Central Theatrical Library

located in Moscow; the largest scholarly theatrical library in the USSR, and the methodological center for the country’s theatrical libraries.

The library was founded in 1922. As of Jan. 1, 1970, its collection numbered more than 420,000 items, including more than 100,000 books on the theater in Russian and foreign languages, 30,000 theatrical journals, more than 60,000 sets of illustrative materials pertaining to the theater, and more than 30,000 sets of newspaper clippings on the theater. The library has acquired valuable collections from the Society of Russian Playwrights, A. P. Lenskii, S. S. Mokul’skii, N. D. Volkov, Iu. O. Slonimskii, and others. The library has two reading rooms and a subscription service and affiliate, located at the Ministry of Culture of the USSR; it provides services mainly to scholars, workers in the arts, students of theatrical schools, and the Moscow theaters. It sends literature and bibliographical and illustrative materials to professional and people’s theaters outside Moscow to assist directors and actors in staging new productions. The library carries on scholarly bibliographical work and systematically arranges topical and anniversary exhibits, among other activities.