Library

The Davis Center collection contains books and periodicals related to the field of Russian and Eurasian studies, particularly in the areas of political science, economics, sociology and history.

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About the Library

Part of Harvard’s extensive network of libraries and collections, the Davis Center Collection for Russian and Eurasian Studies has existed since the center’s founding in 1948. The collection was created specifically to support teaching, research, and study at the Davis Center, and now “lives” in Fung Library at 1737 Cambridge Street. Today, collection staff work to acquire and develop library resources on Russia and Eurasia and to provide reference and instructional services to students and scholars conducting research on the region.

Fung Library reading room

Fung Library reading room

Harvard Library

Reference, Research, and Instructional Services

Davis Center Collection staff offer general library orientations, one-on-one consultations, and workshops focusing on specific resources and tools.

If you are just beginning your research, please take a look at the information available on the Harvard Library portal as well as the following research guides:

For in-depth assistance with your research or to learn how to navigate the HOLLIS catalog, digital collections, or Harvard Library’s many other services and tools, you may want to schedule an individual research consultation, or reach out to the Librarian for the Davis Center Collection, Svetlana Rukhelman.

Cartoon showing an group of office workers with giant pencils and briefcases following a factory worker who carries a power tool
The redundant staff must step aside! Boris Semenov, A. Shkliarinskii. Khudozhnik RSFSR, [1974]. From The Soviet anti-bureaucracy poster collection.

Collections

For detailed information on the Davis Center Collection's holdings, please see the Collection's page on the Harvard Library website.

The Davis Center Library's holdings are searchable online in HOLLIS. If you are looking for materials and need help, please email Svetlana Rukhelman, Librarian for the Davis Center Collection.

General Collection

The Davis Center Collection maintains a core collection of books and periodicals related to the field, particularly in the social sciences (political science, economics, sociology, and history). There are about 6,000 volumes on Fung Library’s shelves; these include a dedicated reference section containing major encyclopedias, atlases, print periodical indexes, print bibliographies, and other important reference works. Another 14,000 volumes are housed in Offsite Storage and available on request. 

Periodicals

In addition to monographs, the DCRES Library holds a core selection of area journals and newspapers. A large number of these titles also have online versions available through HOLLIS and can be accessed via the databases listed in Harvard Library’s guide to Slavic digital resources. For Russian-language periodicals, the East View Universal Databases include many important titles. 

Three kindergarten children peering into terrarium with turtles
Kindergarten children. From Padomju Latvijas .25 gadadienai: Foto izstāde veltita (For the 25th anniversary of Soviet Latvia: Photo exhibition)

Special collections

The Davis Center library holds a growing number of archival and special collections, including the following major resources, most of which have been digitized: 

Research guides

  • The Digital Handbook for Research on Soviet History is an online guide to print and archival materials at and beyond Harvard. Its Open Access Primary Sources Database catalogs more than 900 online resources – digital archives, libraries, collections, exhibitions, and digital scholarship projects – that provide free access to unpublished and published materials, including archival documents, document collections, primary source books, periodicals, cartographic materials, statistical data, diaries, memoirs, correspondence, oral histories, photographs, and works of literature and art. 
  • Harvard Library Resources on Georgia and the Caucasus is a guide that describes Harvard's salient holdings on and from the region in a range of formats and subjects. 

Library Information and Hours

The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies Collection is located in Fung Library (Knafel Building, Concourse Level, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138).

Fung Library's semester schedule is as follows: Monday - Thursday: 9 am - 8 pm; Friday 9 am - 5 pm; Sunday: 1 - 8 pm. 

When classes are not in session, the library is open weekdays from 9 am - 5 pm. The library is closed for University and legal holidays.

View current schedule.

Related Insights

The online collection, including about 200 prints from the Davis Center Library, vastly expands opportunities to study a legacy of state-backed messaging and disinformation that reverberates worldwide today.

You don't need to go to space to make history! If you have documentation on U.S.-Soviet exchanges and/or the rise of new post-Soviet institutions in the 1990s, you can help build up the Davis Center's archives.

Photos documenting the construction of the Great Fergana Canal depict Soviet dreams of building a new environment for a new socialist people.