Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

The Boris Rabbot Papers consist of the writings, lectures, notes, correspondence, personal documents, post-doctoral dissertation, photographs, research and reference materials related to the professional activities of Boris Rabbot—one of the first Soviet sociologists employed at the pioneering Institute for Concrete Social Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (IKSI) and an influential intellectual who tried to introduce a policy of liberalization within the Soviet system in the mid-1960s - early 1970s. The collection reflects Rabbot's professional life both in the USSR and USA. The collection gives an unprecedented insider's view into the workings of the Politburo and also traces the early development of a previously banned social science discipline, sociology, in the Soviet Union.

The papers are composed of the correspondence, diaries, newspapers, books and documents of the Russian-American émigré George Walter. The correspondence is primarily from the period 1919-33, and consists of letters sent to Walter by family and friends in various European locations, primarily Walter's hometown of Mykolaiv, Russian Empire (now Ukraine).