Leo Tolstoy's Literary Heritage ON-line

Leo Tolstoy, the on-line resurrection

As from April 2007, anyone from anywhere in the world can access on-line, by performing a single search, unique resources related to one of the greatest Russian writers: Count Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy.

‘Russian Literary Heritage on-line’ is the outcome of a successful collaboration between the State Memorial and Natural Preserve “Museum-Estate of Leo Tolstoy “Yasnaya Polyana ” and the Russian State Library. The project, funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and managed in partnership with the British Council, Moscow has put on-line bibliographic and full text digital resources of the State Memorial and Natural Preserve Museum-Estate of Leo Tolstoy ‘Yasnaya Polyana’ and the Russian State Library, in Moscow.

Until now, scholars, students, researchers and individual users looking for resources on Tolstoy had to search across different on-line databases, and, sometimes, to travel to Yasnaya Polyana or to the capital, in order to get hold of what they needed.

For the first time, a single internet resource provides access to a comprehensive source of materials by and about Tolstoy, including all his works (also in draft versions), letters, diaries, manuscripts, family photographs at Yasnaya Polyana, articles, dissertations, and, most importantly, his Personal Library, with books that he read to get inspirations for his works, in 40 different languages. The portal offers access to the full texts of all the works by Tolstoy and to the bibliographic records of the two partners’ electronic catalogues.

The State Memorial and Natural Preserve “Museum-Estate of Leo Tolstoy “Yasnaya Polyana” is one of the largest literary memorial museums in the world. Founded in 1921, it has been preserved as a Russian country estate of the XIX-early XX centuries. 'Yasnaya Polyana' is a multi-functional institution with a range of educational and cultural programs for students and academics as well as for general public. International Writers' Meetings, Academic Conferences, Seminars of the translators of Leo Tolstoy's works take place regularly at Yasnaya Polyana. The Tolstoy House has been preserved as it was in 1910. Precious collections of all types of exhibits have been preserved, including the personal library of Leo Tolstoy, which numbers 22,000 volumes of the XVII-XX centuries.

The Russian State Library is one of the biggest libraries in the world. The mission of the Library is to collect, preserve and provide access to the universal collection of documents that reflect human knowledge and are related primarily to Russia and its national interests. Collections of the library are unique in terms of completeness and universality and include documents in 247 languages of the world. At present the total size of the library’s collections exceeds 43 million items. The Russian State Library provides access to its rich collections for the development of science, culture, and education through a system of catalogues and other tools of disclosing its holdings. The library has an extensive network of international co-operation in the field of librarianship. It keeps constant contacts with libraries of various countries and with international professional organizations.

Russian Literary Heritage on-line: http://tolstoy-nasledie.ru

Back to news >>