For this class, you will need to create weekly travelogues about events and topics in Russian cultural history. You will need to do some outside research and present information and details beyond what you find in your course texts. This guide offers search strategies and recommended books about topics in Russian culture to help you get started.
As you search for information and write your travelogue entries, ask yourself:
If you have any questions, please contact the subject librarian for this topic. We're always happy to help!
Because there isn't always a one-to-one match between the Cyrillic alphabet used by Russian and the Roman alphabet used by English, Russian names can sometimes appear in multiple variations. For example, the Russian composer of the "1812 Overture," Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский, might appear as Peter Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Tchaikowsky, Petr Tschaikowski...you get the idea.
This kind of variety doesn't happen to every Russian who pops up in English language text, but it does mean that you need to keep an eye out for alternate spellings. There's also a database of preferred and alternate spellings of names kept by the Library of Congress, called the Library of Congress Authorities. Typing a name into this database will lead you to the most common spellings of Russian names.
The best place to start most searches is the search box on the library's homepage. This search box defaults to Articles, giving you quick access to popular and scholarly articles from thousands of different publications.
More databases and search tools are available on our full list of databases.
