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Biographical Dictionaries
Russian Biographical Archive = Russisches Biographisches Archiv.
Frey, Axel. K.G. Saur, 1994-1999.
U of I Library Call Number: Slavic Reference Mfiche 920.047 R923.
500 fiches.
As with the other K.G. Saur biographical archives on microfiche, they have copied the entries from biographical reference books and cumulated all of the entries for one individual together. Thus, the entries are replicas of the original source with a citation to the original source at the head of each entry. This source is valuable because it eliminates checking numerous books for information and also provides access to sources that the U of I Library may not own. The Russian biographical archive contains entries for approximately 75,000 individuals from 162 sources published between 1827 and 1995. Entries include Russians as well as Ukrainians and Belorussians from before the 1917 Revolution. A separate set for the Soviet period is in the works, but has not been published yet. Depending on the original sources, the entries may or may not have bibliographical references and may appear in languages other than Russian. Beware that sometimes the entries for different people with the same name may be conflated.
A list of the 162 sources covered in the archive is available on microfiche at the beginning of the set in case you want to see the range of biographical resources in this area. You can search for a person listed in the Baltic biographical archive in the World biographical index, which is available for U of I students and faculty through Online Research Resources (Databases). If you are not affiliated with U of I you may want to check with your institution or your local library: it is possible that they provide access to the World biographical index. However the entries contain only brief biographical data, not the actual entries that are on the microfiche. The results of the search will tell you which sets contain entries for the individual and from which reference books they were taken. This feature will be available for the Russian biographical archive sometime in 2002 according to the publisher. Beware: Although this archive is a valuable resource, do not be deceived into thinking that use of this source is will cover all bases. It is impossible to include all of the biographical resources that exist. If you rely on the Archive alone, you will miss some potentially useful material.
Follow the link for two entries for Anna Fedorovna Volkova, a Russian chemist, from two different sources as they appear on the microfiche.