History Microforms

Through the research reports contained in this collection, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency examines major developments in domestic politics, foreign relations and economic matters in the Soviet Union.

Items are arranged on the microfilm in chronological order.

The reel and subject indexes must be used for access to this collection.

The reports in this collection were prepared for the use of the Presidents of the United States and their advisers.

Primarily in Russian, some in English, German and Hebrew.

John N. Hazard is an American who, under the sponsorship of the Institute of Current World Affairs, studied law in Moscow during the 1930's. This collection consists of his letters back to the institute and, also, his course notes.

This material is organized in two parts. First, on 4 microfiche, there is a section of typed letters, arranged in chronological order. The bulk of the collection, 36 microfiche containing course notes and seminar notes, then follows. The course notes and seminar notes, written in long hand, are arranged in order by course.

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1934, John Newbold Hazard spent the years from 1934 through 1937 in the U.S.S.R. studying the Soviet legal system as it was then taught in Soviet Law schools. He again returned to the U.S.S.R. in 1939 for an extended visit.

This collection consists of 200 or so pages of typed letters, which discuss his experiences, to his sponsors at the Institute of Current World Affairs in New York. Also, it contains, somewhere around 2,500 handwritten pages of course notes which review his day to day studies in Soviet Law at the Moscow Juridical Institute.

There is a printed guide to this collection, a small eight page pamphlet. It gives the user a little background material, includes a microfiche contents list and includes no indexing whatsoever. The contents list on page 1 of this guide lists the particular fiche which correspond to particular sets of course notes.

The Menshevik Collection reproduces runs of serials and newspapers, as well as rare pamplets and books, covering the Russian Menshevik movement fromthe late nineteenth century through the 1920's.

The Reel Index provides acces to the serial and monographic publications which comprise the collection. It has no specific chronological or alphabetical arrangement. It is in Russian.

The collection contains a variety of statistical data concerning agarian development and the peasantry of Russia during the period from 1860 to 1917.

The microfiche files are arranged according to accession numbers which are indicated in the abovementioned catalog following title entries.

The catalog is arranged in alphabetical order according to province, and within each province in alphabetical order by title of each work.

The collection is a Russian language publication. It should be of interest to historians of Russia, economists and others concerned with agrarian economy.

The largest and most prestigious Soviet film studio during the World War II era was Mosfilm in Moscow. Many of the landmarks of Russian cinema were produced by Mosfilm. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, scripts and shooting scripts.

This collection contains the texts of legislative enactments of the Russian government. It provides a source for the study of the legal, political, economic, administrative and cultural development of Russia from 1649 through 1916.

The collection has been filmed in the following sequences:

• Series 1 (Years 1649-1825): 45 Volumes
  • The indexes appear on microfiche sheets one through six (box one) and on sheets 1373 through 1443 (boxes 33-35). Supplementary materials are on sheets 1444-1569 (boxes 36-39). Each volume contains an annual subject index.
• Series 2 (Years 1825-1881): 55 Volumes
  • The indexes are on sheets 1570-1574 (box 40) and sheets 5387-5481 (boxes 130-132). Indexes, tables, forms and illustrations follows each volume in this series.
• Series 3 (Years 1881-1913): 33 Volumes
  • Each volume is followed by indexes, tables, forms and illustrations.

This collection reproduces the official papers of United States Ambassador to Russia David Rowland Francis. It covers a time period from the beginning of 1916 to the end of 1918.

Items are chronologically ordered.

David Rowland Francis (1850-1927) is not a household name and, for most of his career, there is reasonable justification for the obscurity he presently enjoys. However, he was the United States ambassasor to Russia starting just before the Russian Revolution. He remained as U.S. ambassador through the time of the Bolshevik coup and the early stages of the Russian Civil War. In this capacity he was a witness to and a participant in some of the most important historical events of this century. It is this period of his life that is covered by this microfilm collection.

The papers of David Francis consist of fifty six boxes of material held by the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis. This microfilm collection is a selection of materials from boxes 19 through 35 of the Francis Papers and cover his tenure as ambassador to Russia. Included here are official and semi-official correspondence, speech transcripts, press accounts and other materials relevant to Russian affairs. Strictly personal correspondence, personal financial records, incoming correspondence which says nothing about Russian affairs, and other material in this vein has been excluded. Thus, this is not meant to be a biographical collection on the life of David Francis. Its focus is on Russia.

The index to this collection is in two parts. Part one is a reel index. In this section the general contents of each reel of microfilm are listed in chronological order. For example, for September 16-19, 1916, it is noted that there are 35 pages of material described as "Embassy Correspondence; Consular Activities." It is further noted that this material begins on frame 0420 of reel 2. Each frame on each reel of the microfilm in this collection is numbered in white letters in a black border which runs along the top edge of the reel.

Part 2 of the index is a subject index. Broad subject headings are listed and the reader is referred to reel and frame numbers relating to them. Thus, for example, it is noted that there is something concerning the revolutionary propagandist Karl Radek in the section which begins on frame 0376 of reel number 8. What that something might be is not mentioned in the index.

It should also be noted that after returning to the United States, Ambassador Francis wrote a book about his experiences in Russia called, Russia From the American Embassy, April, 1916-November, 1918 (MCK & HBK DK265.F64). While there is no direct connection between the book and this collection, Russia From the American Embassy may be useful in putting some of the material in the Russia in Transition microfilm collection in context.

This collection is a reproduction of a biographical clipping archive maintained by Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty. It covers Soviet figures for the thirty year period between 1954 and the beginning of 1986.

The Soviet Biographic Archive is in alphabetical order by the last name of the individual profiled.

The Soviet Biographical Archive is a biographical resource containing information, culled mostly from the Soviet press, on some 50,000 individuals who were prominent in the Soviet Union between 1954 and early 1986.

Most of this collection consists of press clippings and wire service reports, together with a small amount of material from such miscellaneous sources as Soviet biographical handbooks and English, German, and French publications. About five percent of the materials included here are abstracts compiled by Radio Liberty staffers.

The materials which make up the Soviet Biographic Archive are written almost entirely in Russian, using cyrillic script.

This collection contains reports which were written for the information of U.S. and Allied leaders. It covers both Soviet internal politics and international relations, as well as Soviet involvement in World War II. The postwar monographs address the efficiency of the Soviet government, purges of intellectuals and dissidents, increases in military and industrial capabilities, and Soviet political aims in other countries.

Reports are arranged in chronological order. The reel guides must be used for access to material.

The reel guides contain subject indexes.

See also O.S.S./State Department intelligence and research reports for the following areas: Germany and Its Occupied Territories during World War II, The Middle East, Post-war Europe,and China and India.

This collection includes operational reports, research and development studies, intelligence estimates, contingency combat plans and policy studies of friends and foes for the period from 1942 through 1953.

Items are aranged by document number in distinct sequences for each reel. They are not necessarily in chronological order.

The guides contain both reel and subject indexes which must be used for access to this collection.

Among the topics addressed in this collection are biological and chemical warfare, guerilla warfare, the Persion Gulf area, the Communist threat to U.S. security, Russian combat estimates and the Soviet political system.

This collection contains research reports about the Soviet Union prepared by scholars affiliated with universities, private firms and governmental agencies, including the armed services. Topics include foreign policy, internal affairs, arms control, international relations, trade, technology, military operations and strategy, national security and so on.

Documents are arranged in rough chronological order on the microfilm.

The guides must be used for access to this collection. Subject indexes appear at the end of each guide.

Reproduces 129 stenciled posters from the TASS (Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union) Windows series and 37 printed posters of the period from June 1943 to May 1945. In English, with original text of posters in Russian.