Library Guides: Slavic & East European Studies: About

Slavic Collections at Berkeley

The UC Berkeley Library contains one of the largest Slavic collections among US academic libraries. Materials are collected from all the countries of the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in all vernacular languages. Substantial material in English and other European languages is also collected to support Slavic Studies.

The largest part of the collection supports the study of Russia, its history and culture. Strong research collections exist for Polish, Czech and Hungarian Studies. Curriculum supporting collections cover the remainder of the East European countries. Through strong exchange agreements with academies and national libraries in the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Library has built solid collections for these regions and continues to do so to support increased campus interest in these subject areas.

Related Campus Organizations

Special Collections

Listings of relevant library collections (including links to their catalogs). Libraries and collections at Berkeley may also be listed under "Related Pages."

The Bancroft Library
Contains extensive materials about Slavic groups in the Western United States including many publications of the Russian-American Company and of the Russian settlement at Fort Ross, California. All Slavic imprints prior to 1850 are housed there along with rare literary editions. The Bancroft Library Manuscripts collection also houses the Kniazeff Collection (Russian emigre materials, documents of various Russian Scout organizations, and documents from various Russian Cossack groups).

Masaryk-Beneš Collection (PDF)
The library of Masaryk’s personal secretary, Arne Laurin, containing materials relating to the First and Second Czech Republics.
Miliukov Collection (PDF)
The personal library of the famous Russian educator and politician.

Oral History Center
Contains interviews with prominent Russians who settled in California.
Pacific Film Archive
Contains one of the most extensive collections of Russian and East European films in the United States.

Siberian Photos
Collection of photos owned by the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, here presented on the web.

Slavic Collections in Mathematics, Engineering, and the Physical and Biological Sciences (PDF)

New Acquisitions

The last six months of cataloguing in the following areas can be accessed below.

Izvestiia Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Completely digitized archive of Izvestiia, one of the longest-running Russian newspapers founded in March 1917; during the Soviet period Izvestiia was the official organ of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
Krokodil Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Krokodil (Russian for "Crocodile") was a satirical magazine published in the Soviet Union. [1922 - 2008]
Founded in 1922, it was first published as a supplement for Rabochaia gazeta. Although political satire was dangerous during much of the Soviet period, Krokodil was given considerable license to lampoon political figures and events. Other safe topics for mockery included the mid-level bureaucrat's lack of imagination and workers drinking on the job. The journal also ridiculed capitalist countries and attacked various political, ethnic and religious groups that allegedly opposed the Soviet system.
Moscow News Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Moscow News (pub. 1930-2014) was the oldest English-language newspaper in Russia and, arguably, the newspaper with the longest democratic history. This resource also contains access to the sister publication Moscow Daily News, which ran from 1932-1938.
"From a mouthpiece of the Communist party to an influential advocate for social and political change, the pages of Moscow News reflect the shifting ideological, political, social and economic currents that have swept through the Soviet Union and Russia in the last century. "
Niva Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Niva (Grainfield in Russian), the most popular magazine of late-nineteenth-century Russia, defined itself as "an illustrated weekly journal of literature, politics and modern life." It was founded in 1870 and lasted till September 1918.
Niva became a very popular journal of quality literature read by the middle class in the Russian provinces. The journal contained large colored prints by well-known Russian artists, works of famous Russian authors, as well as articles on science, politics and culture. East View has collected the complete set of Niva and digitized its massive content. Users are able to browse all 49 years, more than 2,500 issues, 26,318 articles in total, as well as search using a special keyboard to accommodate the old Russian orthography.

Giving to the Library

The Library welcomes gifts in all forms. Many private donors have made contributions toward the acquisition of research materials for the use of Berkeley faculty and students. This support is very important in sustaining the excellence of our collections and services.

The following types of gifts are available:

Book Donations
Gifts of scholarly materials and the results of research have historically represented a significant element in the development of our outstanding research collections. We welcome individual gifts, but due to space and staff limitations, we must be judicious in accepting large contributions. Contact Liladhar R. Pendse, Librarian for Slavic & East European Collections about the materials you wish to donate.

Donations of recently published books are welcomed. New book purchases will be checked to ensure titles aren’t already on order.

Memorial and Honorific Gifts
Contributions given in memory or in honor of a person are welcomed. For a gift of $1,000 or more, a named memorial book fund can be established. A special book plate will be created and placed in each book.

Named Endowment
Endowment funds may be established with a gift of $50,000 or more. These funds provide the library with an annual income in perpetuity and have a lasting impact on maintaining a world class collection in Slavic & East European Studies. The University invests its endowments carefully to achieve a healthy rate of return that provides for both current needs and long-term growth. A special book plate will be created and placed in each book.

Cash Gifts for Book Purchases
Cash contributions of any amount are welcomed and can be made directly to the Library using the online form. In the Special instructions or designations for this gift section, specify which collection it is for.

If you prefer to send a check, make it payable to the UC Regents (indicate which collection it is for) and mail it to:

Liladhar
Librarian for Slavic & East European Collections
Doe Library, rm. 438
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000

Selected Additional Resources

1917 Research Guide This pathfinder serves as a guide to doing research on the 1917 Russian revolution through Harvard University Library (HUL). HUL has over 850,000 volumes on Russia and the former Soviet sphere in its holdings, as well as journals, microforms, posters and ephemera, and electronic databases with Slavic-related content. A majority of these materials are housed at HUL’s main library, Widener Library.
ArcheoBiblioBase ArcheoBiblioBase is an open-access directory to Russia’s archives provided by the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam and which builds off the work of Patricia Kennedy Grimstead’s book, Archives of Russia: A Directory and Bibliographic Guide to Holdings in Moscow and St. Petersburg Volumes 1 and 2 ( 2000). The directory includes federal, regional, local, and municipal archives as well as non-state repositories such as academic institutions, libraries, and museums. The directory provides up-to-date contact information, as well as information on access to collections.
A black man in Turkmenistan: Langston Hughes’ 1932 account of Soviet Central Asia. The scans of the communist and Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes’ copy of his own short tract on Soviet Central Asia, from 1932. It was published under the title A Negro Looks at Soviet Central Asia, and includes copious editorial notation and marginalia around the text. Hughes was known as something of a perfectionist, so it’s not surprising at all that he would submit something he wrote to such rigorous scrutiny.
Twitter by Christine Christine Jacobson of Harvard.
Sovetskaia Periodica sovperiodics.ru — это открытая база данных, посвященная советской периодике о литературе и искусстве. Мы разрабатываем инструмент, который позволит всю эту периодику (или хотя бы ту её часть, которая уже оцифрована другими людьми) собрать и описать, а затем аннотировать и разметить по предметным указателям (уже сейчас можно посмотреть, как они работают, воспользовавшись меню в шапке сайта).
Russian émigré newspapers and magazines

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Slavic & East European Studies: About

Slavic Collections at Berkeley

Special Collections

New Acquisitions

Giving to the Library

Selected Additional Resources

Off-campus Access to Library Resources