History of the USSR, Institute of the

the central scientific research institution of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, studying problems of the country’s history. It was created in 1968 on the basis of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1936). There are 13 sections in the institute, including Soviet society, Russia during the period of capitalism, precapitalist formations on the territory of the USSR, general problems in the history of the peoples of the USSR, historiography and the study of sources, and historical geography. The institute does research on the fundamental problems of the history of the USSR from ancient times to the present and prepares scholarly works and source materials for publication. It coordinates research work in the history of the USSR, organizes scholarly discussions, debates, and conferences, and arranges contacts with scholars of foreign countries. The institute has a Leningrad division and a graduate study program. It issues the journal Istoriia SSSR (History of the USSR, since 1957) and the publications Istoricheskie zapiski (Historical Notes, since 1937), Arkheograficheskii ezhegodnik (Annual for the Study of Early Texts, since 1958), and Istoriia i istoriki (History and Historians, since 1965), all of which appear at irregular intervals.