Penn Libraries now has a large collection of digital Slavic resources from East View Information Services, including universal databases, digital archives, census publications, Chernobyl documents, and a film studies package.
Everything is accessible on the East View Platform, where you can search multiple resources simultaneously.
Digital Archives provide access to older issues of journals and newspapers, while the Universal Databases are platforms containing current subscriptions to about 300 Russian periodicals.
Coverage ranges from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Topics include art, literature, culture, gender studies, history, politics, and the military.
Regions covered include non-Russian perspectives, with digital archives from Ukraine, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia.
English-language publications from the region include Soviet Woman, Far Eastern Affairs, Muslims of the Soviet East, International Affairs, and Military Thought.
Pravda & Izvestiia
Pravda. Правда (Truth). The most important newspaper of the Soviet era. It originated as an underground daily workers' newspaper in 1912. It then became the official publication of the Soviet Communist Party. Current subscription (including older issues from 2003 to present) and Digital Archive of older issues (starting in 1912).
Izvestiia. Известия (News). One of the longest-running and most important Soviet newspapers, continuing into the post-Soviet era. Current Subscription and Digital Archive (starting 1917).
LEF. ЛЕФ. 1923–28. Iconic avant-garde Soviet journal, published by the revolutionary group, “Left Front of the Arts.” Includes articles on photography, film, theater, architecture, and design. Innovative illustrations and covers, many designed by Alexander Rodchenko.
Nash sovremennik. Наш современник. 1933–2022. Popular Soviet literary periodical, associated with “village” or “provincial prose.” In the post-Soviet era, a vehicle for Russian conservatives.
Sovetskaia kul’tura. Советская культура. 1929–2022. Major publication on culture, with reviews of major events in literature, theater, cinematography, and art.
Sovetskoe Zdravookhranenie. Советское здравоохранение (Soviet Healthcare). 1942–92. Leading Soviet public health journal, covering social hygiene, health policy, and health education.
Trud. Труд. 1921-2021. Official organ of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.
Voennaia mysl’. Военная мысль. 1918–2022. Regarded as the most authoritative military-theoretical journal in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia.
Voprosy istorii. Вопросы история. 1926–2022. Russian Academy of Sciences. The oldest Soviet and Russian academic history journal.
Pre-Revolutionary Periodicals
Imperial Russian Newspapers. A collection of a few dozen digitized Russian newspapers, spanning the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. Part of the Global Press Archive.
Niva. 1870–1918. Illustrated journal of literature, politics and modern life; the most popular magazine of late nineteenth-century Russia.
Ogonek (St. Petersburg). 1899–1918. Although this magazine has the same name as the popular Soviet era weekly magazine Ogonek, it is an entirely different entity. This popular pre-revolutionary political, literary, and cultural illustrated magazine published photography, short stories, serialized novels, and articles on popular culture.
Russkii arkhiv. 1863–1917. This well-known pre-revolutionary monthly journal offered a comprehensive picture of Russian cultural and political history during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It published memoirs, letters, and documentary materials highlighting literary culture and the life of the Russian nobility.
Starye gody. 1907–16. Pre-revolutionary journal of art and antiquities, noted for its high-quality illustrations and design. In addition to articles on art history and architecture, it included information on auctions and private art sales.
Vestnik Evropy. Вестник Европы. 1802–1830. One of the first literary and political journals in Russia, edited by Karamzin (distinct from the famous late-nineteenth journal of the same name which started in 1866).
Current Subscriptions to Journals & Newspapers (Universal Databases)
Russian Central Newspapers (UDB-COM). Provides current subscriptions to dozens of major newspapers, including Argumenty i fakty, Gorbi, Izvestiia, Kommersant, Literaturnaia gazeta, Novaia Gazeta (opposition newspaper in Riga), and Pravda. It also includes several titles that have ceased publication.
Russian Institute of Social Sciences Publications (UDB-INION). Publications from the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (INION). Includes social science journals, bibliographic indexes, and review journals.
Russian and NIS Statistical Publications (UDB-STAT-RUS). Current subscriptions to over 100 statistical periodicals, mostly in Russian but some in English, on topics such as: demographics, trade, economics, population, environment, industry, agriculture.
Ukrainian Periodicals (UDB-UKR). Current subscriptions to about 40 journals (in Ukrainian, Russian, and English), with backlists going back 10-20 years in most cases. Includes several periodicals from 2000s that have ceased publication.
Far Eastern Affairs: Current subscription and Digital Archive (1974-2023). English translation of Проблемы Дальнего Востока. Journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for China and Contemporary Asia.
International Affairs (1955-2022). English translation of Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn’, published by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Military Thought (1990-2022). English translation of the Russian Defense Ministry journal.
Moscow Defense Brief. 2004–2022. In English. Published by a Moscow-based, non-government think tank, the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST). Provides insight into the inner workings of Russia’s military and defense industry.
Social Sciences (1970-2022). English translation of articles selected from various institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Soviet Woman. 1945–91. In English. Illustrated women’s magazine that aimed to introduce Western audiences to the lifestyle of Soviet women. Covered economics, politics, social problems, life in the Soviet republics, fashion, culture, and the arts. It also included translations of Soviet literary works into English.
Periodicals from Ukraine & the Baltics
Estoniia. 1991-2004. Russian-language newspaper published in Tallinn.
Demokratychna Ukraina. 1992–2020. In Ukrainian. One of the most important print media in the newly independent Ukraine of the 1990s.
Holos Ukrainy. 1991–2022. In Ukrainian. One of the most important Ukrainian periodicals; official organ of the Ukrainian government. Covers parliamentary debates, legislative initiatives, policy deliberations.
Pravda Ukrainy. 1938–2014. In Russian. In Soviet era, official organ of the Communist Party of Ukraine. In the 1990s, embraced independent journalism and democratic principles. Originally called Sovetskaia Ukraina.
Ukrainian Periodicals (UDB-UKR). Current subscriptions to about 40 journals (in Ukrainian, Russian, and English), with backlists going back 10-20 years in most cases. Includes several periodicals from 2000s that have ceased publication.
Crimean Publications (UDB-CRIM). Current subscriptions to 5 newspapers from Crimea.
Chernobyl Documents
Chernobyl Collection: Newspapers. 1979–90. Includes three previously unavailable local newspapers published in towns in the exclusion zone and its immediate vicinity.
Chernobyl Collection: Documents and Maps. 1971–91. Maps and investigations by Soviet government agencies, including internal reports, correspondence between KGB officials, and documents relating to the lesser known 1982 partial meltdown of reactor Block no. 1.
Central Asia & the Caucasus
Kavkaz. 1856–1918. Published in Tbilisi, Georgia. In Russian. This nineteenth-century journal from the Caucasus published historical, cultural and archaeological writings by the local intelligentsia, as well as official documents of the Russian Empire.
Muslims of the Soviet East. 1974–90. In English. Published in Uzbekistan, by the Muslim Religious Board for Central Asia and Kazakhstan. It includes Islamic sermons by Central Asian clerics, discussions of regional Islamic history, and articles on the role of Soviet Muslims in the cultural and political life of the USSR.
Slovo Kyrgyzstana (1925-2022). Russian-language newspaper, official organ of the Central Committee of the Kirghiz SSR throughout the Soviet era; published independently since 1991.
Film Studies Collection
Ekran i stsena. Экран и сцена. 2017–23. Includes articles on the history of Soviet and contemporary film, as well as critical reviews of plays, movies, and cultural events across the country.
Iskusstvo kino. Искусство кино. Current Subscription and Digital Archive of older issues (1931–2022). One of Russia’s premier film journals, founded in 1931 as Proletarskoe kino. Includes both reviews of contemporary film and articles on the history of Russian and world cinema.
Kino-Fot. Кино-Фот. 1922–23. Avant-garde film journal of the Constructivist group led by Gan, Rodchenko, and Stepanova. Includes photomontage, avant-garde typography, Constructivist advertisements, abstract compositions by Rodchenko, and articles by Dziga Vertov.
Kino-zhurnal A.R.K. Кино журнал А.Р.К. (Magazine of the Association of Revolutionary Cinematography). 1925–26. Rare Soviet film magazine with constructivist covers by Petr Galadzhiev; only 11 issues were published. Contributors included Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Malevich.
Seans. Сеанс. 1990–2022. One of the most influential film magazines of the post-Soviet era.
Early Soviet Cinema E-book Collection. 1928–48. Over one hundred E-books on film from 1920s-40s. Works by film theorists such as Kuleshov, Balash, Garms, Lemberg, and Zarkhi.
