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Guide to the Archives of the Soviet communist party and Soviet state microfilm collection: State Archives of the Russian Federation
(Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv Rossiĭskoĭ Federatsii - GARF) 1903-1992
XX843
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Table of contents
Title: Archives of the Soviet Communist Party and Soviet State Microfilm Collection: State Archives of the Russian Federation (Gosudarstvennyĭ
arkhiv Rossiĭskoĭ Federatsii - GARF)
Date (inclusive): 1903-1990
Collection number: XX843
Extent: 11,676 microfilm reels
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Relates to political conditions in the Soviet Union from 1903 to 1992.
Physical location: Hoover Institution Archives
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
Russian
Collection open for research.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Archives of the Soviet Communist Party and Soviet State Microfilm Collection, [Reel no.], Hoover
Institution
Archives.
Location of Original Materials
The original documents are located in three Russian archives:
- -Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (Rossiĭskiĭ Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv noveishei istorii - RGANI);
- -Russian State Archives of Social and Political History (Rossiĭskiĭ Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv sotsialno-politicheskoĭ istorii - RGASPI);
- and
- -State Archives of the Russian Federation (Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv Rossiĭskoĭ Federatsii - GARF).
Portions or the entirety of the microfilm collection may be found at the following institutions in addition to the Hoover
Institution: The Library of Congress, Grinnell College, Harvard University, John Hopkins University, University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, Ohio University, University of Washington, University of Melbourne Australia, Glasgow University United Kingdom,
Bavarian State University, Germany, and Hokkaido University, Japan.
The microfilms containing only the Russian language
opisi or finding aids may be found at the following institutions: University of Illinois, Indiana University, Columbia University,
and New York University.
The collection is organized by the name of the Russian archive that holds the original materials. There are three finding
aids for the collection, one for each one of the Russian Archives:
- -Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (Rossiĭskiĭ Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv noveishei istorii - RGANI);
- -Russian State Archives of Social and Political History (Rossiĭskiĭ Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv sotsialno-politicheskoĭ istorii - RGASPI);
- and
- -State Archives of the Russian Federation (Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv Rossiĭskoĭ Federatsii - GARF).
Within Russian institutional archive, the materials are organized into two groups: (1)
fondy (record groups consisting of documents); and (2) finding aids that describe each
fondy.
Fondy are usually subdivided into
opisi (series of documents); the number of
opisi in
fondy) varies.
Scope and Content of the Microfilm Collection
This collection concerns political conditions in Russia and the Soviet Union from 1903 to 1992. The documents come from three
Russian archives. Material was selected for microfilming based on two criteria: (1) records of the highest policy-making units
of the Communist Party were the priority; and (2) record series were filmed in their entirety, rather than selecting only
particular files or documents (except for some of the Gulag material in GARF).
To locate material in the collection, it helps to know that archival documents in the former Soviet Union, and later in the
Russian Federation, are arranged in record groups according to the institution that issued or received them. These major groups,
which sometimes include thousands of documents, are called in Russian
fond (plural
fondy). Within each fond the documents are generally divided into smaller groups called
opisi (singular
opis).
Opisi are generally organized according to the internal structure of the corresponding institution, but sometimes
opisi consist of documents relating to one subject. The Russian word
opis has two meanings: (1) a series of documents; and (2) a finding aid. Each
opis "series of documents" is provided with a descriptive
opis "finding aid." Each
opis "series of documents" is further organized into files called
dela (singular delo) that contain the documents.
Out of a total of 11,818 microfilm reels, 11,349 reels contain documents and 469 contain finding aids to the
fondy available at the Hoover Institution, as well as to some
fondy available only in Russia. Each reel of microfilm contains approximately 850 pages, or frames.
The microfilm reel numbers consist of two parts separated by a period, for example 3.427. The first numerical segment is a
1, 2, or 3, identifying the Russian archive source; 1 is RGANI, 2 is RGASPI, and 3 is GARF. The second segment, which is sequentially
numbered starting with 1, represents a specific microfilm reel number for that Russian archive.
Scope and Content of the GARF Records
Materials described in this document are from the State Archives of the Russian Federation (Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv Rossiĭskoĭ
Federatsii - GARF).
Soviet Union--History.
Soviet Union--Politics and government.
Communism--Soviet Union.
Communism.
Soviet Union.
Russia (Federation)
Kommunisticheskaia partiia Sovetskogo Soiuza.
Soviet Union.
- This glossary defines acronyms and names for all three organizations of the microfilming project: the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (Rossiĭskiĭ Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv noveishei istorii - RGANI), the Russian State Archives of Social and Political History (Rossiĭskiĭ Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv sotsialno-politicheskoĭ istorii - RGASPI), and the State Archives of the Russian Federation (Gosudarstvennyĭ arkhiv Rossiĭskoĭ Federatsii - GARF).
- ASSR
- Avtonomnaia Sovetskaia sotsialisticheskaia respublika (Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic)
- BUND
- The General Jewish Workers' Union in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia
- Gospolitizdat
- Gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo politichesko literatury (State Publishing House for Political Literature)
- GUITK
- Glavnoe upravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh koloniĭ (Main Administration of Correctional Labor Colonies)
- Gulag
- Glavnoe upravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh lagerei (Main Administration of Correctional Labor Camps and Colonies)
- GUMZ
- Glavnoe upravlenie mest zakliucheniia (Main Administration of Places of Confinement)
- IKKI
- Ispolnitelnyĭ komitet Kommunisticheskogo Internatsionala (Executive Committee of the Communist International)
- IMEL
- Institut Marksa-Engelsa-Lenina (Marx-Engels- Lenin Institute)
- Komsomol
- Kommunisticheskiĭ soiuz molodezhi (see VLKSM)
- KPSS
- Kommunisticheskaia partiia Sovetskogo Soiuza (Communist Party of the Soviet Union)
- Krymizdat
- Krymskoe izdatelstvo (Crimean Publishing House)
- Lenizdat
- Leningradskoe izdatelstvo (Leningrad Publishing House)
- Malyĭ Sovnarkom
- Malyĭ sovet narodnykh komissarov (Small Council of People's Commissars)
- MOPR
- Mezhdunarodnaia organizatsiia pomoshchi bortsam revoliutsii (International Organization for Assistance to the Fighters for Revolution)
- MVD
- Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del (Ministry of Internal Affairs)
- NKGB
- Narodnyĭ Commissariat gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti (People's Commissars of State Security)
- NKID
- Narodnyĭ kommisariat inostrannykh del (People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs)
- NKPS
- Narodnyĭ kommisariat putei soobshcheniia (People's Commissariat of Transportation)
- NKVD
- Narodnyĭ kommisariat vnutrennikh del (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs)
- OGIZ
- Obiedinennoe gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo (Joint State Publishing House)
- OGPU
- Obiedinennoe gosudarstvennoe politicheskoe upravlenie (Unified State Political Administration)
- okruzhkom
- Okruzhnoĭ komitet [partii] (Party committee of an okrug)
- Politizdat
- Izdatel'stvo politicheskoĭ literatury (Publishing House for Political Literature)
- Profintern
- Krasnyĭ internatsional profsoiuzov (Red International of Trade Unions)
- PUR RVS
- Politicheskoe upravlenie revoliutsionno- voennogo soveta (Political Administration of the Revolutionary-Military Council)
- RKI
- Raboche-krestianskaia inspektsiia (Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate)
- RKP(b)
- Rossiĭskaia kommunisticheskaia partiia (Bolshevikov) (Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
- ROSTA
- Rossiĭskoe telegrafnoe agenstvo (Russian Telegraph Agency)
- RSDRP
- Rossiĭskaia Sotsial-Demokraticheskaia Rabochaia Partiia Partiia (Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party)
- RSFSR
- Rossiĭskaia Sovetskaia Federativnaia Sotsialisticheskaia Respublika (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic)
- RVSR
- Revoliutsionno-voennyĭ sovet respubliki (Revolutionary-Military Council of the Republic)
- SNK or Sovnarkom
- Sovet narodnykh kommisarov (Council of People's Sovnarkom Commissars)
- SSR
- Sovetskaia sotsialisticheskaia respublica (Soviet Socialist Republic; union republic)
- STO
- Sovet truda i oborony (Council for Labor and Defense)
- Tsentrosoiuz
- Tsentralnyĭ soiuz kooperativnykh obshchestv (Central Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies)
- TsIK
- Tsentral'nyĭ ispolnitel'nyĭ komitet (Central Executive Committee)
- TsK
- Tsentralnyĭ Komitet (Central Committee)
- TsKK
- Tsentralnaia kontrolnaia komissiia (Central Control Commission)
- TSU
- Tsentralnoe statisticheskoe upravlenie (Central Statistics Administration)
- VChK
- Vserossiĭskaia chrezvychainaia komissiia (All- Russian Extraordinary Commission)
- VKP(b)
- Vsesoiuznaia kommunisticheskaia partiia (Bolshevikov) (All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
- VLKSM
- Vsesoiuznyĭ Leninskiĭ Kommunisticheskiĭ Soiuz molodezhi (All-Union Young Communists League)
- VSNKh
- Vysshiĭ Sovet Narodnogo Khoziaistva (Higher Council for Economy)
- VTsIK
- Vserossiĭskiĭ tsentral'nyĭ ispolnitel'nyĭ komitet (All-Russian Central Executive Committee)
- VUChK
- Vseukrainskaia chrezvychainaia komissiia (All- Ukrainian Extraordinary Commission)
- USSR
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics