James Reston Conducts Research in KGB Archives in Ukraine

2017 Mar 23

In June and July 2016, James Reston '18 spent 8 weeks conducting research in Soviet KGB archives in Ukraine together with Victoria Smolkin (assistant professor of history and Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies).

As a research assistant, Reston helped produce a database of more than 10,000 documents, as well as summaries of how they fit with the main questions of the research project.

"He proved himself capable of working both on his own and under direct supervision and making the process both intellectually productive and tremendously enjoyable," said Smolkin. "He was unfazed by experiences that have challenged many graduate students, from navigating opaque archival organization to working with complicated archivists and librarians-and all of this in two foreign languages. He was also exceptionally organized."

Reston went on to produce a research prospectus in Smolkin's seminar on "Religion, Secularism, and Modernity," largely based on materials he gathered in the Ukrainian KGB archives, about how the KGB determined who is a "Zionist" in its surveillance and disciplinary efforts among Soviet Jews. Reston's thesis, which will trace the education-both formal and informal-of the ideal Soviet KGB agent, will continue this line of research.

"I am confident he will make a critical and original contribution to scholarship in the field," said Smolkin.