Posted on behalf of Angelina Gibson, Slavonic, East European and Eurasian Subject Consultant (History, Social Sciences and Geography), Bodleian Libraries,

“Users on Oxford University PCs have trial access to Stalin Digital Archive.

In cooperation with the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, Yale University Press is digitizing 28,000 recently declassified documents in Fond 558 – including correspondence, memoranda, maps, Stalin’s personal books annotated in his own hand, and other rare materials from 1889 to 1952 – that comprise Stalin’s personal archive, bringing to the Web over 380,000 pages of primary source documents previously available only by special permission at the State Archive in Moscow.

Users can search and browse the resources and ‘About SDA’ sections without logging in, but to access the Document Viewer and ‘My SDA’ areas, individual users first need to create a personal ‘MySDA’ account on the site. You will automatically receive confirmation email with a password and a link for a one-time log-in to change the assigned password to your own via the ‘Manage Profile’ page. The username is the same as the email address entered at ‘My SDA.’

The Stalin Digital Archive (SDA), the result of a partnership between the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGASPI) and Yale University Press (YUP), provides web-based access to rare primary and secondary research, previously only available in hard copy in the RGASPI archive:

• Opis 1: Documents written by Stalin from 1889-1952
• Opis 2: Documents written by Stalin from 1911-1944
• Opis 3: Over 300 books from Stalin’s personal library with his marginal notes
• Opis 4: Stalin’s biographical materials
• Opis 11: Stalin’s correspondence on 188 maps from 1917-1952 with his hand-written markings

The complete wartime correspondence between Stalin and President Franklin Roosevelt is included this archive, as are Stalin’s letters to and from intellectuals in America, England, France, Germany and Italy. The digital versions of Yale’s acclaimed Annals of Communism series are also included in the collection.

The SDA has a unique interface with intuitive tools for researchers to create their own accounts — to save documents, refer, and collaborate with others. “

The trial ends 7 April. Please send feedback to angelina.gibson@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.