Guides and printed catalogues remain one of the most widely used tools for exploring archival holdings in Russia. These reference publications describe the composition, structure and content of archival collections, including information on the history of the collection creators, the chronological scope of documents and their subject matter.
They can often be found on archive websites in sections such as Справочные материалы, Публикации or Для исследователей. Many are available as scanned PDFs, which can be searched with Ctrl+F if the text is recognized. Searches are also possible through the National Electronic Library (NEL) and the Russian State Library (RSL). Many guides published in the 1960s-1990s are publicly available in scanned form via libraries. An easy search method is to use Google or Yandex with queries such as Путеводитель РГАЭ or Список фондов ГАМО.
A typical guide includes:
- General information about the archive;
- Subject sections (e.g., Population, Agriculture, Party bodies, Military institutions);
- Alphabetical and chronological indexes;
- Lists of funds with numbers, titles, date ranges and sometimes the number of files;
- Occasionally, an indication of access level (open/restricted).
To use a guide effectively, locate the relevant section (e.g., demography, migration, agriculture) via the table of contents or indexes. Record the collection number, title and inventory – this information will be needed to request copies or consult an archivist. Some guides include file titles, which can help assess relevance before submitting a request. Always write down the full reference to the source (guide title, year, page numbers) – this will make it easier for the archivists to trust your remote request.
In this issue of The Bridge’s series on conducting humanities research in Russian archives remotely, we review the digitized catalogues of the country’s main archives and outline the specifics of doing research in each.