While the Mansfield Library's Archives & Special Collections does not hold an extensive collection of primary sources relating to Russia and the Soviet Union, we do have:
A primary source was either created during the time period being studied or created at a later date by a participant in the events being studied (as in the case of a memoir).
The following websites contain information about primary sources - what they are, where to find them, and how to use them in your research:
Why Study History Through Primary Sources? (Fordham)
How to Read a Primary Source (Bowdoin)
Using Primary Sources on the Web (American Library Association)
Canada's Siberian Expedition - a searchable database of over 2000 photographs and documents related to the Canadian Siberian force deployed from the West Coast of Canada to Vladivostok in response to the Bolshevik Revolution.
Eastern European and Slavic Studies Digital Collection - a variety of links and digitized content from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System Online - searchable database of transcripts from over 700 interviews with Soviet refugees "during the early years of the Cold War."
New York Public Library's Posters of the Russian Civil War, 1918-1922.
Revelations from the Russian Archives - a Library of Congress online exhibit of select documents from the previously top secret archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. They provide an unprecedented inside look at the workings of one of the largest, most powerful and long-lived political machines of the modern era. Chosen from the 500 made available from the Russian archives, these documents cover the entire range of Soviet history from the October Revolution of 1917 to the failed coup of August 1991.
Russian Books from the Metropolitan Museum of Art libraries - rare, digitized books from the early Soviet period.
Russian Satirical Journals Collection - digitized Revolutionary-era journals housed at the University of Southern California.
Seventeen Moments in Soviet History - A rich archive of texts, images, maps and audio and video materials from the Soviet era (1917-1991). The materials are arranged by year and by subject, are fully searchable, and are translated into English.
Stalinka: Digital Library of Staliniana - Hosted by the University of Pittsburgh, this collection comprises visual materials and artifacts related to Stalin, including photographs, posters, paintings, banners, chinaware, pins, and sculptures.
Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) - The official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity from 1861-about 1976 (there are currently 450 volumes, with several more published each year.) As examples, one volume is entitled Foreign Relations of the United States: 1946. Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and another is entitled Foreign Relations of the United States: 1969-1976, Volume XVI. Soviet Union, August 1974-December 1976 (published in May 2012.) The volumes contain documents from Presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies as well as the private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy. In general, the editors choose documentation that illuminates policy formulation and major aspects and repercussions of its execution. Two different websites provide partial access to this series. The Office of the Historian has volumes covering 1945-1976 online. The University of Wisconsin Digital Library has 1861 (volume 1) to 1958/1960 online. The Mansfield Library has the complete series (in print) on Level 1 at call number: S 1.1
The Mansfield Library has many primary source publications supporting Russian Studies research. A selection is below, but others can be discovered using the Library Catalog. You can also use WorldCat to discover resources held and other libraries and then request to have them sent to you via InterLibrary Loan.
Acton, Edward and Tom Stableford, eds. The Soviet Union: A Documentary History, 2 vol. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2004.
Call Number: 947.084 S7298 (Level 2)
Browder, Robert Paul. The Russian Provisional Government, 1917: Documents. 3 vol. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961.
Call Number: 947.084 B877r (Level 2)
Bunyan, James. The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917-1918: Documents and Materials. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1934.
Call Number: 947.084 B942b (Level 2)
Bunyan, James. Intervention, Civil War, and Communism in Russia, April-December 1918: Documents and Materials. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1936.
Call Number: 947.084 B942i (Level 2)
Clark, Katerina and Evgeny Dobrenko, eds., Soviet Culture and Power: A History in Documents, 1917-1953. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
Call Number: 947.0842 C5938S (Level 2)
Dallin, Alexander and F. I. Firsov, eds., Dimitrov and Stalin, 1934-1943: Letters from the Soviet Archives. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
Call Number: 947.0842 D5826 (Level 2)
Daly, Jonathan and Leonid Trofimov. Russia in War and Revolution, 1914-1922: A Documentary History. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2009.
Call Number: 947.0841 R9692r (Level 2)
Degras, Jane T., ed., Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy, 3 vols. (London: Oxford University Press, 1951-53)
Call Number: 327.47 D321s (Level 2)
Germany and the Revolution in Russia, 1915-1918: Documents from the Archives of the German Foreign Ministry. London: Oxford University Press, 1958.
Call Number: 947.084 G373g (Level 2)
Golder, Frank Alfred. Documents of Russian History, 1914-1917. NY: Century Co., 1927.
Call Number: 947.084 G618d.Ea (Level 2)
Haup, Georges and Jean-Jacques Marie. Makers of the Russian Revolution: Biographies of Bolshevik Leaders. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974.
Call Number: 947.084 H374b.Ef (Level 2)
Koenker, Diane P. and Ronald D. Bachman, eds. Revelations from the Russian Archives: Documents in English Translation. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1997.
Call Number: LC 1.2:R 32/2 (Level 1)
Lenin, V. I. Collected Works. 45 vol. Moscow: Progress, 1960-70.
Call Number: 947.084 L566.E 1960 (Level 2)
Lewytzkyj, Borys. The Stalinist Terror in the Thirties: Documentation from the Soviet Press. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1974.
Call Number: 947.084 L678s (Level 2)
Lih, Lars T., et al., Stalin’s Letters to Molotov, 1925-1936. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
Call Number: 947.0842 S782Z (Level 2)
McCauley, Martin, ed. The Russian Revolution and the Soviet State, 1917-1921: Documents. NY: Barnes & Noble, 1975.
Call Number: 947.0841 R969 (Level 2)
Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics. Conversations with Felix Chuev. Chicago: I. R. Dee, 1993.
Call Number: 947.084 M728Zc.E (Level 2)
Hanna G., and L. Lempert, trans. Petrograd, October 1917: Reminiscences. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1957.
Call Number: 947.084 M152p.Eh (Level 2)
Pipes, Richard, ed. The Unknown Lenin: From the Secret Archive. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.
Call Number: 947.084 L566Z5 (Level 2)
Rosenberg, William G. Bolshevik Visions: First Phase of the Cultural Revolution in Soviet Russia. 2 vols. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1990.
Call Number: 306.3450947 B693 1990 (Level 2)
Russian-American Relations, March 1917 – March 1920: Documents and Papers. C. K. Cumming and Walter W. Pettit, eds. NY: Harcourt, Brace, and Howe, 1920.
Call Number: 947.084 F714r (Level 2)
Siegelbaum, Lewis and Andrei Sokolov, eds. Stalinism as a Way of Life: A Narrative in Documents. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
Call Number: 947.084 S7825 (Level 2) and Electronic Book
Stalin, Joseph. Selected Works. Davis, CA: Cardinal Publishers, 1971.
Call Number: 947.084 S782ab 1971 (Level 2)
Steinberg, Mark D., ed. Voices of Revolution: 1917. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Call Number: 947.0841 S8198v (Level 2)
United States. Department of State. Foreign Relations of the United States. 450+ volumes.
Call Number: S 1.1 (Level 1)
Wade, Rex A., ed. Documents of Soviet History, 8 vols. (Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International Press, 1991-2008)
Call Number: 947.084 D6378 (Level 2)
These collections, spanning the from the Rus period through the Soviet era, often provide excerpts of English-translated primary documents and can serve as a great starting point.
Call Number: 947 R9692 (Level 2)
Call Number: 305.40947 R9695 (Level 2)
Call Number: 947 R374 (Level 2)
Levi, Scott, C and Ron Sela. Islamic Central Asia: an Anthology of Historical Sources. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.
Call Number: 958 I824 (Level 2)
Riha, Thomas. Readings in Russian Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.
Call Number: 947 R572r (Level 2) This is a three-volume work. Also available as an electronic resource.
Call Number: 947 S724 (Level 2)
Call Number: 947 W228r 1963 (Level 2)
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