Yale University Press Launches Stalin Digital Archive

Posted on November 26, 2011

Yale University Press announced the launch of its online Stalin Digital Archive. The archive is a collaboration between the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGASPI) and Yale University Press (YUP). The electronic database is full of digitized documents and images that have been newly declassified.

The archive was financed by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The archive contains Stalin's letters, papers and notes from his many personal books. The wartime correspondence includes letters to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In a statement, Yale director of digital publishing David Schiffman said, "Most of this content has never been seen digitally or in print. The SDA represents a major step forward in academic publishing by providing robust capabilities for users to interact with these materials and engage with a community of scholars."

Yale director John Donatich said, "We are so proud to be publishing the SDA, fulfilling our mission of disseminating research and scholarship in a way that marries digital innovation and scholarly traditions." Yale will sell access to the database to libraries. The site is in beta testing now. It is expected to be a very valuable research resource for scholars.