Just in time to celebrate Immigrant Heritage Week, the library has added a new database to its collection. Russkoe slovo (later Novoe russkoe slovo) was the most widely read Russian newspaper in North America for a century. 

Russkoe slovo (Russian Word) was first published in 1910 in New York under the founding editorship of the Russian émigré journalist and writer Ivan Kuz'mich Okuntsov (1874-1939) and soon became the most widely read Russian newspaper in the United States. In 1913, Okuntsov also compiled and published in Russian: The Russian-American Directory: A Geographical, Economic and Statistical Review of the United States, Canada, and Russia. His work on Russians in the Northern and Southern America was published long after his death (1967).

Okuntsov continued with his anti-tsarist, leftist orientation by teaming up with Ivan Narodny (1870-1953). They started yet another newspaper Russkii Golos=Russian Voice and fought countless ideological battles with revolutionaries grouped around Novyi mir newspaper, including Leo Trotsky (1879-1940). After the October Revolution, Okuntsov left for Russia but, disappointed in occurring changes, he (miraculously) made it back to the US. At this point, he decided to give up publishing and his stake in Russkoe slovo. He had been replaced as the editor by Leo Pasvolsky (1893–1953), a journalist and economist who later worked for the US government and is known as the foremost author of the UN Charter. While Pasvolsky welcomed changes in Russia which took place after the February Revolution he firmly maintained an anti-communist position. Thus, in 1920 Russkoe slovo changed the name by adding Novoe (New) to the title and while shedding its pro-Communist sympathies it became a respected organ of democratic opinion.

In the 1920s, after Pasvolsky left, the paper first turned pro-Soviet when some Russi ans in the US thought that the Soviet Union was evolving towards democracy. Its popularity grew when it published both émigré and Soviet authors on its pages. However, when democratic hopes were not fulfilled in the Soviet Union, the Novoye Russkoye Slovo returned to its former democratic position. The best years of Novoe russkoe slovo came during World War II and its immediate aftermath with the journalistic input by homegrown talent. It stood on anti-Communist positions and supported the Allies. Edited since 1923 by Mark Weinbaum (1890-1973), Novoe russkoe slovo continued to be the most widely read Russian newspaper in the United States and Canada.

Later on, under the editorial leadership of a prose writer, journalist and publisher Andrey Sedykh (1902-1994), Novoe russkoe slovo took advantage of the third wave of immigration from the Soviet Union (the 1970s) and once again rejuvenated itself with the incorporation of new writers and journalists. It remained a daily up until 2009. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties and other factors, Novoe russkoe slovo ceased publication a century after it was first established, in 2010.

Now, most of its content is available in digital format. The digital archive includes over 40,000 pages with full page-level digitization, complete original graphics, and keyword searchable text.

Bibliography

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• Karlowich, Robert A. We Fall and Rise: Russian Language Newspapers in New York City, 1889-1914 (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1991).
• McMillin, Arnold. “Exiled Russian Writers of the Third Wave and the Émigré Press,” The Modern Language Review 84:2 (Apr., 1989): 406-413. [See JStor for e-access]
• Ручкин, А. Б.  Русская диаспора в Соединенных Штатах Америки в первой половине ХХ века (Москва, 2007).
• Shub, David. “The Russian Press in the United States,” The Russian Review 3:1 (Autumn, 1943): 120-128 .[See JStor for e-access]
• Толстой, Иван. “’Новое Русское Слово’ - конец легенды,” Радио Свобода, 24 May 2009.
• Уральский, М. “«Новое русское слово». Часть 1” Новый Журнал, номер 279, 2015.