Letters from the USSR

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A person, a place, an organization, a moment — a different one each visit. Open it, or step into the whole collection.

People
Lennart MeriEstonian Foreign Minister / writer (later President) · 6 documents See all 65 people
Places
United States39 documents See them on the map
Organizations
Leningrad State Technical University (St. Petersburg State Technical University / Polytechnic / Kalinin Polytechnic Institute)University · 39 documents See all 58 organizations
Stories
Puppies in the airportThey belonged to a young Chinese couple who was heading for Irkutsk with 5 cocker spaniels and…See all 404 stories

151
Documents: 1991–1992
Years: 74,504
Words transcribed: 19
Languages

From the collection

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January 8, 1991 · Letter
Two Russian Submarine Jokes (Addendum on Russian Humor)
A two-page handwritten letter from Seth, dated Jan 8, 1991, sharing two Russian jokes he forgot to include in an earlier note on Russian humor. Both jokes were told to him by two naval officers over glasses of vodka. The first is about a Russian submarine captain sending a diver named Vasily to identify a sunken sub, ending with the punchline that he knocked on the door and they opened it (revealing it was Russian). The second is a North Pole / directions joke poking fun at Russian guidance systems. Seth closes worrying the jokes are funnier in Russian with vodka.
Russian humorSoviet jokes

The journey

Based in Saint Petersburg, tracing 95 stops

Postmarks and datelines map a route across the last months of the Soviet Union — from Saint Petersburg outward to the Baltics, Siberia, and the Far East. Follow it on the map, pin by pin.

Open the journey map

Letters from the USSR

Explore the archive

From the collection

Two Russian Submarine Jokes (Addendum on Russian Humor)

Based in Saint Petersburg, tracing 95 stops

Threads running through the letters

Postcard from St. Petersburg: "This world is so confusing"

Collection of Soviet Ruble Banknotes (1961 & 1991)

Leningrad Metro brochure and line map, annotated by Seth

Seth Baker — Leningrad return address & contact info card

AIFS Leningrad Contact Information Sheet