Encyclopedias are extremely handy sources for biographical information as most contain entries for significant individuals. With the mindset that encyclopedias are sources for young people or the general populace, scholars often overlook them to their detriment, because many of the encyclopedias produced in Russia and Eastern Europe are scholarly endeavors with bibliographical references for further reading. Since encyclopedia articles are summaries of accepted knowledge on a topic with bibliographies of recommended resources, they can answer your basic questions and also be the beginning of more in-depth research.
Some encyclopedias have the word “dictionary” in the title, but they are still alphabetically arranged treatments of general knowledge or of a particular subject. Don’t let this confuse you. Below are links to descriptions of some of the most famous general and subject encyclopedias as well as some newer, more specialized ones from the countries of the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Biographical encyclopedias/dictionaries are covered on a different page in this guide.
Encyclopedias for Russia
Guides to Russian Encyclopedias
- Russkie entsiklopedii. Obshchie entsiklopedii. Bibliografiia i kratkie ocherki
- Terminologicheskie slovari.Bibliografiia
Russian General Encyclopedias
- Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’. + Novyi entsiklopedicheskii slovar’. aka the Brokgauz
- Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ Russkogo Bibliograficheskogo Instituta Granat
- Bol’shaia sovetskaia entsiklopediia
Subject Encyclopedias for Russia
The Arts
- Muzykal’naia entsiklopediia
- Muzykal’nyi Peterburg: Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ XVIII vek
- Teatral’naia entsiklopediia
- Russkii balet. Entsiklopediia
- Populiarnaia khudozhestvennaia entsiklopediia
Literature
History
- The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History. + Supplement.= MERSH
- Morskoi entsiklopedicheskii slovar’
- Voennaia entsiklopediia
Religion
- Evreiskaia entsiklopediia: Svod znanii o evreistv i ego kul’tur v proshlom u nastoiashchem
- Polnyi pravoslavnyi bogoslovskii entsiklopedicheskii slovar’
- Khristianstvo. Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ v 3 tomakh
Czech/Slovak Encyclopedias
- Bibliografie encyklopedicke literatury ceske a slovenske vydane v letech 1860 az 1967
- Slovnik naucny and Nazorny atlas k Slovniku naucnemu
- Ottuv slovnik naucny: illustrovana encyclopedie obecnych vedomosti and Ottuv slovnik naucny nove doby: Dodatky
- Masarykuv slovnik naucny: lidove encyclopedie vseobecnych vedomosti.
- Mala Ceskoslovenska encyclopedie
- Vseobecna encyclopedie ve ctyrech svazcich.
- Slovensky naucny slovnik. Prirucna encyklopedia vedomosti v troch dieloch.
- Encyklopedia Slovenska
- Slovakia and the Slovaks. A concise encyclopedia