Latest resources

Russkii pisatel' I.S. Turgenev

http://www.turgenev.org.ru/

Russkii pisatel' I.S. Turgenev is a website dedicated to the famous ninteenth century Russian author of the realist novel 'Ottsy i deti' ('Fathers and children'). Created by the Turgenev museum-estate, the resource contains: an illustrated biography plus related articles and encyclopedia entries; an extensive section of primary works and secondary literature; numerous images: information about various Turgenev-connected museums and theatre; current news; a good links page and a guest book. The English language version has: a biography; a photos page; a library which includes full length text of several works in translation. Slow to load, the site is nevertheless easy to navigate. It will be of most use to students and teachers of Russian literature.
Added: 2009-12-08More details

Far from Moscow

http://www.farfrommoscow.com/

Far from Moscow, "a portal designed to showcase new music from Russia", has been created by a member of academic staff at the University of California, David MacFadyen. MacFadyen started the website to satisfy a wish for knowledge about popular Russian music. The website Far from Moscow covers all types of genres of music, all created in Russia, such as rock, pop, electronic, experimental, instrumental, folk, Latin, jazz, reggae and easy listening. The website features audio and video elements for which software is required, news sections, links of further sources of information and links where information for the site has been gathered and links to record labels. It is possible to sign up for RSS feeds of both new features added to the website, as well as a feed of comments. Again, software is required.
Added: 2009-08-14More details

Khrushchev and Khrushchev : from the Kremlin to Brown University

http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/exhibits/khrushchev/index.htm

The website "Khrushchev and Khrushchev: from the Kremlin to Brown University" is the online version of an exhibition organised and hosted by Brown University Library in 2002. It focuses on the visit by the Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev (1894-1971, premier 1954-1964) to the United States of America in October 1960. The second Krushchev of the exhibition title is his son Sergei Krushchev, who famously took American citizenship in 1999 and donated his father's papers to Brown University Library. The exhibition provides a wonderful insight, through annotated illustrations, into the importance of presenting a unified front in the face of the communist leader. There are sections devoted to Nikita Krushchev, Sergei Krushchev, the publications of Sergie Krushchev, and the memoirs of Nikita Krushchev. Krushchev's memoirs were painstakingly dictated onto a number of tape reels and fortunately copied and deposited in various places. There is currently a project to record and transcribe the materials onto CD-ROM. In addition to the illustrations there is also useful bibliographical information. This site is excellent for those who are researching Soviet history or Soviet-American relations. It also stands alone as an interesting online exhibition.
Added: 2009-07-27More details

Obraz Dostoevskogo

http://md195.md.spb.ru:8080/nd/index.html

Obraz Dostoevskogo is an attractive, easy to navigate resource of photographs, artistic representations and written memoirs about the Russian writer, created by the Petersburg literaturno-memorialnyi muzei F. M. Dostoevskogo. The site has a good English language version, and all images are annotated. They include: photographs; painted portraits (including modern, posthumous representations); numerous sketches and cartoons; sculpture; commemorative medals. An alphabetical index of artists is provided, with brief biographical details. Perhaps the most useful feature is the section on ‘Dostoevsky in the eyes of his contemporaries’, which cites the reminiscences of family, friends and colleagues. The site’s one flaw is that these extracts are given without citation references, although the page on ‘habits’ does provide some references. This site will be of most use to teachers and students of Russian literature.
Added: 2009-06-30More details

Literaturno-memorialnyi muzei F. M. Dostoevskogo

http://www.md.spb.ru/

Literaturno-memorialnyi muzei F. M. Dostoevskogo is the beautifully produced, easy to navigate, detailed site of the Petersburg Dostoevsky museum. The site provides: biographical information about the writer in chronological format, with family portraits; a link to the sub-site Dostoevsky’s Image (catalogued separately); a chronology of literary works with links to overviews and to the full-text source; detailed descriptions of (and links to) six other Dostoevsky museums; photographs of Dostoevsky monuments; an article on Dostoevsky’s Petersburg; links to photographs and reviews of Dostoevsky-related plays; illustrated descriptions of Dostoevsky-related films; links to other sites. The museum section of the site provides: an illustrated guide to the museum and ‘memorial flat’ where the writer spent the last two years of his life; details of the museum’s history, structure, location etc. There is also information on the museum’s theatre, exhibitions and conferences, and a limited English language version of the site. A wonderful resource for students and teachers of Russian literature, and of some interest to researchers in the field.
Added: 2009-06-30More details

A celebration of women writers : writers from Russia

http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/women/_generate/RUSSIA.html

A celebration of women writers from Russia is a substantial list of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century Russian women writers, with hypertext links to more detailed sources and online works. A few contemporary writers are included. Some individuals are better known as historical or political figures than writers (Anna Vyrubova and Galina Starovoitova, for example) and much of the linked material will be of use to historians (e.g. Freda Utley; Alexandra Kollontai; Emma Goldberg, deported to the Soviet Union from America in 1919). Not all links are current, and some are to sources which are not authoritative, but this is a good starting point for students and teachers wishing to explore Russian women’s literature and history further.
Added: 2009-06-30More details

Russian women painters : 1893 exposition

http://members.cox.net/academia/cassatt14.html

Russian women painters : 1893 exposition is a subsection of a larger site created by US literature professor Kathleen Nichols, which lists artworks by women exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago 1893. Very few details are given about the artists themselves (in some cases only the surname is known), but images of the works exhibited are provided where known, and where not, representative images are given. This site will be of interest to students and researchers in the field of gender studies, particularly those working on nineteenth century women artists.
Added: 2009-06-30More details

Doukhobor collection

http://edocs.lib.sfu.ca/projects/Doukhobor-Collection/

The Doukhobor collection is a database of primary sources held at Simon Frazer University, relating to a Russian religious sect ('the spirit-wrestlers') which emigrated to Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Over 260 digitised primary sources (500+ images) dating from 1898 to 1975 may be browsed or searched by keyword. These include: letters; photographs; postcards; books and book chapters; magazine articles; documents; interviews. The site is structured around the following topics: Doukhobor History to 1930; the 1932 perjury trial of Peter Verigin (1881-1939); Verigin’s 1932 incarceration on Piers Island; Schism after the Death of Peter Verigin, 1859-1924; Conflict with the Government over the Vital Statistics Act; Count Leo Tolstoy and the Doukhobors. Topics include links to digitised sources and/or a bibliography based on materials in the collection. There is also a bibliography on the Sons of Freedom, a Doukhobor sect, and a further page of links to other sources of information on the Doukhobors in Canada. Images are of excellent quality, and include rare publications such as a translated letter from Tolstoy written to the Doukhobors in 1900. A fascinating resource for researchers of Russian religious history, and of potential interest for Tolstoy scholars.
Added: 2009-06-30More details

Starye gazety

http://www.oldgazette.ru/

Starye gazety is an easy to navigate website created by amateur enthusiasts which provides access to full-text Russian and Soviet newspapers from 1912–1991, browseable by year, month or publication. It would be considerably more useful if most of the over 1,400 issues were available in HTML (currently around 200 are) or PDF rather than as DjVu files (requires a plug-in linked to from the site but complicated to install). Publications range from the obvious (Pravda, Argumenty i fakty) to the rather more obscure (Britanskii soiuznik, Severnyi kolkhoznik).There is also: a forum; a search page; a small, eclectic library of Soviet publications; an encyclopaedia mostly constructed from Soviet encyclopaedias, with some entries by the author. ‘Memorable dates’ includes materials on Bloody Sunday, the dropping of the atom bomb and the battle for Moscow. This site will be of some use for researchers and teachers of Soviet history and culture, and those with an interest in the Russian media.
Added: 2009-06-29More details

Coins and Medals of Imperial Russia

http://www.library.yale.edu/slavic/coins/

Coins and Medals of Imperial Russia is an online exhibition of the Russian coins housed at Yale University, dating from the reign of Ivan IV to Nicholas II. The exhibition is organised into chronological periods (by monarch), each with a brief summary of significant historical and monetary events, and clickable thumbnails of coins from the period. The quality of images is excellent, and both sides of each coin are shown. Separate pages catalogue: commemorative medals (such as the one struck to commemorate the liberation of the serfs by Alexander II); paper currency and banknotes, with good quality images and descriptions of each item. This site will be of most interest to teachers, researchers and students of Russian history.
Added: 2009-06-29More details

St. Petersburg: window on the east - window on the west

http://www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll/stpetersburg/

St. Petersburg: window on the east - window on the west is an online exhibition of items from the Special Collections Library at the University of Michigan. Most exhibits are taken from publications produced in Saint Petersburg, the majority dating from 1890 to 1925. Exhibits are organised around the following topics: historical background 18th-19th centuries; historical background 19th-20th centuries; satire; book art and publishing; dance, music, theatre (with excellent images relating to ballet); journals; symbolism; acmeism; futurism; ‘many roads lead to Ann Arbor’ (materials in the Ardis archive and Ann Arbor publications). Items include: historical maps; postcards; extracts from newspapers and journals; illustrations (including some fascinating artistic responses to Bloody Sunday); book covers and frontispieces; photographs; letters; journals (covers and extracts); textile designs; extracts from books. Digitised images are available in various sizes, in excellent quality. Each item is accompanied by an explanatory text of varying length, and images are catalogued with descriptions. Images may also be searched by keyword or browsed. This site will be of use to teachers and students of Russian history and culture (particularly of the Silver Age), and of some interest to researchers.
Added: 2009-06-29More details

Oklikni ulitsy Moskvy...

http://moscow.gramota.ru/

Oklikni ulitsy Moskvy [Call out Moscow streets] is a project exploring the historical names and topography of Moscow, created by a professor of philology. The site consists of: a typographical dictionary of stream, river, pond, lake and ravine names; an anthology of poetry about Moscow arranged chronologically (1825-1999); academic articles and reports about Moscow names (including material relating to the post-Soviet revision of place names); ‘imia-istoriia-kul’tura’ [name-history-culture], a section exploring the history of Moscow via place names; ‘starinnye okrainye Moskvy’ [the old outskirts of Moscow], linking to historical overviews of old Moscow suburbs (with a clickable map). Four other sections explore inner areas of Moscow through topographical names: the old city and trading centre; inside the Boulevard Ring; inside the Garden Ring; beyond the Kamer-Kollezhskii val, all with a clickable map. This is an interesting resource for teachers and researchers of Russian history and culture, particularly those focusing on Moscow or toponymy.
Added: 2009-06-29More details

Fundamentalnaia elektronnaia biblioteka

http://www.feb-web.ru/

The Fundamental Digital Library of Russian Literature and Folklore (FEB-web) is an ambitious project initiated by the Gorky Institute of World Literature and the Russian Ministry for Communications, which aims to make available the full-text authoritative primary and secondary literature pertaining to selected 11th- 20th century Russian literature and folklore (currently with limited full-text content). A developing resource, FEB-web can be navigated by: time period; author name (via author index); title of work (via index of works); or searched by keyword. A reference section offers access to a broad selection of dictionaries and encyclopaedias. Each author or work entry links to all or some of the following: a description of the contents of the ‘digital scholarly edition’ available on the site; full text versions of literary texts; full text versions of secondary literature about the text or author; a historical overview section; relevant dictionaries and encyclopaedia entries; bibliographies and indexes. Many of the works are available as PDFs or jpegs. The site is partially available in English, and not entirely intuitive to navigate – a collapsible menu in the side bar eventually leads to the digitised texts. This resource will be of great use to students, teachers and researchers of Russian literature and folklore.
Added: 2009-06-29More details

Narodnyi katalog pravoslavnoi arkhitektury

http://sobory.ru/

Narodnyi katalog pravoslavnoi arkhitektury is a user-generated content project aiming to collate and catalogue photographs of all the Orthodox churches, monasteries, chapels, belltowers and cathedrals in Russia. The site holds over 60,000 images, searchable by: keyword; geographical location (including Belarus); building type; construction date; architect; or a combination thereof. The catalogue can be browsed by: geographical location (oblast; region; town); diocese; participant (contributing photographers). There is also a links page and a forum. Many photos are accompanied by entries about the history of the building with citation references; others simply have an address, and sometimes details of how to get there or a link to the parish website. This site will be of most use to researchers and teachers of Russian religious architecture, culture and history.
Added: 2009-06-28More details

Russkoe literaturnoe nasledie on-line

http://tolstoy-nasledie.rsl.ru

Russkoe literaturnoe nasledie on-line provides access to the full text of: the ninety volume edition of Tolstoy’s complete works which includes drafts, letters and diaries; dissertations on Tolstoy from the Russian State Library; plus scanned manuscripts family photographs and a bibliography of the contents of Tolstoy’s personal library, preserved at Yasnaya Polyana. A collaboration between the Yasnaya Polyana Estate Museum and the Russian State Library, the site allows users to search both institutions’ catalogues and the full text materials simultaneously. Photographs and digitised manuscripts (including drawings and letters) may be browsed in the photo gallery section, but the manuscripts are too small to work from. An elegant timeline offers a brief, illustrated overview of Tolstoy’s life. This resource will be of use to researchers, students and teachers of Russian literature and culture.
Added: 2009-06-28More details

Yasnaya polyana

http://www.yasnayapolyana.ru/

Yasnaya Polyana is the website of the Tolstoy Estate Museum, which preserves the country estate of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy as it was in the late nineteenth-early twentieth century. The most useful material can be found under ‘Museum’: an interactive map offers details about the estate and grounds with citations from Tolstoy and photographs; ‘collections’ (‘fondy’) provides a detailed overview of the house museum and other items of interest; ‘academic work’ links to museum publications and conferences. A gallery of photos includes images of Tolstoy and the contemporary estate. Details of forthcoming events and conferences organised by the museum can be found under ‘News’ and ‘Events’. ‘Conception’ discusses the museum’s structure and development. There is also a page of information for tourists. Some pages are available in English and German. The site will be of interest to teachers and students of Russian literature and culture, and of limited use to researchers.
Added: 2009-06-28More details

Solovetskie ostrova informatsionnyi portal

http://solovki.info/

Solovetskie ostrova informatsionnyi portal is a stylish resource focused on the history, geography and culture of Solovki, developed by a group of seafaring enthusiasts and historians who also run the Solovetsky seafaring museum (a subsection of the site) and publish the excellent annual ‘Solovetskoe more’. This latter is fully available on the site, and is browseable by section (White Sea seafaring practice; research and primary sources; poetry and prose; contemporary life on Solovki) or by issue. The site also offers: an interactive map of the islands’ significant sights (with historic and contemporary images and explanatory notes); information for travellers on climate, nature, hotels, pilgrim-related information, local festivals etc.; a historical overview and chronicle of significant events; a gallery of art and photography. A sophisticated search engine allows the user to select sections of the site and other online resources such as local newspapers. The resource has a good English language version of most pages (apart from ‘Solovetskoe more’ contents) and will be of use to researchers, students and teachers of Russian history and culture.
Added: 2009-06-27More details

Representation of the Russian orthodox church to European institutions

http://orthodoxeurope.org/

The website of the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to European Institutions in Brussels seeks to give the official position of the Moscow Patriarchate on relations with other Christian denominations and religions, and on issues of importance to Orthodox Christians in the European Union. The site is divided into: events; background information (about the formation of the Representation); Christianity in Europe; Church and society (addressing topics such as euthanasia); inter-orthodox relations; ecumenical relations; inter-religious dialogue; Church life; catechism; theology and spirituality; liturgy and prayer; Church history; Europaica bulletin. Each section has publications in English, French and German, and the site also has Russian and Magyar pages. The bulletin is available by email subscription. This easy to navigate site will be of interest to teachers and researchers of religion in the European Union, inter-church relations and Russian religious culture.
Added: 2009-06-26More details

Pushkinskii dom

http://www.pushkinskijdom.ru/

Pushkinskii dom is the website of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Russian Literature, better known as Pushkinskii dom or Pushkin House. There is a limited English language version of the site, with descriptions of the main departments and archival collections housed in the Institute’s literary museum and research centre. The Russian site is structured around the following sections: news; management; academic board; history [of Pushkinskii dom]; structure; academic activity (conferences, exhibitions etc.); doctoral research; ‘Russkaia literatura’ magazine (with access to contents and index only). Under structure there are links to the Institute’s various departments (several of which have their own, detailed sites with information about the activities and staff, plus access to their publications) plus information about the literary museum. This resource will be of significant interest to researchers and teachers of Russian literature, folklore, language and culture.
Added: 2009-06-25More details

Elektronnoye publikatsii instituta russkoi literatury (Pushkinskogo Doma) RAN

http://www.lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/

Elektronnoye publikatsii instituta russkoi literatury (Pushkinskogo Doma) RAN is a fantastic resource for researchers and teachers of Russian literature. The site makes available online the numerous publications of the Russian state Institute of Russian Literature, and summarises the contents of the Institute’s literary archives. From the main page the site can be browsed under the following headings: serial publications (including TODRL from 1934-71); non-serialised collections; reference works (including dictionaries of Russian and Old Russian writers); bibliographies; anthologies of primary sources (e.g. the multi-volume ‘Biblioteka literatury Drevnei Rusi’, available in its entirety in various views such as parallel text); internet projects. The Institute’s publications can be also browsed by department: Old Russian literature; eighteenth century Russian literature; Pushkin studies. The Institute’s extensive manuscript collection (which includes the literary and personal papers of numerous Russian writers) can be browsed alphabetically by author. Each entry offers a description of the archive contents with the fond reference number. The whole resource – available in Russian language only – may also be searched by keyword.
Added: 2009-06-25More details

Medieval Rus'

http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~djb/medieval_literature/09-1/

Medieval Rus’ is a resource designed to support the study of medieval Russian literature, developed by prominent medieval Slavicist David Birnbaum and his graduate students. The site offers: glossaries of church architecture and Christian festivals; external links to historical maps and genealogies; links to relevant associations and mailing lists; but its most useful features are to be found under ‘syllabus’. The four unit course (Kievan Rus 988-1240; Mongol Russia 1240-1480; Muscovy 1480-1613; Romanov dynasty) links to topic pages which list recommended reading and make available a limited number of fascinating primary and secondary sources, handouts, worksheets and other teaching materials (such as a ppt on ‘how to read an icon’). Some links require JSTOR access, one is available only to Pittsburg students. This easy to navigate resource will be of great use to teachers and students of medieval Russian history and literature, and of interest to students of Slavic linguistics.
Added: 2009-06-25More details

Pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia

http://www.pravenc.ru/

Pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia is the online version of a multi-volume reference work on Orthodox Christianity and the history of the Russian church, published under the editorship of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. The encyclopaedia is searchable by keyword and includes an Orthodox calendar with hypertext links to related entries. Entries can be viewed alphabetically or browsed by category (e.g. theology, demography). Available in Russian language only, it is easy to navigate and includes citation details (volume and page numbers, publication date) for each entry. Currently only entries for the first eight letters of the Russian alphabet are online, with new entries added daily. An RSS feed notifies subscribers of additions to the encyclopaedia. Many entries are illustrated, and include a bibliography. This is an excellent resource for researchers, teachers and students of Russian religious culture and history.
Added: 2009-06-25More details

Tserkovno-nauchnyi tsentr 'pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia'

http://www.sedmitza.ru/

Tserkovno-nauchnyi tsentr 'pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia' is an excellent resource created by the publishers of the Orthodox encyclopaedia and broadcasters of a television programme of the same name. The site is divided into six main sections: topics (mostly related to current Orthodox feasts); news; the Patriarch’s service (news about the Patriarch’s activities); videos (weekly broadcasts of the ‘Orthodox encyclopaedia’ programme); library; encyclopaedia (opens new website). The latter three are of most interest for researchers, teachers and students of Russian religious culture. The library offers a good collection of published works and primary sources on religion which can be browsed by topic (e.g. pre-Mongol history of the Russian church) or searched by title. There is also an index of authors. The encyclopaedia is searchable by keyword and includes an Orthodox calendar with hypertext links to relevant entries. Entries can be viewed alphabetically or browsed by category (e.g. theology, demography). The centre site also offers an RSS news feed.
Added: 2009-06-25More details

Seans

http://seance.ru/

Seans is the stylish and easy to navigate website of the Russian film magazine ‘Seans [Screening]’, first issued in May 1990. A searchable archive of back copies allows the reader full access to some issues, and partial or no access to others. An alphabetical, illustrated list of contributing authors (such as the director Sergei Solovyev) offers short biographies and links to their contributions. A useful index of films links to articles in which the films are mentioned, and an index of names does the same. A books page lists publications by Seans, with brief descriptions of their contents and some links to chapters or articles therein. The site also has a blog, an RSS feed option and a page (‘Deti’) detailing the life of a young autistic man for whom the magazine is raising money. The website is available in Russian only, but otherwise should be of interest to teachers and students of film studies as well as researchers focusing on Russian and Soviet cinema.
Added: 2009-06-25More details

Entsiklopediia otechestvennogo kino SSSR/SNG

http://russiancinema.ru/

Entsiklopediia otechestvennogo kino SSSR/SNG is a searchable database of material related to Soviet and post-Soviet Russian film, based on the 2004 Seans publication ‘Noveishaia istoriia otechestvennogo kino [latest history of native cinema] 1986-2000’ and various other reference works on Russian and Soviet cinema. The encyclopaedia is structured into four searchable categories: personnel (e.g. animators); film type (e.g. documentary); organization (e.g. sale and distribution); and awards and festivals. A drop-down list offers numerous thematic searches (e.g. Art-House) and the ‘chronicle’ search offers a drop-down list of broad topics (e.g. politics and society) viewable by year (1986-2000). Entries are cross-referenced and often illustrated, but available in Russian language only. This is an excellent, easy to navigate resource for students, teachers and researchers working on Russian film, media or popular culture.
Added: 2009-06-24More details

Liturgiia.ru

http://www.liturgy.ru/

Liturgiia.ru is a Moscow Patriarchate-sponsored website which aims to make available all the current liturgical texts for Orthodox services, and instructions relating to sacraments (baptism, Chrismation, confession, communion, marriage, anointing of the sick, ordination). Liturgical songs and bell ringing clips are provided in mp3 files for download, and video clips of various parts of the liturgy are provided in RealMedia format. Sheet music is also available in PDF format, and the articles page offers material on: church architecture; vestments; furnishings; icon painting and other related subjects as well as a PDF transcript of a thirteenth century Novgorodian service book. A large collection of photographs and images of icons (searchable by name), and a large collection of scanned liturgical books (such as the Apostolos, Psalter, Octoechos and Small Euchologion) are further useful features. The Synodal version of the Russian bible can also be searched from the site. Questions on liturgical matters can be emailed to site authors via an online form, and a links page suggests further resources. This Russian-language only site should be of particular interest to researchers and teachers of Russian religion and culture.
Added: 2009-06-24More details

Novosti nedeli na uproshchennom russkom iazyke

http://nclrc.org/webcasts/russian/

Novosti nedeli na uproshchennom russkom iazyke is a language-learning site which provides bi-monthly webcasts of current Russian and world news in simplified Russian language, read slightly more slowly than by a news presenter. Each item is accompanied by a vocabulary list and exercises to test listening comprehension. Each webcast is also transcribed, but these files open separately rather than simultaneously and users are discouraged from viewing them. News items are selected from Russian media outlets such as lenta.ru and vesti.ru, and edited for clarity. The site aims to provide a ‘stepping stone’ between classroom Russian and genuine media broadcasts for students at intermediate level, and will also be of use to teachers of Russian. Created and hosted by the National Capital Language Resource Center at George Washington University, the site is easy to navigate and has an archive of webcasts dating back to 2003.
Added: 2009-06-24More details

Kinovedcheskie zapiski

www.kinozapiski.ru

Kinovedcheskie zapiski is the website of the Russian ‘Film studies’ notes’ magazine, which was established in 1988 and targets an academic and professional audience. The magazine was founded with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Russian state Museum of Cinema, amongst others. The website offers limited access to full-text and abstracted articles but lists all journal contents and contributing authors and has a search function. Published materials focus on Russian and Soviet film from theoretical and historical perspectives, and include archival material (mostly from the Eisenstein archive). Supplementary features include: a useful links page, a news page and a forum. The website is available in Russian only, but otherwise should be of interest to teachers and students of film studies as well as researchers focusing on Russian and Soviet cinema.
Added: 2009-06-23More details

Russian folk religious imagination

http://www.rch.uky.edu/RFRI/

Russian folk religious imagination is the website of a project which aims to produce a multimedia, cross-disciplinary publication on the religious mindset of the Russian ‘folk’. Developed by an impressive list of US and Russian academics (linguists, philologists, historians, folklore and literature experts) and based on archival research and fieldwork, the project aims to make primary source material (images, interviews, performances) collected by Soviet and post-Soviet scholars available in both English and Russian. In addition to a project summary and list of participants, the website provides the following sample materials: a flash illustration of the proposed digital interface; a text (transcribed interview from 1980) of the ‘legend of how the Jews caught Jesus Christ’, with translation, notes and commentary; two images related to the legend; an audio file of the interview with English translation; a video clip of graveside rituals from 2006 with commentaries. The site should be of interest to scholars and students from a variety of disciplines, and of use to teachers of Russian language and culture.
Added: 2009-06-23More details

Kinoart

http://www.kinoart.ru/

Kinoart is the website of the Russian ‘Isskustvo kino [Art of Cinema]’ illustrated magazine, which is published monthly with the support of several Russian television channels. Articles, news and reviews cover topics such as: films and personalities of Russian and world cinema; television; visual arts; theory and history of cinematography. The site offers full text access to current and past issues of the journal (in a non-searchable archive). The site is relatively easy to navigate, but the forum (‘konferentsiia’) does not work. There is also a link to the old version of the site, where the forum does work and there is a search feature. The website is available in Russian only, but otherwise should be of interest to teachers and students of film studies as well as researchers focusing on Russian and Soviet cinema.
Added: 2009-06-23More details

Russnet

http://www.russnet.org/

Russnet is a portal created by the American Councils for International Education which provides free resources for teachers and students of Russian language, but requires users to register to use the site fully. The site's numerous interactive language learning modules are of most interest, but it also provides links to useful sites for career development and study. The language modules are themed around: history-related topics (e.g. Christianization of Rus, Glasnost and Perestroika); literature; culture (e.g. New Russians, fairytales) and science (e.g. ecology). Each topic includes: illustrated texts; interactive exercises; audio and/or video clips. In each module there are exercises to help with: reading and listening comprehension; vocabulary and grammar consolidation; essay writing and typing in Russian. Not without glitches, the site is relatively easy to use and maintains student scores for each module (for 30 days only) so progress can be monitored.
Added: 2009-06-21More details

Entsiklopediia Sankt-Peterburga

http://www.encspb.ru/

Entsiklopediia Sankt-Peterburga is an excellent and easy to navigate online reference book (initially published in 2004 by the Likhachev Foundation) with over 7,000 entries on topics from architecture to sport, and thousands of brief biographies, all cross referenced. The site separately catalogues approximately 7,000 images and nearly 50 maps, although the latter are too small for teaching purposes. There is also a chronology from 1703-2003, with links to relevant entries such as 'the founding of St Petersburg' and 'the Road of Life'. Entries vary in scope and detail: on significant topics such as 'Blockade 1941-5' relatively full entries are accompanied by maps, photos and a brief bibliography. Other entries (e.g. individual hospitals or schools) simply link to larger entries in which they are mentioned. Of particular interest are the numerous entries for individual churches, parks, cemeteries and buildings with historical photos and chronological overviews. Other useful features include: a thematic bibliography; the 'addresses' section, which allows the reader to view all entries relating to a particular street; and a search function (best used in Russian). The site is available in English and Russian, and will be of use to teachers, researchers and students working on Petersburg-related topics.
Added: 2009-06-21More details

Internet resources on Russian cinema

http://www.ssees.ac.uk/russcin.htm#films

This webpage features internet resources on Russian cinema. It is hosted by University College London SSEES Library, which is one of the leading teaching and research collections in the UK for the study of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. The website is maintained by SSEES Library staff in consultation with academic staff in the School. The websites are categorised as follow: Russian Cinema Organisations; Russian Film Studios; Russian Film Festivals and Prizes; Russian databases, critical and journalistic sites on Russian cinema; Sites on Individuals; Sites on Individual Films; Western sites on Russian cinema; the SSEES Film and Video Database; Russian Cinema Research Group; and Internet resources on Russia and the CIS. The SSEES Film and Video Database lists feature films, animation, documentaries and language learning material.
Added: 2009-05-30More details

Fabergé : treasures of Imperial Russia

http://www.treasuresofimperialrussia.com/

This website about 16 of the Carl Fabergé Easter eggs in the collection of Russian businessman Viktor Veskelberg is a sample of a book that was originally published in 2004, and written by Geza von Habsburg. The website is published by the Link of Times Foundation, an organisation that aims to repatriate cultural and historical items taken out from Russia in the 20th century. As well as a preface, foreword and introduction, it provides information on the Fabergé jewelled eggs that were produced for the Russian Imperial family from 1885 "when Alexander III commissioned the first Imperial Easter Egg, The Hen Egg, as a gift for his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna". The site includes information on: the Hen Egg; the Coronation Egg (the most famous of the eggs); the Fifteenth Anniversary Egg; the Duchess of Marlborough Egg; and the last Imperial egg, the Order of St. George Egg. Although the link to purchase the book is no longer live, this website offers good quality images and information on each egg with footnotes.
Added: 2009-05-18More details

Slavianskie rukopisi

http://www.stsl.ru/manuscripts/

Slavianskie rukopisi is a superb collection of over 2000 digitised manuscripts from the Trinity-St Sergius Monastery library, prepared in collaboration with the Russian State Library where the manuscripts are now housed. The quality of the images is excellent, and each folio can be enlarged to facilitate close reading. The manuscripts are collated by fond, including: main library (RGB fond 304.I); supplementary library, seventeenth century to 1907 (RGB f.304.II); unique editions (an illuminated Life of St Sergius of Radonezh published in 1853); two collections of manuscripts from the Moscow Theological Academy (RGB f. 173.I, 173.II); letters, decrees, deeds of purchase and other documents (RGB f.303.I). There are also two brief descriptions of the library written in the nineteenth century. This resource is available in Russian only, and forms part of the Trinity-St Sergius Monastery website. The collection is a joy to browse, and contains such gems as a thirteenth century lectionary and a fourteenth century collection of sermons by St Gregory of Nazianzus (the Theologian). Library manuscripts are briefly described; some are divided into chapters or folios with a summary of folio content. The documents collection contains no such detail. This resource will be of most use to researchers of the religious and cultural history of Russia.
Added: 2009-05-01More details

Fotoletopis' Rossii

http://www.inphoto.ru/

Fotoletopis' Rossii is the website of a fascinating project by the State-owned Moscow House of Photography, which aims to collect and catalogue historically interesting photos from 1840 to the present day. Numerous partners include regional museums and archives, and the project has been funded by Soros and Ford foundations, as well as by the Moscow government and Russian Ministry of Culture. Theoretically, the site may be searched and browsed by: region; period; and theme, or a combination of the above, although the search feature often causes the website to crash. The themes encompass: aviation; fashion; children; religion; cafes and restaurants; flora and numerous others. Under 'about the project' separate regional galleries may be browsed. The quality of images is good, and each is labelled with a brief description, photographer's name and date. If it wasn't marred by technical glitches, this would be an excellent source of images for teachers and researchers of Russian and Soviet history and culture. The site is currently available in Russian only.
Added: 2009-05-01More details

Povest' vremennykh let

http://hudce7.harvard.edu/~ostrowski/pvl/

Povest' vremennykh let is an online version of the most important primary source for the study of early Rus, the so-called Primary Chronicle or Tale of Bygone Years. Prepared by US historian Donald Ostrowski, this resource provides downloadable PDF files, including: a detailed introduction to the text; notes on transliteration; the PVL text in sections; a reconstructed alpha text; a file of amendments made to the online version since the printed edition published in 2003; a list of quotations from the Psalms which appear in the PVL. The text itself is an interlinear collation of: five main manuscript redactions (fourteenth century Laurentian; fifteenth century Radziwill, Academy and Hypatian; sixteenth century Khlebnikov redaction); three published versions; passages from the Pogodin, Novgorod I and Trinity chronicles. It offers a proposed best reading of this twelfth century monastic chronicle, and allows the researcher to compare multiple variant readings for any passage. There is no English translation of the text. The resource is easy to use and will be of most use to researchers and teachers of early Russian and Ukrainian history, language and culture.
Added: 2009-04-29More details

Epokha Khrushcheva

http://rao.keldysh.ru/khrushchev/

Epokha Khrushcheva is an unattractive but detailed and creative online history course on the Khrushchev period of Soviet history. The site combines archival images and film footage with text written by a professor of Moscow State University and edited with commentary by Khrushchev's son Sergei. A joint project by Moscow State University and the University of Texas at Austin, Khrushchev's 'thaw' and the turbulent international politics of the period are explored across twelve topics: the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1940s; Khrushchev's life before the early 1950s; 1945-1953, the period of terror; 1953-1955, the struggle for power after Stalin's death; 1953-1955, between the Cold War and peaceful co-existence; 1956, de-Stalinization and the twentieth party congress; 1956, peaceful co-existence and international debt; 1957-1961, ideological war and the problems of de-Stalinization; 1957-1961, Soviet economics and economic ideology; 1957-1959, Soviet foreign policy; 1960-1962, the Berlin wall and the Cuban missile crisis; the end of the Khrushchev era. There is also a useful glossary, a page of short biographies and a bibliography. The site is currently available in Russian only, but an English translation is planned.
Added: 2009-04-29More details

Muzei Anny Akhmatovoi v Fontannom dome

http://www.akhmatova.spb.ru/

This Anna Akhmatova museum site is a searchable, beautifully produced guide to the resources held at the Fountain House in Petersburg. The vast majority of site materials relate to the famous poetess herself, but there are also materials relating to her son Lev Gumilev and to the writer Joseph Brodsky, both of whom have dedicated rooms at the museum. The site includes: clickable floorplans of the exhibition rooms, with photographs and accompanying text; details of current events and exhibitions; a list of the over 70 videos and sound recordings held by the museum, briefly described; a list of publications by museum staff; a brief history of the museum. The site also describes the museum's archival collections, with some digitised examples of their contents: manuscripts and documents; illustrations; books (including Akhmatova's and Brodsky's personal libraries); and photos. There is a patchy English language version of the site. This resource will be of most use to researchers working in the fields of twentieth century Russian literature and history.
Added: 2009-03-30More details

Pobeda. 1941-1945

http://victory.rusarchives.ru/

Pobeda 1941-1945 is a searchable online archive of over one thousand photographs from the second world war, selected from numerous federal and regional Russian archives and presented as high-quality digitised images. The archive can be browsed thematically or searched by keyword or photograph details: date or place taken; photographer; archive number. Although there is no English-language version, the site is well constructed and easy to use, and offers a valuable resource for historians teaching and researching the second world war. Developed by the Federal Archival Service of Russia (Rosarkhiv), the archive page lists the numerous archives participating in the project, describes their relevant holdings and provides links to their websites or contact details. The catalogue page offers access to images collated thematically. Themes include: children at war; the Leningrad blockade; the liberation of Europe (subdivided geographically); the partisan movement; the battle of Stalingrad; victory over Japan; Victory Day 9 May 1945; Berlin, from war to peace; the Nuremberg process. Site contents may also be browsed by photographer ('author' in the Russian). Photographers are listed alphabetically, with biographical details where available and clickable thumbnails of their photographs. Most of the photographs are Soviet, but some are of US or German provenance. Each photograph is provided with details of: place and date taken; the subject(s) and photographer (where known); current location and archive number. A links page lists many useful and relevant websites. Site users may give feedback via a forum page. 'About the site' describes the project history and participants.
Added: 2009-03-13More details

Russia religion news

http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/

Russia religion news is a long-established, searchable online archive of selected, translated articles from the Russian media on religion in the former Soviet Union from 1996 to date. Articles are taken mostly from the mainstream media, including Interfax and Russian monitors of religious news such as portal-credo.ru. Links to the original Russian text are provided for most recent items. The compiler and translator, US academic Professor Paul D. Steeves, will provide copies of those originals unavailable online on request, where possible. The site may be searched by any word or phrase, with a refine option to narrow results if need be, or browsed by year. Articles selected are weighted towards: major news stories related to religion; religious minorities; persecution of and discrimination against believers, including antisemitism; national and religious identity; religious conflict; interfaith relations; legislation. A brief links page provides access to: the 1997 Russian law 'On freedom of conscience and religious associations' in Russian and in English translation; US Department of State reports on religious freedom; statistics and surveys on religious associations and affiliation up to 2004; and other organisations monitoring religion in the former Soviet Union. A useful guide to abbreviations shows the full Russian and English names for all acronyms used. An option to be notified by email when the site is updated is available from the recent news page. This resource will be of most use to researchers and teachers of post-Soviet religion and Russian media, and of contemporary religious affairs.
Added: 2009-03-13More details

Sibirica

http://www.sati.archaeology.nsc.ru/sibirica/

This website is a portal on the Archaeology and Ethnography of Northern Asia (Siberia) and is available only in Russian. It lists archaeological news from all over the world; it publishes a statistical package especially built for archaeologists; it contains table of contents of the "Археология, этнография и антропология Евразии" (Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia) journal; and the full-text journals СИБИРСКИЙ ЭТНОГРАФИЧЕСКИЙ ВЕСТНИК (Siberian Ethnographic Herald), "АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ ОБОЗРЕНИЕ" (Electronic Journal of Archaeological Survey), "СИБИРСКОЕ АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ ОБОЗРЕНИЕ" (Siberian Archaeological Bulletin), "ГУМАНИТАРНЫЕ НАУКИ В СИБИРИ" (Journal of Humanitarian sciences in Siberia), and the electronic newsletter "Компьютеры и археология" (Computers and Archaeology). Further papers and publications are available scattered across the website.

Section Энциклопедии (encyclopaedias) contains a number of online encyclopaedias focusing on Siberia (e.g. the Altai culture), a few with unreliable translations in German and English. This website also lists external resources. It is a treasure-trove for Russian speakers and those studying or researching the archaeology or ethnography of Siberia.
Added: 2009-03-02More details

Asia rising : Japanese postcards of the Russo-Japanese war (1904-05)

http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/asia_rising/index.html

Asia rising : Japanese postcards of the Russo-Japanese war (1904-05) is an online exhibition of postcards from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection of Japanese Postcards at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It is one of the units in MIT's Visualizing Cultures online project, which combine scholarly commentary with images to present social and cultural history in a very accessible but authoritative way. A long essay by American historian John W. Dower examines the war and its representation in postcards, images of which are embedded in the text. The Visual Narratives section presents much larger images of these postcards in thematic extracts from the essay, allowing details to be examined. The Curriculum section presents a short course on visual literacy, based on this unit and another from the project, with versions for teachers and students. Some features of the site are still under construction, but there is already much of value and interest here.
Added: 2009-02-28More details

Informatsionno-analiticheskii tsentr SOVA

http://www.sova-center.ru/

Informatsionno-analiticheskii tsentr SOVA is the website of a well-respected Russian NGO monitoring and researching racism, nationalism and religion in contemporary Russia. An up-to-the-minute source of news, statistics and analysis, SOVA offers academics, journalists and policy makers access to reliable material arranged thematically. The majority of this material is available in Russian only, although there are regularly updated English pages offering access to SOVA's major research reports, articles and conference papers in translation. The site is divided into two main sections: religion and society; nationalism and xenophobia. Both are updated on a daily basis. Religion and society is subdivided into: news events; debates; publications. These sections provide summaries of important current issues (such as discrimination against 'sectarians' and the campaign against individual tax numbers), with links to original sources. The date each topic was initiated is clearly shown, and monthly archives are available for each topic. Nationalism and xenophobia divides material up according to SOVA's research projects, and covers issues such as: disproportionate anti-extremism measures; hate speech in the Russian mass media; combating hate on the internet; antisemitism. Readers may also subscribe to thematic e-mailing lists, including one in English, and to an RSS feed.
Added: 2009-02-19More details

Nabokov online journal

http://etc.dal.ca/noj/

'The Nabokov Online Journal' is a full-text ejournal devoted to discussion of the works of the author Vladimir Nabokov . The Journal is freely published by the Department of Russian Studies at Dalhousie University, and the editors have the permission of the Estate of Vladimir Nabokov to use extracts from Nabokov's works. At February 2009 there are two issues online, offering scholarly articles, interviews, multimedia, and book reviews. Articles are freely offered in PDF format. Example article titles include: 'Staging Nabokov'; 'The Lolita Effect: Sexy Girls in the Media'; and 'In Search of a Mailbox: Letters in The Gift'; among many others. The website has a statement of the aims and purpose of the journal, details of the editor and Editorial Board, and the submissions process.
Added: 2009-02-15More details

Whisperers: private life in Stalin's Russia

http://www.orlandofiges.com/

The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia is a website which relates to Orlando Figes' book by the same name, offering teachers and researchers access to selected materials collected during a three-year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board and the Leverhulme Trust. Focusing on family history and private life during Stalin's Terror, the website offers around a hundred short histories of families who suffered during this period, plus PDF files (in Russian) of lengthy extracts from interviews given by family members to Memorial Society. The archive section contains: digitised letters; documents and photographs; typed autobiographies, diaries and memoirs; even poetry. These items can be browsed by family name only (rather than searched by place, date or keyword), but the wealth of fascinating material (including letters from camp prisoners and a diary maintained during the blockade of Leningrad) will be of interest to historians of the Soviet period and those working on memory, oral history and life history. Four interview extracts are available in English, and details of how to gain permission from Professor Figes to cite from interviews or use them for teaching purposes are given. Two related BBC Radio 4 programmes are also available in MP3 format and a page of useful links to sites on oral history and the Gulag is provided. The primary source material is excellent and the site clear and easy to use, but requesting much material in a short space of time seems to cause server errors.
Added: 2009-02-03More details

Oxford Russian life history archive : remembering the past in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia

http://www.ehrc.ox.ac.uk/lifehistory/

The Oxford Life History Archive offers an overview of material on memory in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia collected during two substantial research projects: "Childhood in Russia, 1890-1991: A Social and Cultural History" (2003-2006, funded by the Leverhulme Trust) and "Russian National Identity from 1961: Traditions and Deterritorialisation (2007-2010, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council). Hosted by the European Humanities Research Centre at the University of Oxford, the resource is clear and easy to use, but offers only limited online access to the over 200 life history interviews recorded and transcribed by project researchers. These interviews focus primarily on: childhood; cultural memory; family traditions; food; Russian and Soviet passports; emigre experience and youth culture. Lists of informants, questionnaires used, six sample transcripts (in Russian only) and two fifteen minute extracts from interview recordings are made available online, with contact details for further access and citation rights. There is also a small selection of images related to Soviet childhood. An introductory page provides concise overviews of memory and autobiography in Soviet culture, and of oral history in the post-Soviet period, with a useful list of references. The archive page explains the rationale behind the archive, themes addressed and methodology used. This resource is primarily aimed at researchers working on memory, culture and national identity in Russia, but will be of use to some teachers of Soviet history, life history and oral history.
Added: 2009-02-03More details

Drevnerusskie berestianye gramoty

http://gramoty.ru/

Drevnerusskie berestianye gramoty is a searchable online archive of digitised eleventh to fifteenth century birchbark manuscripts from Novgorod and other medieval Russian towns. Created as part of an INTAS-funded collaborative project between universities (including Cambridge) and Russian museums, this is an excellent, easy-to-use Russian language-only resource for researchers and teachers of Russian history and linguistics. Over 1,000 high-quality scans, with brief catalogue details about each text, are accessed via a database searchable by period (e.g. 1160-80), condition of document (e.g. fragment), town, excavation site and genre (e.g. church document). Most come with a clear tracing of the birchbark layout, and a transcript (requires font download) which can also display word divisions. Some texts have a translation into contemporary Russian, but it isn't possible to select or search for these separately. These primary sources offer unique insight into the culture and society of medieval Rus, as well as material for scholars working on medieval literacy or East Slavic historical linguistics. The site uses mostly pre-2005 academic publications, but new and amended translations and tracings are added as they become available. Maps indicating excavation sites; a bibliography of related Russian and other language publications; and downloadable publications by leading specialists are provided.
Added: 2009-01-30More details

Black Sea currents : migration and cosmopolitan dynamics in two post-Imperial cities, Odessa and Istanbul

http://www.diasporas.ac.uk/assets/Humphrey.pdf

This Web page offers a very brief description of an AHRC-funded research based at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Social Anthropology. Through focussing on two cosmopolitan port cities (Odessa and Istanbul) – both associated with long histories of imperialism and migration - the project aims to unpick "facets of cosmopolitanism created by the authoritarian state".
Added: 2008-12-12More details

Russian history home page

http://www.dur.ac.uk/a.k.harrington/Russhist.HTML

The website "Russian History Home Page" is created by John Slatter of Durham University, and provides Russian historical texts in English. All the texts are divided by period into three sections: Russian history before 1800; Russian history 1801-1991; and Russian history 1905-30. All in all there are 37 documents included. The biggest section covering Russian history to 1800, provides 17 historical documents and sources, such as "The Origin of the Word 'Rus'", "The Christianisation of Russia", "A Short History of the Moscow Kremlin", the Domostroi (excerpts), the Ulozhenie (Law Code) of 1649 (excerpts) and others. The section covering Russian history from 1801 to 1991 includes various documents and sources from "Emancipation Manifesto, 1861" to "Perestroika - Gorbachev's Ideas in 1987". The last section focuses on the important documents from 1905 to 1930. Among others, it includes "The Manifesto of 17 October 1905" covering the programmes of Russian political parties, "Decree on Peace, November 1917", and "The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918".
Added: 2008-11-12More details