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Russian theatre bibliographies

Russian theatre

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Russian theatre Archive Research

I am grateful to Tony Swift (Essex) for allowing me to use the material on this page. Tony used this material for a presentation at the Research Student Training Workshop at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London 6 November 2008

MOSCOW ARCHIVES, LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

Teatral'naia nauchnaia biblioteka teatral'nykh deiatelei RF (TSNB STD RF)

[Central State Library of the Union of Theatre People]

Personal archives of K.S. Stanislavskii, V.E. Meierkhol'd, S.M. Mikhoels and other important figures in Russian theatre. Memoirs and autobiographies, illustrated materials on scene design, costumes, photos, albums. Film footage of some performances. Copies of many rare plays. Excellent card catalogue.

Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka po iskusstvu (RBGI)

[Russian State Art Library]

Materials on theatre, opera, ballet, circus, other performing arts. Manuscripts and working copies of plays from 1800 to late 20th century, photographs of theatre people and of scenes from performances.

Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva (RGALI)

[Russian State Archive of Literature and Art]

Materials about directors, writers, actors and theatre organizations.

Fond 641: Russkoe teatral'noe obshchestvo

Fond 649: Malyi teatr

Fond 659: Moskovskaia kontora imperatorskikh teatrov

Fond 970: Vserossiiskoe teatral'noe obshchestvo

Fond 2097: Obshchestvo russkikh dramaticheskikh pisatelei i opernykh kompositorov

Gosudarstvennyi tsentraly'nyi muzei im. A.A. Bakhrushina (GTsTM)

Materials about theatre people in the 19th and 20th centuries. Posters, some film of performances, personal archives, unpublished memoirs.

Fond 1: A.A. Bakhrushin

Fond 39: A.A. Brenko

Fond 123: F.A. Korsh

Fond 144: V.A. Teliakovskii

Fond 533: Sobranie vospominanii i dnevnikov

Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka, otdel rukopisei (RGB OR)

[Russian State Library, Manuscript Division]

Some archival materials relating to theatre. Useful systematic catalogue.

Muzei gosudarstvennogo akademicheskogo Bol'shogo teatra (Muzei GABT)

[Museum of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre]

Posters, costumes, photographs, recordings, some manuscripts.

Muzei Moskovskogo akademicheskogo khudozhdetvennogo teatra (Muzei MKhAT)

[Museum of the Moscoe Academic Art Theatre]

Personal archives of people active in the theatre, including K.S. Stanislavskii, V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V.E. Meierekhol'd, O.L. Knipper-Chekhov. Copies of plays used by actors and directors with their notes. Censored copies of plays. Posters, photographs of performances, sketches of decorations and costumes.

Gosudarstvennyi muzei detskikh teatrov (GMDT)

[State Museum of Children's Theatres]

Materials relating to children'd theatres in Russia and the USSR.

ST PETERSBURG ARCHIVES, LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

Sankt-Peterburgskaia gosudarstvennaia teatral'naia biblioteka. (SPbGTB)

[St Petersburg State Theatre Library]

This collection, founded in 1756, has enormous holdings on theatres from the eighteenth century to the present. Censored copies of pre-revolutionary plays. Newspaper clippings on Soviet theatres from the 1930s onward. Working copies of plays. Sketches of costumes and decorations used in imperial theatres. Materials on the pre-revolutionary French and German theatres.

Tsentral'nyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva Sankt-Peterburg 9TSGALI SPb)

[Central State Archive of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg)

Materials on St. Petersburg theatres, directors, actors from 1917 to present. Documents from state and local cultural institutions and organizations, including Proletkult and Glavlit archives. Some archives of Vserossiiskoe teatral'noe obshchestvo.

Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv (RGIA)

[Russian State Historical Archive]

Records of censorship agencies, administration of the imperial theatres, some personal archive materials

Fond 472: Kantseliariia ministerstva imperatorskogo dvora

Fond 481: IUriskonsul'tskaia chast' ministerstva imperatorskogo dvora

Fond 497: Direktsiia imperatorskikh teatrov

Fond 770: E.P. Karpov

Fond 776: Glavnoe upravlenie po pechati

Rossiiskaia natsional'naia biblioteka, otdel rukopisei (RNB OR)

[Russian National Library, Manuscript Division]

Plays, archives of various Russian composers, some personal archives of directors, theatre critics and historians

Biblioteka Sankt-Peterburgskogo otdeleniia Soiuza teatral'nykh deiatelei RF (Biblioteka StPbO STD RF)

[Library of the Saint Petersburg Branch of the Union of Theatre People of the Russian Federation]

Records of meetings of the union, documents about St Petersburg performances from the 1930s onwards

GUIDES TO RUSSIAN ARCHIVES

International Institute of Social History, ArcheoBiblioBase website

This English-language site contains a bibliography of archival guides. It also includes descriptions of the major Russian archives.

Rosarkhiv, Arkhivy Rossii website

Russian-language website with the most up-to-date information about archives, museums, libraries and their collections. Also contains lots of information about various guides to archives.

Petrovskaia, I.F. Istochnikovedenie istorii russkogo dorevoliutsionnogo dramaticheskogo teatra (Leningrad 1971) (SLAV.FILMS.621 (Microform)

Petrovskaia, I.F. Istochnikovedenie istorii russkoi muzikal'noi kul'tury XVIII-nachala XX veka 2nd ed.(Moscow 1989) (Bodleian)