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Title: H. Lucas Ginn letters received
Date (inclusive): 1989-1991
Collection Number: 2012C5
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: Mainly in Russian
Physical Description:
4 manuscript boxes
(1.6 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Letters from pen pals in the Soviet Union, relating to social conditions and youth culture in the Soviet Union.
Creator:
Ginn, H. Lucas
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2012.
[Identification of item], H. Lucas Ginn letters received, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
In 1989, H. Lucas Ginn, then a California high school student, wrote to a Soviet magazine saying he was seeking a pen pal
in the Soviet Union. Ginn's letter and address were published in Studencheskii meridian, a youth magazine; he subsequently
received some two thousand missives from young Soviet citizens. The era of glasnost had just begun, making corresponding with
their peers in the West a novelty for Soviet youth, which explains the exuberance with which they responded to Ginn's letter.
Scope and Content of Collection
Most letters, which came from all over the USSR, are brief (and in Russian) but do allow some glimpses of the interests of
Soviet youth at the time, including music, current events, and AIDS. Historians and sociologists will find the letters interesting
for what they tell us about how Soviet youth, ranging from fourteen to sixteen years old, viewed the world, the United States,
and their own society in the crucial years preceding their state's collapse.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Soviet Union -- Social conditions -- 1970-1991
Youth -- Soviet Union