This project would not be possible without a few key resources. The most important resource at our disposal was the work we completed in class and the mentors who gave us advice. The following resources have been invaluable for creating historical projects using computer methods. Since our letters are in the public domain, we've tinkered with the source material, reformatting it to suit our purposes.
Rather than working with a translated version of the letters, we opted to use the Russian originals. Here is a link to the Russian-language website we employed for the Stalin-Molotov Letters (1925-1936). If you cannot understand the linked website, here is a .txt file of the OCR'd letters. Click here to download the Stalin-Molotov letters (in Russian).
Github played an essential role in this project's collaborative process. Here is a link to our group's Github repository. Using Github, we've done our best to plot our research progress throughout the semester. This was a new tool for our team, and it was nice to start "thinking like a computer" through the process of git pushing and pulling.
Over the course of the semester, W3schools has been an excellent resource for learning how to code. It also shows many ways of sprucing up your documents or webpages. Click here for W3school's tutorials on HTML, which have key to this website's development. Additionally, their information on CSS is helpful for making your HTML look pretty and well-formed. Click here for W3school's tutorials on CSS. Besides HTML and CSS, which we've heavily employed in this class, W3schools has a wealth of resources on various programming languages.
When you're stumped on a coding problem, it's best to seek advice. The best advice is usually given by a professional who knows programming very well. However, for those with limited access to skilled programmers, we are in luck. There are a variety of resourses online to help you when you get stuck. In my experience, the most helpful of these is Stack Overflow. Here is a link to Stack Overflow, an essential tool in the digital humanist's toolbox. One piece of advice: look around online before copy-pasting from Stack Overflow. The code might not be what you want.
Conceived as a development platform for Dr. David Birnbaum of the University of Pittsburgh, Obdurodon is a website which hosts digital humanities projects. Stalin's Letters is hosted on Obdurodon, and benefits from the platform. Click here to be brought to Obdurodon. Take a minute to look at some of the research and other materials available.