Much has been written on Russian and Ukrainian archives since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Most writings on this subject key on legislative and structural issues, the more formal aspects of the transformation of Russia and Ukraine into more open, democratic polities. This paper concentrates on the blood-and-bones reality of the effects of this transformation on the everyday life of archivists and their managers and administrators at various levels. This new "Time of Troubles" imposed heavy personal burdens on all who work in the archival service, and it posed extraordinary professional challenges. During the 1990s, archival directors and archivists in Russia and Ukraine faced a decade of extreme privation and trial, but they responded with a stoic heroism.

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