Guides: HIST 316: History of the Russian Empire: Home

Getting Started

Russian and Soviet History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Jan 6, 2025 1004 views this year
Modern European History
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Russian Literature and Language
by Tatiana Bedjanian Last Updated Jan 15, 2024 130 views this year

Find Secondary Sources

Find books

Library Catalogue

Reminders for catalogue searching:

Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to find books on the same topic
Scroll to the bottom of a catalogue record to browse the virtual shelf

Find peer-reviewed articles

Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
This contains references to journal articles, book reviews and some dissertations about the history of all parts of the world from 1450 on, EXCLUDING Canada and the United States. In the search options, select "Peer Reviewed" and enter "Historical Period" (e.g., Start Year: 1850 To End Year: 1917).
American Bibliography of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies - ABSEES (EBSCO)
Produced by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, provides information on East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. Coverage for ABSEES ranges from 1989 to the present.

Find Primary Sources

Reading Russian Sources by George Gilbert (Editor)
Publication Date: 2020
eBook.
Reading Russian Sources is an accessible and comprehensive guide that introduces students to the wide range of sources that can be used to engage with Russian history from the early medieval to the late Soviet periods.

Find Reprinted and Translated Primary Sources

Search for primary sources in the Library Catalogue by searching: su: Russia History Sources. Then, filter the results to Language on the lefthand side, selecting whichever languages you are comfortable reading. Not all results will be primary sources, but many if not most will.

These are examples of some of the reprinted primary sources available in English and French to McGill Library users:

Medieval Russia; a source book, 900-1700 by Basil Dmytryshyn
Call Number: DK3 D57
Publication Date: 1967
Physical book, McLennan 6th floor.
Imperial Russia: A Source book, 1700-1917 by Basil Dmytryshyn
Call Number: DK3 D55 1974
Publication Date: 1974
Physical book, McLennan 6th floor.
Four Russian Serf Narratives by John MacKay (Editor)
Publication Date: 2009
eBook. Although millions of Russians lived as serfs until the middle of the nineteenth century, little is known about their lives. To date scholars have identified only twenty known Russian serf narratives. This book contains four of these accounts and is the first translated collection of autobiographies by serfs.
Pogroms : a documentary history by Eugene M Avrutin, Elissa Bemporad
Publication Date: 2021
Pogroms: A Documentary History explores the remarkable long history of anti-Jewish violence in the East European borderlands beginning with the pogroms of 1881-1882 in the Russian Empire and concluding in Poland on the eve of World War II. Organized chronologically, each chapter includes a unique array of archival and published sources, selected and introduced by a scholar expert in the period under investigation.
Orthodox Christianity in Imperial Russia by Heather J. Coleman (Editor)
Publication Date: 2014
eBook.
From sermons and clerical reports to personal stories of faith, this book of translated primary documents reveals the lived experience of Orthodox Christianity in 19th- and early 20th-century Russia.
Documents of Catherine the Great; the correspondence with Voltaire and the Instruction of 1767 in the English text of 1768 by Catherine II, Empress of Russia, 1729-1796; Voltaire 1694-1778.
Call Number: DK168 C3 1971
Publication Date: 1971
Lettres en français.
Available electronically and in physical format (McLennan 6th floor).
Journal de Pierre le Grand depuis l'année 1698. jusqu'a la conclusion de la paix de Neustadt by Peter I, Emperor of Russia, 1672-1725
Publication Date: 1773
eBook.

Electronic Resources

Alexander III and the Policy of "Russification," 1883-1886 (Archives Unbound)
This collection, as seen through the eyes of the British diplomatic corps in Russia, provides a unique analysis of this "retro-reform" policy, including the increase of revolutionary agitation, deepening of conservatism and changes from agrarian to industrial society, and spread of pan-Slavism, both in the Russian Empire and Eastern Europe. The British Foreign Office Records of General Correspondence for Russia, in record class F.O. 65, is the basic collection of documents for studying Anglo-Russian relations during this period of fundamental change.

Documents in Russian History
"Documents in Russian History is an on-line repository of primary documents intended mainly for use in teaching."
Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Enlightened Despots
Includes documents from Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and Voltaire.
Medieval and Early Modern Russia and Ukraine: Primary Sources
Primary sources in English.
New York Public Library: Russia and Eastern Europe in Rare Photographs, 1860- 1945
Many of the included photographs were originally part of the collection of the Romanov palace libraries.
Russian State Museum
Includes a search feature and English interface.

Citations

History as a discipline uses the Chicago Manual of Style (18th edition) for citations, and usually the Notes-Bibliography form. This requires creating properly formatted footnotes footnotes and a Bibliography for your assignments. Resources to understand the Chicago style of citations are included below.

Note: Chicago Manual of Style updated to the 18th edition in September 2024.

HCS Guide to the Chicago Manual of Style
A guide to the Chicago Manual of Style developed for students in History and Classics (18th edition).

The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition
Publication Date: 2024
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Ninth Edition by Kate L. Turabian
Call Number: LB2369 T8 2018
Publication Date: 2018
A guide to Chicago Manual of Style with more information on hard-to-cite or unusual sources than the original manual. Note that this manual has not yet been updated to reflect the changes in the 18th edition of Chicago.

Guides

Chicago Manual of Style Citation Quick Guide
McGill Library Citation Subject Guide
Under "citation styles by subject", select "History" for more resources on Chicago style.

Library Support

Chicago Workshops
McGill Librarians offer virtual Chicago Citation Style workshops every term. Follow this link to find and register for upcoming workshops!
Citation Management
Attend a workshop to learn how to use Zotero or EndNote, useful citation management systems. Zotero is highly recommended for History students!

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Emily Jaeger-McEnroe

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McGill University Collections Centre

Check on the progress of the move of the McLennan-Library circulating collection at the Collections Centre website.