Personal Archives Research Articles

A guide for the perplexed. Exploring the German-Jewish archives at the National Library of Israel

ABSTRACT The National Library of Israel holds more than 200 personal archives and collections of German-Jewish intellectuals from the 19 th and 20 th century. In 2021/2022, a joint project with the University of Hamburg catalogued and digitized 24 of the most important holdings. This article surveys the complex characteristics of the material and points to its significance for scholarship through three exemplary dimensions: personal entanglements, multilingualism, and migration histories. It also addresses the challenges of accessing and managing more than 700,000 digital images and shows the potentials they hold for future research. The article serves as an introduction to this special issue.

Tracing (de)colonial imaginaries through personal archiving: A decolonial methodology tool

This article stems from a research internship I undertook in São Paulo, Brazil, as part of my doctoral project. As a white Portuguese woman researching the relationship between museum narratives and racism in Portuguese society, this internship forced me to confront my own colonial/racist imaginary. This confrontation was prompted and documented by a personal archive, used as a methodological tool to decolonise both research and researcher. This article presents the process of creating this personal archive and its decolonising effects on the research so other researchers can assess the relevance of this decolonising methodology and possibly reproduce and expand on it.

Истрати, Роллан, Горький: новые факты советско-французских литературных взаимодействий 1920–1930-х гг.

The article analyzes the “Istrati case,” one of the most expressive travelers to the Land of the Soviets. The little-known and unpublished materials from the writers’ personal archives used in the study demonstrate a turning point in the evolution of the socio-political views of Rolland and Gorky. In 1928, both of them moved on from criticism of the internal policies of the Soviet leadership to cooperation with the Stalinist regime. Rolland dissociates himself from the writers of the Russian emigration and sends congratulations to the Soviet people on the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution; Gorky travels to the USSR after a seven-year absence. A kind of trigger in these conditions was the story of the Romanian writer P. Istrati, who came to the USSR to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution and was determined to stay in the country of the “red fighters” forever, as evidenced by his letter to Gorky. However, after staying in the USSR for more than a year and plunging into the everyday life of Soviet people, shaken by social and personal dramas caused by the arbitrariness of the authorities, against the backdrop of mass repression and the absence of any freedom, Istrati lost faith in the possibility of revolutionary transformations of society based on justice. In the history of Istrati’s interaction with his literary idols, new trends emerged that determined their social behavior: Gorky turned from the author of “Konovalov” (1897) into a “sweet panegyrist,” into a “pasha from Sorrento.” Rolland was ready to turn a blind eye to any abuses by the Soviet authorities for the sake of “defending the USSR.” The “untimely” decision to publish the book “To Another Flame” (1929) about his impressions of his stay in the USSR cost Rolland the friendship and recognition of the socialist writers from his circle.

Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Studies: An Ethical and Methodological Assessment

With the opening of Milgram’s personal archive, from the mid-1990s there has been a “second wave” of literature on the Obedience Studies. Some of this literature convincingly suggests Milgram’s research is so ethically and methodologically problematic that it does not deserve the enormous attention it receives. At the other end of the spectrum, some scholars argue there is still much to be learnt from these experiments. With such divergent (contradictory?) views, what is one to believe? After reviewing this literature, this article addresses two questions: are the Obedience Studies unethical and do they remain methodologically valid? This article concludes that although the Obedience Studies are, for many reasons, highly unethical, they remain methodologically valid. It also concludes that it is because of Milgram’s unethical practices that his research remains so relevant to the world beyond his laboratory walls.

Личный архив профессора Пермского государственного университета Г.А. Максимовича

The article is dedicated to the 120th anniversary of Professor G.A. Maksimovich headed the Department of Dynamic Geology and Hydrogeology at the Perm State University for 45 years. It tells about the fate of his personal archive, about newly found and previously unpublished documents, and about the digitalization of archive documents.

Circassian (Adyghe) Landscape Terminology and Toponymy in Folklore Texts and Vernacular Communication

The article explores Adyghe (Circassian) landscape terminology and folklore toponymy, areas that have received limited attention in onomastics. It presents a pioneering analysis within Adyghe linguistics and folklore research, examining the peculiarities of geographical terms and toponyms in stereotypical oral texts, including traditional folklore and everyday speech practices. The study is based on data from the folklore subcorpus of the Adyghe linguistic corpus, compiled in 2022 by Adyghe State University researchers, comprising published materials and field data collected from Adyghe (Circassian) communities in the Republic of Adygea, Krasnodar Region, and the Circassian diaspora in Turkey. Additionally, materials from folklore and ethnographic archives of the Republic of Adygea, along with information extracted from personal archives and field records, are analysed. Based on this data, the authors identify fundamental models governing the formation and usage of terms and toponyms, both within the context of folklore landscape studies and in relation to real geographical features and cultural settings. The focus is primarily on lexemes commonly encountered in historical Circassia, such as ps(y) ‘water, river,’ xy ‘sea, gully,’ ko/kue ‘ravine, river,’ bgy ‘hill, mountain, peak, ridge, steep, cliff,’ kushxe/kushhx`e` ‘mountain,’ txy` ‘elevation, ridge, crest of the mountain,’ Iuashxe/Iuashhxe ‘mound, hill,’ and xe`ku ‘region, homeland, fatherland, edge, country, state’. Through corpus research and discourse analysis methods, the study examines the representation of both real and mythical landscape objects in epic texts and speech practices. The productivity of toponyms’ usage and their semantics are established by comparing data from early lexicographic sources with new archival and field materials. The article also illustrates how, in new linguistic contexts, such as the Circassian diaspora in Central Anatolia, the unofficial local map coexists with the administrative Turkish-language map, showcasing differences in landscape terminology frequency based on the presence or absence of specific geographical features.

Why Was Lina Shtern Not Executed? An Academic's Strategy of Survival in the Late Stalinist Period

AbstractThe Soviet physiologist Lina Solomonovna Shtern (1875—1968) was the only defendant in the trial against the Jewish Antifascist Committee who was not sentenced to death; the circumstances surrounding the court’s leniency toward her have long remained unknown. Shtern was sentenced to five years in exile and even her belongings were not confiscated. Her story has become the stuff of legends and much speculation. My paper reconstructs the particular circumstances surrounding the court’s decision to give Shtern a more lenient sentence and considers how the politics of science in the late 1940s and early 1950s could have influenced this decision and helped Shtern elaborate her own strategy of survival. I argue that the main reason for sparing Shtern’s life was her essay “On Cancer” written in the prison cell in the late 1951—early 1952. My work is based on a careful analysis of documents from Shtern’s personal archive and of the context of Soviet and North American medicine.

ЗЛАМ МЕНТАЛЬНОСТІ УКРАЇНЦІВ У ХХ – НА ПОЧАТКУ ХХІ СТОЛІТЬ: ІСТОРИЧНИЙ ТА АСИМІЛЯЦІЙНИЙ КОНТЕКСТ

The evolution of the nation’s mentality is a complex interplay of historical events, societal transformations, and cultural assimilation. The 20th century brought about a series of changes that left an indelible mark on the collective psyche of its people. Navigating through the tumultuous historical landscape of the 20th and early 21st centuries becomes exceptionally important in studying the nuances of fractures in the mentality of Ukrainians. This scientific article aims to delve into the aspects of mental transformations that took place among Ukrainians during this period, shedding light on both historical and assimilation factors that contributed to the evolution and distortion of the Ukrainian worldview. The historical context encompasses a list of events, from the tumultuous first decades of the 20th century, marked by wars and revolutions, to the complex socio-political landscape of the post-Soviet era. Simultaneously, assimilation processes, whether globalization, external cultural influences, internal transformations, wars, or genocide, add impetus to the formation of the Ukrainian mentality. By carefully studying these two components, the goal is to uncover the nuances of changes, challenges, and resilience embedded in the mental profile of Ukrainians, offering a comprehensive understanding of the factors shaping their worldview. In the quest to unravel the complexities associated with the mental transformation of Ukrainians, this article seeks to provide a scientific investigation rooted in historical analysis and assimilation frameworks. Through a detailed examination of key events and cultural dynamics, it is important to contribute to a broader discourse on the evolution of national mentalities, fostering a deeper understanding of the Ukrainian experience in the 20th and early 21st centuries. In this context, it is crucial to consider individual stories and testimonies preserved in personal archives, such as the archive of O. S. Pohribniak. These sources provide an opportunity to trace significant sociocultural changes in the young generation of the 21st century.

Рецензия на книгу «“К Вам с письмом советский читатель...”: письма читателей М.А. Шолохову: 1956–1984» (отв. ред. Н.В. Корниенко. М.: ИМЛИ РАН, 2022. 1120 с.)

The second volume of the peer-reviewed edition completes the project of publishing readers’ letters to Mikhail Sholokhov. The texts prepared by the compilers represent one of the largest collections of readers’ correspondence to the writer (1,162 letters). Most of the letters are in the personal archive of Sholokhov’s family. The phenomenon of fan mail developed in Russia in the early 1870s. It became particularly widespread in the Soviet period due to a number of cultural initiatives in the early years of Soviet power. Letters to Sholokhov appear not so much as signs of his reputation, but as material for the study of the Soviet reader and his era. This is especially evident in the letters included in the second volume: they were written from 1956 until the end of the writer’s life. At this time, people wrote to Sholokhov not only the writer, but also the deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Materials from different years clarify the general cultural, political and literary context of these letters. The compilers distinguished groups of letters to Sholokhov by subject matter: letters from readers of the USSR, foreign readers, and representatives of emigration; letters from novice writers; letters to Sholokhov as a public figure; letters from participants in World War II; letters from prisoners; and requests for material assistance. The main topics include requests to send books, autographs, photographs, to tell about the fate of heroes (primarily Grigory Melekhov); appeals for help in solving private and public problems; complaints about the lack of books in libraries, bookstores and at private sellers. Chronologically and compositionally, the letters caused by Sholokhov’s speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU on the problems of literary creativity and the work of the Writers’ Union are singled out. The awarding of the Nobel Prize to Sholokhov in 1965 caused a reaction of readers. Letters with negative reviews either did not survive in the archives or were not included in the edition. In general, the letters to Sholokhov appear as a subject of general interest of the humanities in collecting, preserving, and publishing documents that reflect the perception of contemporaries of an event or phenomenon. They could become the material for history of reading in Russia. For this purpose, at the first stage, it is necessary to create digital copies of the letters, do their markup and statistical processing according to the main parameters: the letter’s author, date, address, and topic. The next stage could be the correlation of the results obtained with data on letters to other writers. A thematic index could be the first step in this direction and, at the same time, a help in using the existing edition. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

Усадьба Высокое графов Д. Н. и А. Г. Шереметевых. По документам Российского государственного исторического архива

The article presents the results of the research on the history of the Vysokoe Estate in the Smolensk province (currently located in the village of Vysokoe in the Novodugino district of the Smolensk region) based on documents from the Russian State Historical Archive, which houses the personal archive of Count Alexander Dmitrievich Sheremet’ev (1859–1931). In comparison to the well-studied Kuskovo and Ostankino estates near Moscow, as well as the famous Fountain House in St. Petersburg, the Vysokoe Estate remains a relatively understudied property of the Sheremet’evs. Thanks to archival documents it became possible to reconstruct the history of the acquisition of this Estate by the representatives of the renowned Sheremet’ev family and the creation of a unique architectural complex in Vysokoe. The majority of archival documents are introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time. From the materials of Count A. D. Sheremet’ev's archive (Russian State Historical Archive, fond 1118), who inherited Vysokoe after his mother's death and continued to develop the Estate, it is known that the property of the Sheremet’ev Counts became theirs in 1857 after the marriage of Count Dmitry Nikolaevich Sheremet’ev (1803–1871) to the Smolensk noblewoman Alexandra Grigorievna Mel’nikova (1825–1874). The latter inherited only a part of the Estate and fully bought it from her mother and sisters after the wedding. At the behest of Countess A. G. Sheremet’eva, architect N. L. Benois designed about 20 stone buildings, including the main estate house ("Palace"), the Church of the Tikhvin Mother of God, and various service buildings. The execution of the work in Vysokoe was supervised by his assistant R. K. Mueller, who later became the architect of the Countess's wooden house. The archive contains the designs of many buildings, correspondence between N. L. Benois and R. K. Mueller with the Main Office of the Sheremet’ev Counts in St. Petersburg, texts of contracts between N. L. Benois and foreign and domestic craftsmen involved in the finishing, and suppliers of interior items. The documents provide valuable information about the client's involvement in the details of the work, allowing us to assess various stages of project implementation, and indicating the Countess's special attention to the arrangement and decoration of the main estate house and the church. For example, marble slabs for the Palace" terrace were ordered from Italian sculptor A. Triscorni, and icons for the church were commissioned from the academician of painting A. G. Goravskii. A significant part of the planned work was carried out in the early 1870s, and after the death of Countess A. G. Sheremet’eva in 1874, Vysokoe was inherited by her only son, A. D. Sheremet’ev. The surviving building designs, supplemented by various administrative documents, currently represent not only scholarly but also practical interest, associated with the commencement of work on the restoration of the remarkable architectural complex of the former Sheremet’ev Estate.

Metropolitan Ioann’s (Wendland’s) daily as an example of a source of personal origin in the study of the history of the external relations of the Russian Orthodox Church

The article introduces for the first time into scientific circulation an original source of personal origin – the diary of Metropolitan of Yaroslavl and Rostov Ioann (Wendland) for 1959 from the personal archive of his spiritual daughter, journalist and writer E.L. Mezhennaya. A unique research experience is presented in studying the history of external relations of the Russian Orthodox Church with other Orthodox churches in the “Khrushchev era” in correlation with materials from other groups of published and unpublished historical sources. Personal records of Metropolitan Ioann in the status of the representative of the Moscow Patriarchate to the Patriarch of Antioch in Damascus allow us to clarify various dates and facts, events and their chronicle, and most importantly names. The article adds some touches to the portrait of an outstanding personality of our representative in the Middle East and to the personalities of other church and socio-political figures of XX century.

Indigenous Relational Methodologies and Archives

Indigenous Relational Methodologies and Archives

‘I Invoke You to Understand My Despair Due to the Disruption of the Production Plan.’ Yuri Shaporin, Elena Malinovskaya and the Bolshoi Theater in the First Half of the 1930s

The article is devoted to the history of the interactions between the important Soviet composer Yuri Shaporin with the State Academic Bolshoi Theater in the first half of the 1930s. The research is based on archival materials to a considerable degree brought into scholarly use for the first time. A special role for disclosing the theme was played by the documents of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (preserved in the personal archives of Yuri Shaporin, director of the Bolshoi Theater Elena Malinovskaya and, of course, the archive of the Bolshoi Theater) and the Russian State Archive of Social-Political History. In the early 1930s the directory of the Bolshoi Theater, which was headed by Malinovskaya, was actively looking for works pertaining to a new, “Soviet” repertoire; the necessity of the theater’s “renewal” was also constantly reminded both by the press and the country’s leadership. In these conditions serous hopes were set on the collaboration with Leningrad-based composer Yuri Shaporin, who committed himself to presenting a symphony and an opera. The latter, which was supposed to have written on the plotline of the insurrection of the Decembrists, was more crucial for the theater. Malinovskaya expected this composition to open with itself a grandiose musical cycle devoted to the history of the revolutionary movement in Russia: the two following operas which Shaporin was expected to write were supposed to be devoted to the members of the Narodnaya Volya [People’s Will] revolutionary movement and to the Marxists. However, the work on The Decembrists began to be delayed unacceptably, which was the result both of the irresponsible behavior of the composer, who worked only from time to time on the composition entrusted to him, as well as his disagreements with the writer Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy, who was working on the libretto based on his own novelette written by him earlier. As the result, prior to 1935 (the year Malinovskaya resigned and there was a change of the directory of the Bolshoi Theater) The Decembrists were not completed (this happened much later, in 1953, already in different historical conditions).

Un diplomat de tranziție. Grigore C. Moisil ambasador la Ankara (1946-1948)

"At the end of the Second World War, in search of a favorable image on international level, the Romanian Government appointed four renowned intellectuals as heads of mission in the capitals who had priority in Romania's foreign policy: Simion Stoilov in Paris, Mihai Ralea in Washington, Tudor Vianu in Belgrade, Iorgu Iordan in Moscow and Grigore C. Moisil in Ankara. In the case of all of them it was the only experience as an ambassador. In this work, Grigore C. Moisil's mandate as ambassador to the Republic of Turkey is analyzed. The analysis has three main objectives. Firstly, the goals of his mandate as ambassador are examined. Secondly, his position regarding the Romanian diplomats in Turkey that refused to accept the authority of the communist Government in Bucharest is examined. Finally, the effects of the different orientations of Romania and Turkey in the new post-war configuration and the way in which this reality influenced the position and behavior of the Romanian diplomat are explained. The article is based on unpublished archival documents, documents from Grigore C. Moisil's personal archive kept at the Romanian Academy Library and his partially published correspondence."

Elena Alexandrovna Bakhtina: an Attempt to Verify Biographical Information (On the Problem of Creating a Scientific Biography of M. M. Bakhtin)

Introduction. The creation of a scientific biography of M. M. Bakhtin (1895–1975) is an urgent task of the modern humanities. There are many “blank spots” and inaccuracies in the biographies of the thinker. One of the most noticeable gaps is the extremely scarce and contradictory biographical information about his wife, E. A. Bakhtina (nee Okolovich). The article sets the task of verifying the biographical information about her given by other researchers by comparing already known sources and introducing new ones into scientific circulation. Materials and Methods. The study is of a historical-biographical nature. Research material: unpublished documents from the personal archive of M. M. Bakhtin; printed historical sources of the XX century (“Commemorative books” and other reference publications of the Vitebsk province); oral memoirs of people who communicated with E. A. Bakhtina during the Saransk period of her life recorded by the author in the 1990s – 2000s; scientific and popular science publications of a biographical nature about M. M. Bakhtin and representatives of his Circle. Basic methods and approaches: historical-and-cultural approach, comparative historical method (including comparative and correlative analysis). Results. It was revealed that many of the widely disseminated data about E. A. Bakhtina are inaccurate or generally do not correspond to reality. The introduction of new sources into scientific circulation made it possible to correct the date (year, day, month) and place of her birth, to determine the places of her study and work in different periods, to clarify and expand information about her parents (full name, place of residence and work, position, rank, estate, property status). Discussion and Conclusion. The results obtained contribute to solving the complex problem of creating a scientific biography of M. M. Bakhtin, in particular, they make adjustments to the ideas that have developed in science about the Vitebsk, Leningrad and Kustanai periods of his life, about the sequence of some events which happened to him at that time and about cause-and-effect connections between them.

Социокультурная типология конструкта «советский человек»

The article presents the socio-cultural typology of the construct “Soviet man” based on the analysis of the value system of the Soviet period. The construct “Soviet man” is analyzed within the framework of three approaches: political, cultural-anthropological and generational. The authors identify the meaningful elements of the “Soviet man” construct: ideological, emotional and behavioral, in accordance with which the typology is carried out. An empirical study of the value system of a “Soviet person” is based on a review of the unique personal archive of a “Soviet person”, a generalization of interviews of Russians aged 60 and older living in the Kurgan region in 1960–1990 (N = 72), an analysis of the results of a mass survey (N = 715) of elderly respondents (Kurgan, Chel- yabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen region). The data obtained allow us to see that the “Soviet man” is a complex and differentiated construct of the 1960–1980s, his stability is largely due to the values thanks to which he continues to exist and influence the choice of individuals in various life situations.

Peran Personal Digital Archiving Dalam Preservasi Arsip Orkes Keroncong Surya Mataram Yogyakarta

The current state of the physical release of the Orkes Keroncong Surya Mataram tape, with limited quantity and inadequate archival practices, require an urgent digitization and management initiative. The objective of this activity is to ensure that the succeeding generations inherit a comprehensive understanding of keroncong music from the Orkes Keroncong Surya Mataram. This research seeks to comprehend the process of digitizing and managing the audio digital archive of the Orkes Keroncong Surya Mataram, employing the principles of personal digital archiving for preservation. A qualitative research with utilizing a case study approach was employed to identify the process of digitizing physical assets such as tape tapes, Orkes Keroncong Surya Mataram tapes, and managing digital archives as preservation efforts. This involved selecting a social situation, employing data collection techniques, and undertaking data analysis processes. The findings of this study reveal that there are 44 songs across four tape cassettes in optimal condition for digitization. The digitization process is executed through three stages: preparation, implementation, and archiving. Once digitized, the 44 songs are managed based on the principles of personal digital archiving. In conclusion, personal digital archiving plays a crucial role in preserving and managing information pertaining to the intra-aesthetic value of keroncong music, serving as a valuable source of knowledge and future research data. Based on the research findings, digital archivists personally extend recommendations to individuals, groups, and the general public, emphasizing the importance of proper and wise archival care. The use of technology and the internet facilitates easier implementation and access to the results of personal digital archiving efforts.

Rural Settlement Network in Territory of Contemporary Omsk Region from Last Quarter of 19th Century to Early 20th Century

The article examines the characteristics of the formation of the rural settlement network in the territory of modern Omsk region during the last quarter of the 19th century through the early 20th century. The relevance of this study is driven by societal and governmental interest in rural history, as well as by the expansion of the source base, which is related to the popularization of museum collections and personal archives. Throughout the research, the author analyzes a wide range of sources and identifies features of the territory’s settlement, lifestyle, and everyday life of peasants, as well as the nature of relationships between settlers and natives. The author concludes that natural and geographical conditions played a significant role in shaping the network of rural settlements, organizing economic life, and the daily routines of peasants. Particular attention is paid to the study of the economic life of peasants, as it was one of the defining factors in the formation of the rural settlement network of the territory. The investigation reveals that agriculture was the main occupation for peasants in the Omsk Irtysh region, despite the limited amount of arable land available. Livestock breeding was confined to its economic significance. Additional income for peasants depended on their settlement location and was determined by the natural resources of the territory. Natural and geographical conditions also dictated the external appearance of settlements.

Travelogs of Journeys to Lithuania in Early 15th–19th Century: The Problem of Egodocumentality and Typology

The article discusses the egodocumentary travel writing of trips to/inside Lithuania, which is characterised by an autobiographical first-person narration, and examines its origins, development, and dissemination. Based on the methodological paradigms of research into the cultural heritage of a manuscript and printed book, the concepts of memory archive, book communication cycle, and the social life of books, an attempt is made to draw the boundaries among the types of this writing (typology), and the intentions of the writing and publishing process are revealed. The case study is based on manuscript and published travel descriptions by both Lithuanian and foreign authors for the routes in the territory of Lithuania or on the Lithuanian border. It was found that first-person narration and an author’s ‘participation’ are present not only in manuscript travel accounts that are personal and those belonging to one’s relatives (family, clan, descendants), but also in texts that engage a wider audience and are published and distributed through various media. The attempt at a typology of travel egodocumentation revealed a gap between a genetic taxonomy based on the notion of the personal archive as a treasure trove of memory and a literary classification based on contemporary genres of travel writing. Travel accounts were created on the basis of the worldview prevailing in the society of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which formed a canon different from the European one. Noteworthy are the hitherto understudied egodocumentary marginalia, diaries in calendars that reflect the culture of travel in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

It Takes Three to Tango: How a Cuban Ballerina Interpreted for Castro and Khrushchev

This text launches a series of articles under the image-based project 'With the Aid of an Unidentified Interpreter: Putting Names to Faces on Historical Photos' dedicated to the history of high-level interpreting. Here, the quest is to identify the interpreter at the two encounters between Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro at Harlem's Hotel Theresa and at the Soviet Mission in New York on 20 and 23 September 1960 based on a photo from the personal archive of Khrushchev's assistant Vladimir Lebedev. This interpreter turned out to be Menia Martínez, a historic figure in Cuban ballet. Educated at the Vaganova School in St. Petersburg (Leningrad), she was proficient in Russian. The text looks at other professional and unprofessional interpreters who worked with the two leaders before, on, and after this trip to New York and whose work contributed to the development of Cuban-Soviet and East-West relations. The discussion draws on available visuals, memoirs, newspaper sources, and unclassified documents placing the discussion in the wider context of international relations at the time. The author is grateful to Menia Martínez, who, in a telephone conversation, has helped in clarifying some of the aspects of the matter under investigation.