Library Trial: Piatidnevka Digital Archive (DA-PIAT) through December 5, 2024

The UC Berkeley Library has started a trial of Piatidnevka Digital Archive The trial will end on December 5, 2024. Please provide your feedback to your Librarian for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies at Lpendse at berkeley dot edu

The Piatidnevka Digital Archive is a valuable resource for researchers studying early Soviet history, particularly between 1929 and 1931. Published six times a month, this journal documents the Soviet Union’s brief experiment with a five-day workweek. The archive provides insight into the Soviet goal of replacing traditional societal norms with innovative approaches. It contains a wealth of visual and textual materials, including photographs, articles, editorials, and commentaries that offer firsthand perspectives on this significant period.

The trial can be accessed here.

The Piatidnevka (Пятидневка, “Five Day Week”) Digital Archive stands as an invaluable asset for scholars engaged in the study of early Soviet history. Specifically focusing on the period between 1929 and 1931 and published six times per month, this illustrative journal provides critical insights into the Soviet Union’s brief but notable experiment with a five-day workweek, comprising four workdays followed by a day of rest. This initiative reflects the broader Soviet aim of dismantling traditional societal structures in favor of innovative paradigms. The archive is rich in visual and textual content, offering wonderful artistic photos, articles, editorials, and commentaries that furnish first-hand accounts of this significant phase in Soviet history.
The title page of issue of Piatidnevka for July 1930.

Sovetskii Ekran (Soviet Film) Digital Archive at UC Berkeley Library

The Library has purchased the Digital Archive of a Soviet film magazine: Sovetskii Ekran. The archive provides access to the full-text of journal issues that were published from 1925-1998.

Below is the screenshot of the landing page of the Sovietskii Ekran.

The landing page of the digital archive of Sovetskii Ekran aka Soviet Film Journal. The archive spans from 1925-1998.
The landing page of Sovietskii Ekran Digital Archive (above)

Access it here

At the time of writing this blog, the digitization of issues was completed through 1970 and the additional digitization was in progress.

a page from digitized issue no. 1 of 1970 of Sovetskii Ekran.
Sovetskii Ekran, Issue no. 1 (1970)

About the journal:

Soviet Screen was a magazine in the USSR that ran from 1925 to 1998 (with a break from 1941 to 1957). It talked about movies, both from the Soviet Union and other countries, cinema history, and had articles critiquing films. They also had reader polls each year to pick the best film, actor, actress, film for children, and music film.

The magazine had different names over the years, like Screen Film Gazeta in 1925, Cinema and Life in 1929–1930, Proletarian Cinema from 1931–1939, and Screen from 1991–1997. Before 1992, it was connected to the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR State Committee for Cinematography and the USSR.

In 1984, they printed 1.9 million copies. In 1991, the editor was Victor Dyomin, and the magazine was published under the title: Screen. It started coming out less often, monthly instead of more frequently. It kept going as Screen Magazine until 1997, then for a few months in 1997-1998, it went back to its old name-Soviet Screen. But it couldn’t survive the financial troubles in 1998 and had to stop publishing (Source: Wikip.).


Post-Perestroika Newspapers accessible for the CRL Members

The Post-Perestroika Newspapers collection traces the evolution of post-Soviet Russia, with coverage from 1990 to 2016. Established soon before or soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newspapers in this collection document the changes taking place in Russia, some with breathtaking speed, all the while embracing innovative journalistic methods and standards that were a far cry from the journalism of the Soviet period. These newspapers, some of which had a relatively short lifespan, nevertheless provide essential and critical insight into the events and personalities that defined post-Soviet Russian politics and history (Source:https://gpa.eastview.com/crl/ppn/).

To access these newspapers, please authenticate using the VPN or proxy from an off-campus location.