The Russian History collection (12,953 volumes) covers the eastern Slavic world from the 6th century AD to 1800, modern Russia from 1801 [Alexander the 1st and his reforms] to the October Revolution of 1917, and twentieth-century Russia up to the current time. The collection serves the needs of faculty, visiting professors and scholars, Watson Institute fellows, graduate and undergraduate students and other users within the Brown University community who are studying Russian and East European History. The collection provides useful resources for interdisciplinary studies and academic programs such as Anthropology, History of Art and Architecture, Political Science, Slavic languages, and International Relations.
Russian History materials can also be borrowed from any of Brown’s special partners. Highly recommended is Borrow Direct, since it includes Yale and Columbia. Both libraries have excellent resources in the Slavic area.
Language: Primary and secondary materials in the English and Russian languages form the core of the collection. Secondary materials in Ukrainian and Byelorussian are acquired selectively.
Chronological Span: The periods and themes of Russian History that are primarily collected are: Pre-Imperial Rus and the beginnings of empire, including Ivan IV and the expansion of Muscovy; the Imperial period 1700-1917, including the Russian empire from the accession of Alexander I (1801) the “Great Reforms of Alexander II, the revolutionary movement, the industrialization process, Russia’s relationships with Europe and World War II; successive phases of the Soviet experience from the Russian Revolution of 1917 through the Gorbachev era, including the Russian Revolution and the Civil War, collectivization, the Purges, the Second World War, the Cold War, especially Khrushchev, and the dissolution of the Soviet system. General histories of Russia are also collected.
Note: some military history of Russia is collected by the curator of the Anne S.K. Brown Military collection, and Special Collections now has the archives of Sergei N. Khrushchev, son of Nikita S. Khrushchev. These collections are described in the Special Collections section of this policy.
Imprint Date: The collection is mainly composed of circulating materials. While retrospective scholarly materials published after 1800 are acquired according to research needs, the selection is focused on current imprints. Original manuscripts, materials published before1800, and those considered valuable or requiring special handling are acquired very selectively and are housed in Special Collections in the John Hay Library where they do not circulate.
Geographical Range: All aspects of the Russian Empire which ultimately stretched from Europe to Asia are covered in the collection. Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation are collected at a study/research level. For the more recent past, during the break-up of the Soviet Union, the collecting level for Georgia, Armenia Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikstan, Kirgizstan, Belorussia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are at a basic level.
Types of Material Included: Circulating monographs form the core of the collection, however, other materials such as serials, non-circulating monographs, and audio-visual and electronic resources are also collected
Formats: The library acquires materials in all formats, with the exception of 8mm in the case of audiovisual items. The bulk of the collection is print-based (monographs and serials), however, microfilm is still purchased for periodical archives, pamphlet collections, and government documents. Electronic materials in a tangible format ( CD-ROM and DVD), and non-tangile (on-line resources) are acquired according to their licensing agreements and their compatibility with the library’s system. Currently, the Library gives preference to DVD format for audiovisual materials leaving video as a second choice.
Electronic resources: A selected list of electronic resources on Russian History, Economics and Culture at the Brown University Library includes the following databases:
American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (see E-Resources@brown), Europa World Plus (a/k/a Europa Yearbook) (see E-Resources@brown), Internet Resources on Russia and the CIS ( IRRCIS), and Russian and East European Studies Electronic Library (REES).
Among the numerous electronic journals pertaining to Russian history that are held by The Brown University Library are the following:
Audio-visual materials: All English-language films (video and DVD) purchased for this collection are housed at Media Services in the Sciences Library, while Russian language films are housed in the Language Resource Center. Music CDs are for the most part purchased by the Music Librarian and are housed at the Orwig Music Library.
Types of Materials Excluded: Introductory general purpose textbooks whose primary function is instruction are out of the scope of this collection.
Areas of Distinction: For those doing research on the pre-Communist and Communist periods of Russian History, the Library has some very strong holdings in periodicals and newspapers:
Russki arkhiv, 1866-1901, Moskva Petr Bartenev. Lacks vols. DK1.R865
Svobodnaia Mysl, 1991-present. DK1.B6 See earlier entry.
Voprosy istorii, See earlier entry.
Special Collections: The holdings of the Brown University Library include some important, rare and unique materials for the study of Russian history. These include:
The ANNE S. K. BROWN MILITARY COLLECTION is the foremost American collection of material devoted to the history and iconography of soldiers and soldiering, and is one of the world's largest collections devoted to the study of military and naval uniforms. Formed over a period of forty years by the late Mrs. John Nicholas Brown (1906-1985), it comprises approximately 12,000 printed books, 18,000 albums, sketchbooks, scrapbooks and portfolios, (containing thousands of prints and drawings), and over 13,000 individual prints, drawings and water-colors as well as a collection of 5,000 miniature lead soldiers.
The NAPOLEON COLLECTIONS. The Library’s holdings on Napoleon consist of two collections assembled by William Henry Hoffman and Brown alumnus Paul Revere Bullard (1897), and were donated to the Library by their respective heirs. The Bullard collection consists of satires of Napoleon by artists from various countries, and is one of the strongest such collections in the United States. The Hoffman Collection consists of manuscripts, rare books, prints and art objects.
NIKITA S. KRUSHCHEV ARCHIVES. Materials donated by Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, relating to his father and himself. The Nikita Krushchev materials
include transcripts of dictated reminiscences, edited by Sergei Khurshchev and later published; photograph albums of official visits both within and outside the Soviet Union; and a pair of shoes similar to the one made famous at the United Nations. In addition there are various books, articles, clippings, taped interviews, and various documents pertaining to his role as author and public speaker, both about his father and also about his own circumstances in becoming a naturalized American citizen.
ISABEL HARRIS METCALF PEACEANA COLLECTION. Mrs. Isabel Harris Metcalf was a Rhode Island pacifist who collected and indexed material relating to the international peace movement. Her collection, consisting of 50 scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, loose clippings and correspondence relating to the League of Nations and the World Peace Movement, covers the period from 1918 and 1941.
