“Are You Living History?” — The Soviet Person and the Quiet Archival Revolution of Late Socialism

Abstract

The article focuses on the changes that occurred in archiving practices after Stalin. Based on the analysis of publications in professional journals for archivists and in popular press — as well as the personal archival collection of Perm activist and local historian Valentina Sokolova — we argue that, as a result of the democratic and humanistic turn in Soviet society after Stalin’s death, late socialism saw a shift in the understanding of who is worthy of having their documents preserved in an archive. Whereas previously only “remarkable” individuals had the right for a private archival collection, now some members of the archivist community began a campaign to collect documents of “ordinary” citizens. The archivists found allies not only among specialists but also among elderly members of the Soviet intelligentsia — participants in the building of socialism, who had no prior connection to historical studies. This shift that we call the “quiet archival revolution” became an integral part of the late Soviet commemorative turn. With the help of the archivists — enthusiasts of the “quiet archival revolution,” elderly activist came to realize their own historical significance and the value of their documents, some of which later made it to the state archival depositories.