Princeton University Library

Representative: Thomas Keenan

Princeton University Library has one of North America’s largest research collections for the study of Eastern Europe and the territories of the Former Soviet Union. Locally, PUL aims to maintain collections capable of supporting the highest-level humanities and social science research projects focused on the Russian nation throughout all its geopolitical and cultural expressions. Development of these components of the collections is guided by the notion that they should be sufficient to support the highest-level research possible (without travel to the region) in all aspects of the history; artistic, intellectual and social culture; sociology; politics; anthropology; ethnology; archaeology and economics of Russia and the Soviet Union. In the most general of terms this means researchers at Princeton should be able to expect easy access to the full range of research-valuable primary and secondary-source publications from and about Russia and the Soviet Union with minimal recourse to the collections of Princeton’s peer institutions. The same ideal of providing the highest-level research environments outside the region of focus is pursued for the rest of EE and the FSU via a cooperative collection development arrangement with Princeton’s partner institutions in the ReCAP (Research Collections and Preservation) Consortium. Research materials are collected across all genres and formats and in a broad range of print and digital media.

Princeton’s legacy special collections include a substantial collection of manuscripts and typescripts produced by Osip and Nadezhda Mandelshtam, annotated books from the private library of Vladimir Nabokov, and a voluminous collection of East European, Russian and Soviet children’s books contained in the Cotsen Children’s Library. Princeton’s special collections related to EE and the FSU have expanded considerably in recent years and continue to be developed actively. The foci pursued most intensively are Russian and Soviet illustrated periodicals (primarily late 19th – early 20th century); illustrated literature for children (all periods, Slavic countries primarily); Russian literature; Visual art, graphic arts and visual culture (primarily 19th and 20th century); Russian and Soviet performing arts and visual culture (primarily 19th and 20th century); Russian and Soviet cultural and intellectual history, including history of science and pseudoscience; Russian social and political history.

PUL has several ongoing efforts to digitize components of its special collections related to EE and the FSU. For the most part all these digital collections are openly available in the “Princeton Slavic Collections” section of Digital PUL.