Harvard Library's Slavic Blog

In addition to tried-and-true traditional formats (both physical and digital), Slavic collection at Harvard owns items that are unusual, one-of-a-kind or simply rare. Please take a look at some of our most unusual recent new additions.

Nashi v Solsberi : nastolʹnai︠a︡ igra
Moskva : Tipografii︠a︡ Prima / (Igrolend. Nastolʹnye igry), 2018

Nashi v Solsberi (Our people in Salisbury) is a simple table game with a reference to the infamous “sightseeing trip to Salisbury” by two suspected Russian intelligence officers Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov in March 2018, who are believed to have been involved in the attempt to poison Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The game is intended “for 2 players, ages 6+years” and features only two game pieces, a die and  a board with a stylized map of Europe and a track that starts in Moscow and ends in Salisbury.

Vesëlyĭ kamerton
Burov, Valeriĭ Vladimirovich, 1947- [artist, author] / Vi͡atka : Klub rukopisnoĭ knigi v Vi͡atke, 2016

This one-of-a-kind book in the shape of grand piano was made for the Harvard Library collection by a Russian book artist Valerii Burov. The book features a leather-bound cover and keyboard made from plastic and rubber. It includes 24 pages with handwritten text and illustrations in black and red ink.

(Photo credit: Reed Lowrie)

Russian elections 2016 : ephemera

In addition to leaflets, posters, newspapers and campaign literature produced in connection with multi-level elections held in Russian Federation on September 18 2016, this collection also includes some campaign artifacts like plastic bags, flags, pens, caps, T-shirts and even… socks.