Russian Literature

Our special collections holdings in Russian Literature are focused in two main areas. 

The first consists of small press publications of Russian literature in the United States, as documented in the University of Michigan Press Pasternak Records and the records of Ardis Press, co-founded by Carl R. Proffer and Ellendea Proffer in Ann Arbor in 1971. Ardis was one of the foremost Western publishers of Russian and Soviet Literature during the last three decades of the 20th century. 

The second is the Dr. Fan Parker and Dr. Stephen J. Parker Vladimir Nabokov Collection. It includes the first edition of Lolita; editions of that novel in many languages, including Russian, Japanese, French, Hebrew, Danish, Greek, and Spanish; more than 500 issues of periodicals with articles by or about Nabokov; and works by Nabokov related to his scientific research as a lepidopterist.

Acquisitions are made only infrequently in both of these areas. The majority of the Dr. Fan Parker and Dr. Stephen J. Parker Vladimir Nabokov Collection is located in the Special Collections Research Center, with some titles in the Hatcher Library circulating collection. 

History of the collection

Dr. Fan Parker donated her collection in 2004 and established the Dr. Fan Parker Family Endowment Fund for support of the collection and the acquisition of other Nabokov materials. An additional donation was made by her family in 2017.