Russians in Asia and Siberia
A Catalog
Patricia Polansky, Russkaia pechat' v Kitae, IAponii i Koree: katalog sobraniia Biblioteki imeni Gamil'tona Gavaiskogo universiteta=Russian publications in China, Japan and Korea: catalog of a collection at Hamilton Library University of Hawaii; Edited by Amir Khisamutdinov. Moskva: Pashkov Dom, 2002. 201 p.: illus.
This catalog describes a unique collection of over 750 publications from the Russian emigration to China, Japan and Korea. Besides rare memoirs of the leaders of the White movement, and runs of émigré journals, the collection contains a selection of childrens' books, religious materials, and textbooks for Chinese and Japanese languages.
The catalog is illustrated with book covers, title pages, publishers symbols, ex-libris, and stamps of former owners and libraries. The collection has been well used by scholars from around the world, including Canada, Japan, Finland, China, Russia, England and the U.S.
This publication was supported by the Klaus Mehnert fund. Dr. Mehnert (1906-1984)
was an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Hawaii [UH] from 1937 to 1941 where he began to teach courses on Russia in Asia. Mehnert added the first books in English and Russian to the UH Library dealing with general topics of history about Russia and the Soviet Union, as well as, those with a specific focus on Siberia and
the Far East. He wrote a booklet on The Russians in Hawaii (Honolulu: 1939), and during WWII he lived in Shanghai where he edited a journal called The XXth Century (Shanghai: 1941-45, 8v.)
First opened in 1862 and fondly referred to during the Soviet era as the "Leninka", the Russian State Library [RSL] is the largest library in Europe and the second largest in the world after the Library of Congress containing materials in 247 languages and with a total of over 42 million items. The Pashkov Dom, founded in 1998, is the
publishing house for the RSL. They have launched a series of publications in cooperation with foreign libraries. The Department of Russian Literature Abroad at RSL is headed by Nadezhda Vasil'evna Ryzhak, who originally wrote expressing interest in the UH collection and was instrumental in seeing the catalog published. It was only in 1991
that the Department could finally open it's formerly "closed cages" [spetskhran] of publications from abroad. These materials were available to only a very few during the Soviet period. Russia is now passionately involved in recovering their lost history, especially from Russians who fled the revolution. Their publications include a catalog
of newspapers from the Russian emigration in the RSL, a 4-volume chronology of the Russian emigration to France (1920-1940), a union list of periodical publications of the Russian emigration in Moscow libraries, and a multi-volume publication on the
graves of Russians abroad.
About the Authors
Patricia Polansky has been the Russian Bibliographer at Hamilton Library since 1970, and was formerly the Director of the SHAPS Center for Russia in Asia (1988-92).
Amir Khisamutdinov is a scholar from Vladivostok, Russia, who was first invited to UH in 1992 for the SHAPS Andrews Chair. He has returned to UH numerous times, most recently
being hosted by Hamilton Library as a Fulbright Research Scholar (2001/02).
A Journal
In addition, Patricia Polansky has been named to the editorial board of Sibirica: journal
of Siberian studies. The Routledge/Taylor Francis Group in England is publishing this journal devoted to Russia in Siberia and the Asia-Pacific region. The editors are Cathryn Brennan (U of Aberdeen,UK) and Alan Wood (U of Lancaster, UK).
The Editorial Board members include
David Anderson - University of Aberdeen, UK
Larry Black - Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada
Michael Bradshaw - University of Leicester, UK
Sergei Savoskul - Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Tsuyoshi Hasegawa - University of California, USA
Victor Mote - University of Houston, USA
Patricia Polansky - University of Hawaii, USA
Vladimir Shishkin - Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
The book review editor is David Collins (U of Leeds, UK)
About Patricia Polansky
UH GSLS graduate (1969), Patricia has worked on several themes in her
publications: the history of Russians in Hawaii and the Pacific, Russian
America, Siberian libraries and publishing, publishing connections between
Northeast Asia and the Russian Far East, and the history of Russian libraries
and publishers in Shanghai. She has travelled often to the former Soviet
Union and present-day Russia. Check her Web Page for more details.
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Patricia Polansky