Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 300-85-44

Title

Unpublished Samizdat: Subject Files

Date(s)

1963 - 1992

Description Level

Series

Extent and medium (processed)

38 Archival boxes, 4.75 linear meters

Context

Archival history

Some of the files from Series 44 originally had titles established by the Samizdat Archives (SA) staff. Others were given their titles while being processed at OSA. In the OSA database the latter titles are enclosed in square brackets. During the processing work, in those cases where Samizdat documents were not in folders but kept with other loose materials, they were separated and put into folders, which were named accordingly. If Samizdat documents were accompanied by specifically selected reference materials or other records, they were kept together and the resulting collection was treated as a file of Samizdat documents.

Content and Structure

Scope and Content (Abstract)

This series belongs to the Samizdat Archives (SA) backlog and contains files of unpublished Samizdat documents with subject titles.

In this series files relating to the interpretation of principles of human rights in the context of Soviet society (Natsional’nosti, Prava cheloveka, Religiia, Emigratsiia), confrontation between the Soviet regime and its dissident citizens (Karatel’nye organy, Mesta lisheniia svobody, Psikhiatriia i psikhiatricheskie bol’nitsy), and the activities of public groups during the Perestroika period (Gruppy) are the most numerous and the most interesting.

Accruals

Not Expected

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

Unknown

Languages

Armenian, English, Estonian, Georgian, German, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Ukrainian

Notes

Note

The chronology of Samizdat documents is a very complicated issue. Many Samizdat documents are not dated. Very often the dates of their creation and circulation are not the same, and it is hard to establish which of the two is indicated on the document. Finally, the dates that appear on folders or in the left or right hand corner of the reverse of the first page of each document (this was supposed to be standard practice at the SA, but unfortunately the rule was not always followed) are dates of its receipt by the SA. But in spite of the variety of possible evidence it was sometimes impossible to establish any date with certainty. This is why the dates that appear in the database and on each folder should often be seen as relative. To give users better a idea of the SA's approach to selecting Samizdat documents for publication, we marked out those documents, which were prepared for publication but for different reasons were not published. (Very often they were printed as stencils or, after Radio had been computerized, as printouts.) Documents in this group have a [Prepared for publication] sign in the folder record.

Description Control

Archivist's note

Subject Files were organized on the basis of the subject category list developed by SA staff for the clipping Subject Files (see Series 12): Vlast' i gosudarstvo Voiny Geografiia Gruppy Zakonodatel’stvo Inakomyslie Inostrantsy v SSSR Istoriia Karatel’nye organy Kul’tura Mesta lisheniia svobody Nauka Natsional’nosti Perestroika Prava cheloveka Protesty Psikhiatriia i psikhiatricheskie bol’nitsy Religiia Samizdat Sviaz’ (pochta, telefon) Sotsial’nye gruppy i sotsial’nye iavleniia Sredstava massovoi informatsii Ekologiia Economika Emigratsia While subject files were classified according to the list, the chosen category was included in the title of each file, before of its proper title. (So, if the original title was Liberal'naia partiia, the final title is [Gruppy:] Liberal'naia partiia). In cases where the two were identical, the subject category became the folder's only title. To provide users with more searching opportunities, in some cases additional keywords from the subject list and names were included in folder record (for example: [Natsional'nosti: Krymskie tatary]; [Vlasov, IU.]).