Russian and Eurasian Studies Resources  

Russian and Soviet Cinema

Vladimir Nabokov

This guide is a work in progress.  If you have any suggestions for resources to be included, please feel free to contact me by e-mail.

Rex Hatfield

Acting Slavic Librarian

Princeton's Russian and Eurasian Studies collections cover a wide range of subjects and formats, from scholarly monographs through electronic data, and were developed over the past fifty years.  Today, the Russian and Eurasian Studies collections share a multidisciplinary character with area studies resources elsewhere at Princeton.

Princeton's Russian and Eurasian Studies collections number over 500,000 volumes.  The Library maintains many active serials in print and electronic formats (about 60% in languages of the region) and subscribes to about 1500 monographic series.  Research materials include many other formats, such as survey data and statistics in electronic and print formats, maps, newspapers, manuscripts, and archival materials.  Of the Eastern European holdings, about 50% are Russian, 15% Polish, 10% Czech and Slovak, 15% Ukrainian, 10% Other  (Belarussian and South Slavic-- Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian).

Princeton's holdings are strongest in Russian language and literature and émigré literature, closely followed by Russian history, Slavic linguistics, and politics for the whole geographic area.  Polish, Ukrainian, and Czech and Slovak materials are well represented.  Area language materials address a wide range of subjects from Siberian studies, Muslim regions of the Russian Federation, and women's studies (including an excellent collection of Russian women writers) to regional politics and environmental studies.

Slavic humanities and social science materials are part of Firestone Library.  There, a Russian Studies Reading room houses a core reference collection.  The General Humanities and Reference Room houses general encyclopedias and other reference materials, while most Slavic periodicals are in the general periodicals reading room (A-floor).  

Princeton University Library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is also the home of the Osip Mandelshtam archive.  Mandelshtam, one of the best and most beloved poets of 20th century Russia continues to be of interest to scholars and researchers worldwide.  The detailed finding aid which provides item-level description of manuscripts, correspondence, and other materials in the papers, as well as a history of the collection and how it came to Princeton can be found at the Manuscripts Division of the Princeton University Library.  The personal archive of Father George Florovsky is also part of Princeton's collection.  To learn more about the collections, contact the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.

With these archival collections, currently published research materials in all formats, and solid historical collections, the Russian and Slavic Studies collections support the research and teaching needs of Princeton's interdisciplinary academic community.  With the needs of the entire academic community in mind-- undergraduate, graduate, faculty, and researcher-- the Slavic Bibliographer is committed to maintaining and developing a diverse and strong collection.

I am available for research consultations throughout the academic year.  If you would like to arrange for an individual consultation, please email me with a requested date and time, and a brief description of your research interest.

Acting Slavic Librarian, Rex Hatfield

Introduction

This guide indexes Princeton University Library's collections from and about Russia, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern and Central Europe.  It is designed to assist patrons in learning about our collections, conducting research on the Princeton campus, and connecting to data available in electronic formats around the world.  The guide was designed to provide an introduction to the scope and depth of our holdings and to suggest some search strategies for accessing information at Princeton and elsewhere.  Some links to bibliographic and informational resources are accessible only to Princeton University students, faculty, and staff.

Abbreviations in the Guide

The Princeton University Library system (PUL) has many libraries and storage facilities where print materials can be found. In this guide, they are represented as follows:

Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies Graduate Study Reading Room (SLAV)

Trustee Reading Room Reference (DR)

Firestone Library (F)

Firestone Library, Non-Circulating Material (FNC)

Firestone Microforms Services (FILM)

Cotsen Children's Library (CTSN)

Mendel Music Library (MUS)

Annex A (ANXA)

ReCAP (RCPPA)

In addition, please be aware that oversized books (which are housed separately) are indicated by the letter "q" at the end of the call number.

Transliteration

There are many ways to represent Cyrillic characters in Roman letters.  Princeton University Library (PUL) uses the Library of Congress Transliteration Tables. Other databases, especially those originating in Russia and the former Soviet Union, may use other conventions.  Please adjust your search accordingly.

This guide does not use diacritics or characters not used in English when citing works in Slavic languages that use the Latin alphabet, so that it may be compatible with all browsers.  Not using such diacritics when searching the PUL catalog will not affect your search.  Results will have diacritics.

Consortial Arrangements

Princeton University Library participates in several consortia, one of which deals specifically with the Slavic area.  To learn more about this group, vist East Coast Consortium for Slavic Collections.

This site is currently maintained by Rex Hatfield, Acting Slavic Librarian.  Text on the site was created by Nina Gorky Shapiro, Rex Hatfield, Liladhar Pendse, and Catherine Oliver.

The Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Graduate Study Room is located in the Firestone Library at B-4-M.  It contains a collection of reference materials on Russian and Eastern European literature, culture, history, and society.  While the Graduate Study Room is kept locked, it can be accessed by requesting a key at the Circulation Desk.