acquisition programme.41

With more than 50,000 volumes in its Russian collection, the Hoover

Library today excels all other libraries in the country in its materials on the Russian Revolution and on the Soviet Union. It continues to make

purchases of materials on the Soviet period, emphasising the social

sciences, international relations, and the problems of agriculture. The

Library has more material on the growth of communism than can be found anywhere outside Russia.42 The spread of communism in the

39 Herbert Hoover, " The Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace,

Statement to the Board of Trustees, Aug. 30, 1939 " in his Further Addresses upon

the American Road, 1938-40 (N.Y., 1940), pp. 215-18. 40 Ibid., p. 216. 41 Nina Almond and H. H. Fisher, Special Collections in the Hoover Library on

War, Revolution, and Peace (Stanford, 1940), p. 63. 42 Frank J. Taylor, " Herbert Hoover, International Detective " in Saturday

Evening Post, March 11, 1950, pp. 34 ff.




Far East is well documented in the numerous acquisitions made by Arthur and Mary Wright in the winter of 1945-1946.43 Likewise, the most complete record of the first communist government outside Russia, namely, the Bela Kun regime in Hungary, can be found here. An alert Hoover representative called on the Soviet Embassy in Budapest when the Bela Kun government fell. He found the Embassy deserted and was permitted by the watchman to pick up the many papers he found

lying around.44

Although strongest on the Soviet period, the library's pre-1917 hold?

ings are by no means negligible. Here can be found extensive files of

periodicals (322 titles) and of government documents, and some news?

papers.45 A few of the periodicals and newspapers are those issued by Russian emigres in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and thus form

part of the story of the revolutionary movement. Much more numerous are the periodicals and newspapers of the Soviet Union and of the

emigres from Communist Russia.46

Many unique collections, some of which have not yet been opened to scholars, have been acquired by the Hoover Library. Here have been deposited documents and papers collected by or concerning the

following : Michael Rodzyanko, president of the Fourth Duma ; J. Hessen, a prominent Cadet and editor of the party organ Rech ; V. A. Maklakov, leading right-wing Cadet and Russian Ambassador in Paris in 1917 ; General N. N. Golovin ; and Boris Nikolayevsky. The special collections deal largely with the war, the revolution, and the civil war.47

Housed in the fourteen-story Hoover Tower, completed only in 1941, most of the Russian material remains uncatalogued and much of it is still unbound. Temporary cards have, however, been made out and, where the author is known, the items can easily be located.

Columbia University Library

As the Columbia University Library has, to a large extent, integrated its programme of acquisitions with that of the New York Public Library, the two institutions, when considered jointly, make of New York City an outstanding centre for Russian historical materials.

One of the earliest important acquisitions was a collection of govern-

43 They had been interned in Peiping by the Japanese during the war. Prof. Wright is today a member of the history faculty at Stanford ; Mrs. Wright is Curator of the Far Eastern materials in the Hoover Library. 44 Ibid.

45 Dimitry M. Krassovsky, Slavica in the Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace (Aug. 1946). Typescript. Especially valuable for its brief descriptions of the pre-1917 Russian periodicals. 46 Almond and Fisher, Special Collections, pp. 63-77. See also the Annual Reports of the Chairman of the Hoover Library. 47 For a complete list of these special collections, with a brief description of each of them, see Almond and Fisher, Special Collections, pp. 63-77.




ment documents, presented to the library by Count Witte. It forms the basis of the library's present extensive holdings of official serials, among which can be found the Reports of the State Council and the State Duma, the Financial Messenger {Vestnik Finansov), the publications of the State

Controller, and the publications of other government agencies and min? istries. The University made a significant addition to its historical materials when it purchased the library of Alexander Eugenievich (Yevgen'yevich) Presnyakov, professor of history in the University of

Leningrad and a member of the Russian Archseographical Commission.

Comprising some 3,600 books and 2,200 periodicals, Professor Pres?

nyakov's library included the publications of the Archseographical Com? missions (among others, the Russian Chronicles), government serials,

general historical works, and monographs. An unusual feature of Pro? fessor Presnyakov's library was a number of catalogues and descriptions of the principal public archives of Russia.48

Various types of periodicals have been acquired from time to time

by the Columbia University Library. The gift of some 3,500 volumes, made by the widow of Dr. Samuel Abel, a Columbia alumnus, contained a number of sets of periodicals of the revolutionary period. In 1938 the

library secured a large selection of ecclesiastical journals, as well as many books on the history of the Russian church. The files of the leading historical journals are practically complete. These include the Papers (Chteniya) of the Imperial Society of History and Antiquities of Moscow

University, the Collection (Sbornik) of the Russian Imperial Historical

Society, and the Publications (Numemyya Izdaniya) of the Society of Amateurs of Old Russian Texts.49

Besides government serials and historical journals, the Columbia

University Library is strongly represented in other fields of interest to the historian : its legal collections rank among the top two or three in the country. Most of the important works of reference and social science bibliographies can be found here. The library possesses numerous materials on Russian economic development and on the history of the land question.50 The publications of Soviet government organs are extensive. Recently, the library has

" adopted the policy of purchasing

all books published in the Russian language in the Soviet Union in the fields of the social sciences, literature, and philosophy, and in several other fields." 51

48 Geroid T. Robinson, " Recent Russian accessions in American Libraries-

Columbia University Library " in Slavonic and East European Review, XII, No. 36

(April 1934), pp. 750-51 ; Downs, op. cit., pp. 79-80. 49 Columbia University. Bulletin of Information. Announcement of the Russian Institute ; Downs, op. cit., p. 80.

50 F. S. Rodkey, "

Unfreezing Research Materials in the United States : Russian Historical Sources as illustrative example

" in Journal of Modern History, XX, No. 3 (Sept. 1948), pp. 226-30. 51 Columbia University. Bulletin of Information. Announcement of the Russian Institute.




University of California Library, Berkeley

Early interest in Slavic studies at the University of California accounts for the presence of Russian historical materials in the library of this

university. Although the size of the collection here is much smaller than that of the libraries mentioned above (approximately 20,000 volumes),, it must be included for its quality among those of first rank in the

country. The University made an important addition to its Slavic collection

when it purchased the library of Professor Paul Milyukov. Consisting of about 4,000 books, periodicals, and pamphlets, the library was hidden in Helsinki during the first world war; it was shipped to the United States in 1921 and purchased by the University in 1930. It has been

regarded as one of the best private collections of Russian history and civilisation outside Slavic Europe.52 The Milyukov library has not been

kept as a separate collection, but has been incorporated into the general university holdings.

The Russian collection at the University of California is strong not

only in the field of history, but also in the social sciences in general. Regional histories are numerous. Many important books and sources deal with Siberia and Russian expansion to the Pacific.

Since the University of California has been interested in Slavic Europe as a whole, much primary and secondary material can be found here

dealing with other Slavic countries besides Russia. Czechoslovakia and

Poland, for example, are well represented. Because the archives and libraries of Slavic Europe are today practi?

cally inaccessible to western scholars, a fuller use of western European and American resources becomes essential. It is hoped that more and more European scholars will find it possible to take advantage of the unusual facilities for Slavic research offered by American libraries.

Charles Morley.

52 U.S., Library of Congress, Index to Special Collections. A microfilm prepared in the 1930's. Also Public Libraries, XXVI (1921), pp. 152-53.



Documents

Major Russian Collections in American Libraries