question about archives in Moscow and Petersburg

[Boele, O.F.]

Dear Judith,

I have worked in RGALI recently and unless things have suddenly improved (which I doubt), you'd better prepare your student for lousy service and a generally uncooperative spirit. Because they are understaffed, it may take up to 7 working days before they have processed your order. One thing that has improved, though, is that you can order files in advance by e-mail (but only five at a time), so that you have actually something to work with when you arrive. The online catalogue is slow, but for lack of an alternative it's okay, I guess.

I don't remember what they charge for photo copies or scans, but it was quite expensive and I expect the prices have only gone up. To pay for these services is quite an adventure in itself because they don't accept cash. They write you a check that you have to pay at the bank (but only at one particular branch) and on showing the receipt you can collect your materials. Sounds familiar?

Anyway, things may not be as bad as I have described them. I also remember  staff members speeding up the process because I told them I had "only three days". Russia and Russian archives in particular are full of surprises.

Otto Boele
University of Leiden
The Netherlands

From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of KALB, JUDITH
Sent: dinsdag 13 mei 2014 19:35
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] question about archives in Moscow and Petersburg

Dear colleagues,
I have a graduate student (Russian native, studying in US) planning to work this summer at RGALI, TsGALI, GOPB, GARF and the FSB archive.  If you have worked in any of these locations recently, could you possibly let me know how helpful/not you found staff (how are current tensions affecting access) and also what kind of financial charges you encountered? We'd be very grateful for any information.  Thank you!
Judy

Dr. Judith E. Kalb
Associate Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature
Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
jkalb at sc.edu<mailto:jkalb at sc.edu>

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