Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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Newspaper collections,
Russian Federation
Inscribed 1997
What is it
A newspaper collection from four of the most important
periods in Russian history, from the start of the
18th century to 1945.
Why was it inscribed
This collection provides documentary sources for
studies of the history of the Russian State and its
worldwide influence.
Where is it
Russian State Library, Moscow, Russia
The newspaper is one of the prime documentary sources
that narrates both the development and making of the
Russian State. This collection contains newspapers
from four crucial periods in Russian history. The first
two periods mark the transition from feudalism to the
young, just-nascent capitalism. This is shown, firstly, in
newspapers dating from the reforms of Peter I (Peter the
Great), who ruled from 1682 to 1725 and who turned the
country towards the West, and secondly in the collection
of district and provincial newspapers (including literary
gazettes) published from the 1820s to the 1860s, the period
of the Enlightenment which concluded with the abolition
of serfdom in 1861. The third part of the collection contains
newspapers from Russia’s revolutionary period, starting
with the unsuccessful revolution of 1905 and concluding
with the October 1917 Revolution. The fourth part of the
collection covers the period of the Great Patriotic War
(1941–45), when Russia, at huge cost, resisted the attacks
264 Newspaper collections, Russian Federation
of Nazi Germany. The newspapers from the 20th century
are like chronicles recounting the history of the state
which has immensely influenced both the country and
the whole world.
The collection was selected based on more than 50 years
of research work of specialists of the Russian State Library
whose assessment took into consideration international
resonance and users’ interests.
Since its foundation in 1862, the Russian State Library
has had a policy of free access to national documentary
heritage (the newspapers) for every citizen of the country
and for visitors. While still holding the formal right
of access to the collection, a large part of the population
has been unable to enjoy them because the newspapers
cannot leave Moscow due to their brittleness. The state
of the newspapers from the second half of the 19th century
(1860–99), from 1917 to 1926, and from the war years of
1943–45 is extremely fragile and they are undergoing
complicated restoration and conservation processes.
All are now listed on the Russian State Library Digital
Catalogue. The complete newspaper collection of the
library now contains over 671,000 items.
This collection includes papers from the Russian revolutionary
period from 1905 to 1917, a time that included the launch of Pravda,
the paper of the Bolsheviks. This is the front page of the first issue,
published on 22 April 1912 in St Petersburg. �
Printed images from the collection that date back to the
reforms of Peter the Great at the start of the 18th century. �