Considering and Reconsidering First Person Sources on the Russian Revolutionary Era

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

Memoirs, diaries, and other first-person accounts of the revolutionary era have long been a research staple for historians working on late Imperial and early Soviet society; recent limitations on access to archival materials in Russia have encouraged historians not only to consider long- overlooked first person source materials, but also to reconsider familiar sources. Roundtable participants will very briefly introduce current projects based on first-person source materials that have led them to reconceptualize aspects of the period’s history. Barbara Allen will discuss her work on Aleksandr Shliapnikov’s memoirs of the 1905 Revolution, Semion Lyandres will discuss recently published and currently accessible archival correspondence between members of the Russian Imperial family as an insufficiently explored source for study of high politics in the revolutionary era; Page Herrlinger will discuss diaries of Orthodox believers as a resource for understanding the interrelationship between religious and secular identities in the revolutionary era; and Michael Hickey will discuss daily editorials that functioned as a provincial newspaper editor’s “political diary” in 1917. Guided by moderator Scott Kenworthy, the panelists as a group then will engage in broader discussion of sources, methods, and historiography, which will constitute the greater portion of the session.

Sub Unit

• History: 1900-1945

Chair

• Scott M. Kenworthy, Miami U of Ohio

Roundtable Members

• Barbara C. Allen, La Salle U

• Page Herrlinger, Bowdoin College

• Michael C. Hickey, Bloomsburg U

• Semion Lyandres, U of Notre Dame