"We were worried that Russia might change its mind during the bombing in Kosovo," Goldman said.

The collection is officially named the "George and Abby O'Neill Archives of the Communist Party and Soviet State" after the O'Neill family, who donated the necessary money for the purchase. Goldman said that George O'Neill '50 of New York has always been fascinated by documents from the Cold War.

Mark N. Kramer, director of the Harvard Project on Cold War Studies, said that while the $600,000 the O'Neills paid for the archives was substantially less than the amount the Russian government initially demanded, it still was more than Harvard was otherwise willing to pay.

"We would not have acquired the collection had it not been for his gift," Kramer said.

The purchase of the collection was handled by Chadwyck-Healy, a British microfilming firm. Kramer said the company was successful in getting most, although not all of the classified documents it requested.

"The Russians had a lot of say in what they can microfilm," Kramer said.

Kramer said he and others have already studied some of the archives and uncovered valuable information.