This project investigates the rise and fall of Russia's independent mediasphere during the "long 1990s," the period between the start of Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost reforms in 1985 and Vladimir Putin's rise to the Russian presidency in 2000. Scroll and click to explore the encounter of mainstream and fringe, of ideologues and idealists, of dazzling creativity and rank commercialism in post- Soviet Russophone print, television, Web 1.0, and radio media, as well as the domains of performance and material culture. By preserving, interrogating, and re-interpreting key artifacts from the first post-Soviet decade, our curated collection sheds light on a remarkable, if short-lived, period in recent Russian history and offers insight into its long legacy in the global present. Scroll down or use the "explore" button above to browse artifacts by category—or simply click here to start.