The papers of Dmitriĭ Antonovich Volkogonov (1928-1995) span the years 1887-1995, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1917-1995. The collection consists of copies of material reproduced and supplied by thirteen Russian archives as well as originals of some of Volkogonov's personal papers. Included are correspondence, memoranda, reports, official protocols, directives, resolutions, schedules, logs, inventories of archival material, texts of speeches, personal testimonies, investigative reports, film scenarios, interviews, articles, photographs, and miscellaneous printed matter.

The collection is divided into sixteen series. Thirteen of the series represent individual archives in the former Soviet Union and Russia. The name of the series is the English-language name of the archives from which the copies were collected, and the parenthetical qualifier is the acronym of the Russian name. Volkogonov's personal papers comprise the fourteenth series. The fifteenth series contains oversize items and the sixteenth is an addition. The series are arranged alphabetically by name of archives. The size, chronology, and content of each series vary greatly.

Volkogonov used the records as primary source material for his historical writing and biographies. Tight restrictions on access to Russian archives were a hindrance to his research, and although he served in the military and was a Communist Party member for over forty years, he found only one archives fully open to him, the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense . The openness and reforms in the beginning stages of Perestroika in 1986, however, eventually allowed Volkogonov wider access to other archival material, and he collected voluminously from 1986 to his death in 1995.

Volkogonov's principal interest was the Soviet period and the figures who played major roles in its development. Two distinct generations of Soviet history were the primary focus of his work. Modern Russian history, according to Volkogonov, began in the 1870s and 1880s with the births of the participants in the events that led to the Russian Revolution and continued through World War II. Personalities were of great interest to Volkogonov, and his works include biographies of Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and other Soviet leaders.

Almost all major internal historical events in the development of the Soviet Union and its empire are documented in these records, but there is a large amount of material related to foreign relations and external events as well. Because much of the material was used for biographical research, the psychology and effects of absolute power are also well documented throughout the collection.

Records from the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation (APRF) series comprise the largest series in the collection and are divided into three subseries: Heads of State File , Regional File , and Subject File . The development of the Soviet Empire is documented in great detail. The Heads of State File in particular illustrates events of the twentieth century revealed through their leaders' activities. The Subject File traces the development of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Kommunistichaskaia Partiia Sovetskogo Soiuza) and its predecessor organizations with official protocols of the Central Committee on all the aspects of internal affairs. Of particular interest is the discussion of the relocation of various nationalities in the Soviet Union after World War II. Folders on Cold War events in Cuba and the Soviet war in Afghanistan highlight the Regional File.

The Soviet Union officially entered World War II on June 21, 1941, following the invasion of German troops. In 1939 Russian troops had occupied large regions of Poland, and in 1940 they invaded the Baltic states and engaged in the Finnish War. The year 1941, however, marked the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (Velikaia Otechestvennaia Voina). The Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO) series is essentially a World War II file divided into four chronological subseries covering the war in the Soviet Union, 1941-1945. The series is the most comprehensive one in the collection. Volkogonov had full access to these documents throughout his early writing career when he published and edited military propaganda. Material in this series and in the Post World War II File that does not relate directly to World War II includes records on the alleged criminal activities of Lavrentii Pavlovich Beriia, a file on Cuba during the missile crisis of October 1962, and documents on the military build-up in the Soviet Union in the Cold War period.

The Russian State Military Archive (RGVA) is among the largest in the collection. This series is basically a file which Volkogonov used for his biography of Trotsky published in 1992. Items highlight Trotsky's activities as chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic and military issues in the Soviet Union. Files on the "counterrevolutionary" conspiracy in the Red Army include many of the personal appeals made by participants in the conspiracy to exonerate their activities.

The small group of records from the Archive of the Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Academy of Sciences (AIVI MO RAN) consists of copies of material that is a part of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense . As director of the Institute of Military History from 1985 to 1991, Volkogonov was able to use the material in its archives with no restrictions. This series supplements the material in the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense series.

Several of the series are quite small. Records from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (TsA MVD) include only two documents, one dealing with the development of concentration camps in the Soviet Union and the other discussing exclusionary practices in Communist Party organizations. In the Center for the Preservation of Contemporary Documentation (TsKhSD) series, official protocols of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (TsK KPSS) and correspondence to the heads of state on internal issues in the years 1954-1991 are well represented. The Center for the Preservation of Historical Documentary Collections (TsKhIDK) series focuses on the years 1917-1920 and the Russian Revolution. Included are surveys of archival material on Lenin, Trotsky, Inessa Armand, Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, and others. The Central Archive of the Border Troops (TsAPV) series relates to airspace violations in the Far East near the city of Vladivostok in the 1950s. In the Archive of the Foreign Policy of Russia (AVPR) series, there are copies of valuable correspondence between Nikita S. Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Earlier records relate to Soviet relations with Germany, Poland, and Finland on the eve of World War II.

Vladimir Lenin and the cult that surrounded his personality after his death was the subject of a study by Volkogonov published in 1990. Lenin's activities are documented throughout this collection, especially by records in the Russian Center for the Preservation and Study of Recent Historical Documents (RTsKhIDNI) series. This series includes many recently-published documents as well as unpublished ones that illustrate Lenin's personality as well as his political views. Also present are five accounts by witnesses and participants in the assassination of Nicholas II and the imperial family in 1918.

Numerous files in the Central Archive of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (TsAFSB RF) include secret agent reports as well as personal information in the Investigation File . The Emigration File includes documents on post-Revolutionary emigration and the activities of monarchists and social revolutionaries abroad.

Documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) supplement and enhance material from other series in the collection. The material on the Doctors' Plot and related correspondence of Lidiia F. Timoshchuk are noteworthy. There is also additional material on the assassination of Nicholas II and the imperial family, including a transcript of the interrogation of Aleksandr Fedorovich Kerenskii from the collection of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Sokolov supplementing personal accounts of this event in the Russian Center for the Preservation and Study of Recent Historical Documents series.

Volkogonov was instrumental in the creation of the exhibit "Revelations from the Russian Archives" at the Library of Congress from June 17 to July 16, 1992. Copies of some of the documents in that exhibit are represented here, and the seventeen documents that comprise the Russian State Archive of the Economy (RGAE) series were part of the section of the exhibit that concerned economic cooperation between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. These documents are described in detail in the booklet "Revelations from the Russian Archives - a Checklist" that accompanied the exhibit and in Revelations From the Russian Archives: Documents in English Translation , edited by Diane P. Kenker and Ronald D. Bachman (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1997).

A prolific writer, Volkogonov wrote numerous books. His biography of Joseph Stalin has been widely translated. His interpretations were often controversial, and in 1985 he was removed from his position of assistant to the director of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet army because of his views on the role of the army. He was reassigned to the Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1991, he was relieved of this position following the publication of the first volume of a ten-volume work on World War II in which he commented on the unpreparedness of the Soviet army and Stalin's attitude towards the war.

All of Volkogonov's works that were nearing completion and publication are included in the Personal Papers series. The Correspondence File in this series contains letters from Volkogonov to Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin and material on modern Russian archival policies and Volkogonov's pivotal role in their development. For researchers of American history, the folder on the U.S.-Russia Commission on Prisoners of Wars and Missing in Action is noteworthy. Volkogonov was the Russian co-chairman of this commission.

Because each series of the collection includes copies of records housed in a different Russian archives, there is considerable chronological overlap and numerous cross references have been included in the container list. The majority of the documents are photocopies made for Volkogonov, and there is a wide range of print quality. Although the most recent materials are in quite readable form, certain examples from earlier periods are not as legible.

In formulating personal names and corporate body headings for subseries and folders, the Library of Congress Name Authority File was used with certain slight modifications. The years of birth and death were not included, and parenthetical qualifiers were added to certain names when necessary. Many of the leaders from the Revolutionary period used pseudonyms to protect their families. In the Name Authority File, the pseudonym was chosen as the primary identifying name, with cross references made to the actual family name. For example, the name authority for Vladimir Lenin appears as "Lenin, Vladimir Il'ich, 1870-1924," with a cross reference to "Ul'ianov, Vladimir Il'ich." The heading used in the subseries and folder headings is "Lenin, Vladimir Il'ich (Ul'ianov)." The name authority for Leon Trotsky includes a cross reference for "Trotskii, Lev Davidovich." The heading used in this finding aid is "Trotsky, Leon (Lev Davidovich)."

Material in the Addition is unfilmed and contains copies of documents from both the Center for the Preservation of Contemporary Documentation and the Central Archive of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation . Topics include the Hungarian revolution in 1956 and the uprising in the Czech Republic in 1968 as well as some materials on the dissolution of the Soviet Union.