The Soviet History: a Bibliographic Guide to Published Sources focuses on published primary sources for the study of Soviet history, which include books, periodicals, collections of archival documents, legal and statistical sources, personal narratives and correspondence, oral history and works of literature, photography and arts that appeared/were published in the Soviet Union. This guide is intended as a companion to Soviet history: archival resources at Harvard university library and archives, which deals with archival, rather than published, resources. The present guide leaves out secondary and retrospective sources.
For each category of primary source we included the following sections:
As you work through this guide, please also refer to the following Harvard Library guides on resources pertaining to Russia, Eurasia, and Soviet history:
English-Language Primary Sources for the Study of Soviet History by Dr. Terry Martin
Digital Resources for Slavic, East European and Eurasian studies at Harvard University (a guide to databases, e-books, digital journal and newspaper archives, etc., accessible with Harvard Key or in open access)
Soviet history: archival resources at Harvard university library and archives.
Open-Access Resources for Research in Soviet History : a guide (hundreds of open-access online repositories of archival documents and various other categories of primary sources arranged in a sortable spreadsheet).
Please consult the HOLLIS User Guide for useful tips on navigating the Harvard Library's online catalog.
In order to receive the most precise search result, please use these strategies:
Search HOLLIS; if an item is in the library but not available online and a physical loan is not an option for you, you can request chapters, articles, or excerpts (up to 15% of a given work) via the Scan & Deliver link in the full record view.
If you need the complete work and it is not in HOLLIS, search WorldCat for copies held at other university and public libraries in the Western world (US, Canada, Australia, UK, Europe), If one or more copies are found, you can request that one be sent to Harvard Library for you to borrow:
For periodicals (journals, newspapers, magazines), note that WorldCat will indicate whether a library has a title, but won't specify the format or issues held. Click on the holding library's name in the search results list to obtain the holdings details in that library's native catalog. If you’re looking to browse many issues held by another library, opt for periodicals on microfilm; these are more likely to be lent willingly and in large quantities.
If an item is not in WorldCat, your options are: