Research Support
SRAS Archive Services
We can assist both on site and remotely. Our team includes academics, translators, interpreters, students, and others experienced in researching in your target country. We have permanent staff in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, Bishkek, and Kyiv and have contacts in many other locations.
- Remote research. Are you looking for specific information or “dela,” but can’t make the trip abroad to get them? Contact us!
- Logistics. We can help streamline your experience by arranging payments, following up on requests, and pickup and shipping of copies.
- Orientation. We introduce you to your target archives or libraries, showing you how to request materials, your options for obtaining scans or photocopies, and the payment process. Perfect for your first time researching abroad!
- Initial contact and fond requests. We can assist with preparation or review of your archival introduction letter and follow up with them when necessary to see that your request has been received and is being processed.
- Translation. Do you need to dive into archives but feel your language skills are not quite up to the task? Let us translate and interpret for you.
Archive Support Pricing
Every research project is unique. SRAS services and pricing are thus flexible to suit your needs. We use a pay-as-you-go, hourly system. The cost will vary by location and volume of work, but will generally follow the following formula:
- $28/hr for the first 10 hours, $23/hr thereafter
- Plus costs of any copies, scans, or photos (as charged by the archive) + the greater of 20% or $5 processing.
Our experienced staff are researchers themselves and are able to efficiently navigate archives, summarize documents, pick up scans, and more.
Russian Research Visa Support
For those researching in Russia, the most correct form of visa is the humanitarian/scientific-technical visa. This visa is issued on the basis of support from Russian educational and research institutions.
If one of these two situations describes you, contact us.
- You have or will have visa support from a Russian institution and you would like help processing it at a consulate in the US.
- You do not have visa support from a Russian institution and would like guidance in how to obtain it,
More Information
Gain a broad understanding of the Russian visa system and what may or may apply to your situation.
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I am very grateful to you for all your invaluable help with different aspects of the trip, the visa process and finding housing – it has all made a tremendous difference in making the trip go smoothly! (SRAS Research Coordinator) Andrei helped me a great deal, not just in terms of getting to know the different procedures for each of the archive centers, but also in offering his own insights from his own research experiences. I am very grateful to him for his patience, helpfulness, and thoughtful conversation. I also feel more confident about being able to return later on and to get started on my own on a more long-term trip. Galina was a wonderful host – she was very generous and hospitable with her kindness and conversation in Russian, which was especially helpful for me in training me to listen and understand actual, everyday spoken Russian. She is a very sweet, fun, and fascinating person all around.
I want to thank you for providing the best service I could have hoped for. Needless to say, I couldn’t have done this without you. And I can’t say enough good things about (SRAS Research Coordinator) Alex. He’s done absolutely incredible work for me. If I’m lucky enough to have this book published, he will be at the top of my list of acknowledgements, and you as well.
My research went exceptionally well. I couldn’t be happier and there is no way I could have done this without (SRAS Research Coordinator) Andrei’s help. I’m so glad you set me up with him. Really, he was extraordinary. He helped me time and again. Next year I hope that I will have a chance to pay him to help me again with RGASPI. In short, thanks to you, again, my experience in Russia was outstanding.