Soviet/Post-Soviet Ephemera Collections

Soviet ephemera, 1976-1978. Slavic Division, Harvard College Library. https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:49651777$8i

Russian ephemera (late 1980s-1990s) 

A collection of materials and artifacts related to various political events, movements, parties and personalities that were part of the political life in the former Soviet Union and Russia between 1987 and 1999. Includes fliers reproducing official documents or produced by political parties or movements, special issues of periodicals, campaign brochures, event invitations, meeting agendas, posters, photographs, campaign miscellanea (calendars, stickers, envelopes, notebooks with party symbols) and non-paper items (buttons, etc.). Most of the materials originate from Moscow, but some come from Leningrad/St. Petersburg and other areas of Russia, as well as from the republics and countries of the Former Soviet Union.

The collection includes seven parts:

  1. Russian political ephemera, 1987-1999.
  2. Soviet coup d’état attempt ephemera, 1991.
  3. Russian parliamentary election ephemera ; Moscow legislative election ephemera ; Constitutional referendum ephemera, 1993.
  4. Russian parliamentary election ephemera, 1995.
  5. Russian parliamentary election ephemera ; Moscow mayoral election ephemera, 1999.
  6. Soviet republics and countries of the Former Soviet Union ephemera, 1980s-1990s.
  7. Russian cultural, religious and business ephemera, 1987-1999.


Available in physical or digitized format.

Online guide to the collection

Soviet ephemera, 1976-1978 

This small collection contains 3 groups of documents:

  1. materials produced in connection with the 89th anniversary of a 1887 students’ political meeting (“Leninskai͡a skhodka”) at the Kazan university (1976),
  2. a book censor’s letter to the Moscow Railroads libraries with censorship instructions (1977, pictured),
  3. a statement for the foreign press from a “free inter-labor” movement Svobodnoe Mezhprofessionalʹnoe Obʺedinenie trudi͡ashchikhsi͡a (SMOT, 1978).

Available in physical or digitized format.

 

Soviet pins collection

The collection consists of 2858 pins produced in 1940-1991 in various parts of the Soviet Union. The pins cover a vast range of subjects, including local and national history, literature, music, theater and other arts,industry, agriculture, traditional crafts, personalities, regions, cities, tourist destinations, waterways,transportation, scientific research, space exploration, sister city movement, peace movement, Communist party, youth organizations, etc.

The pins are undergoing digitization. For interim access to the physical collection contact Anna Rakityanskaya.