scholarly journals The Rumyantsev Museum’s History in Russian Memoir Sources

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 504-517
Author(s):  
Tatiana Ya. Briskman

The article provides an analytical review of the memoirs on the history of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museum (now the Russian State Library), which started with the collections of count N.P. Rumyantsev. The author considers the memories on the Rumyantsev Museum since its foundation in St. Petersburg in 1828, its transfer to Moscow, the activities of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev museums from 1862 to 1917. The author notes the role of memoir literature for the study of the history of librarianship. The article gives description of the sources containing the unique bibliogra­phic information, which reflects publications of me­moirs, diaries, letters about the Rumyantsev Museum in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The article presents the history of the transfer of the Rumyantsev Museum from St. Petersburg to Moscow and gives fragments from the memoirs of V.V. Stasov and “Diary” of V.F. Odoevsky about this event. The author also presents publications dedicated to the leaders of the Rumyantsev Museum and analytically discloses the memoirs placed in them. The article gives excerpts from memoirs, diaries, letters, which reflect the events and facts from the history of foundation and formation of the Rumyantsev Museum, the role of individuals who have made great contribution to the development of the Museum and its library. The author presents information from the memoirs, diary entries of readers about visiting the Rumyantsev library, their contribution to the accession of collections. The article also gives information about the publication of memoirs of the descendants of V.D. Golitsyn, the last Director of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums who became its first Soviet Director. The author reveals the potential of memoir materials for further research of the history of the Rumyantsev Museum and its library, its role in the history of culture and spiritual life of Russian society.

Author(s):  
Alexander Y. Samarin

The article presents the analysis of the new book of the famous bibliophile, researcher and populariser of rare books and bibliophilism, the Chairman of the National Union of Bibliophiles M.V. Seslavinsky about the history of creation, specific aspects of publishing and art design of the famous bibliophilic edition “Cantata” by A.A. Sidorov (Moscow, 1921). Comic verses of the future famous bibliologist and art critic, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR became the text for the first edition of the Russian society of the friends of books (1920—1929), the largest Association of booklovers of the 1920s. Two small runs totalled only 20 copies. The study is based primarily on the copies of “Cantata” preserved in the state collections (the Russian State Library, the State Tretyakov Gallery) and private collections, including the M.V. Seslavinsky’s one. The discovery of new documents on the history of the publication allowed restoring the list of owners of the autographed copies. Using the copy-by-copy method, the researcher succeeded in describing the numerous design options of the rarity of bibliophile publishing. The use of art-historical methods allowed to finally establish that the prototype for the image on the engraving “Bibliophile in 1920” (artist N.B. Baklanov, engraver I.N. Pavlov) was A.N. Benoit, the famous painter. The author introduces into circulation the handwritten poetic epistles of A.A. Sidorov to the owners of the autographed copies and other unique materials about preparation for printing, distribution and provenance of “Cantata”. In general, it can be concluded that M.V. Seslavinsky’s approaches to the analysis of “Cantata” can become basic in the study of bibliophile book as a special cultural phenomenon and trend in book publishing.


Author(s):  
Pavel V. Pitchugin

The article is devoted to the history and development of the Ecclesiastical Seminary of Our Saviour and Bethany and its Library at the end of XVIII - beginning of XIX Century. In the work there are used the materials of the Scientific-Research Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library and other sources. They allow to make conclusions on the role of Seminary's library in the history of national education of the XVIII century. Article is of interest for historians, specialists in library science and history of education.


Author(s):  
Aleksandra Al'bertovna Milenko

The object of this research is the analysis of the personal archives of Russian historians. The subject of this research is the examination of the personal archive of Professor Valery Ivanovich Bovykin, preserved in the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library since 1998. Leaning on the aforementioned sources, the article explores the history of the project “The Fate of Russia's Debt”, which was among unaccomplished plans of the scholar. The author attempted to assess the role of V. I. Bovykin in project organization on studying Russia's debts in the early XX century. The article touches upon the topic of discovery of the scholar’s laboratory, his archive for finding new scientific historical knowledge. The author analyzes how the Professor's personal archive allows following the process of creating the project infrastructure, since all the materials on the project were accumulated by the scholar, which defines the novelty of this work. It is revealed that the project of V. I. Bovykin was against the foreign policy conducted by the Russian Federation in the 1990s. The conclusion is made that the key components of the scientific method, followed by Valery Ivanovich Bovykin in his research, imply a solid empirical base, as well as advancing the topic to the international level.


Author(s):  
T. Y. Briskman

The article presents an overview of the published and unpublished correspondence and memoirs of Nikolay Alexandrovich Rubakin, the outstanding Russian bibliologist, library scientist, bibliographer, educator and writer, whose versatile work and activities occupy the prominent place in the history of Russian culture and spiritual life of Russia in the second half of the 19th — the first half of the 20th century. The relevance of the appeal to the personality and creative heritage of N.A. Rubakin is defined by his role in studying the problems of reading and reader. In the context of the development of modern information society, the reading is of great importance in the development of spiritual and creative abilities of individual. There is highlighted the role of N.A. Rubakin in the history of the Russian State Library. The letters and memoirs are considered as documentary and historical sources containing unique biographical information. In the overview there is given their substantial characteristics and special purpose. Publications presented in the Biobibliographic Index “Nikolay Rubakin (1862—1946)”, published in the “Pashkov Dom” Publishing House of the Russian State Library in 2012, as well as the materials revealed after publication of the Index, are combined into a single array. The article gives many excerpts from the letters and memoirs, illustrating various events and facts from the life of N.A. Rubakin, which were not represented in the Indexes. There are determined the groups of his correspondents; and identified different archives holding his correspondence. Memoirs type materials, their connection with publication of the correspondence are characterized. There is revealed their potential for further research and detailed description with the purpose of introducing into the scientific circulation of new information about the life and activities of N.A. Rubakin..


Author(s):  
Yury Stolyarov

The history of establishment and dissolution of the Office for People’s Education - that succeeded the Russian State Library for People’s Education established on the initiative of prominent pedagogue and bibliographer V. I. Charnolusky - is discussed. The shady role of People’s Commissariat of Education (Narkompros) and the Lenin Library that undertook the Office’ staff, collections and card catalogs, is revealed.


Author(s):  
Andrey S. Usachev

The article tells about the collection of manuscript books of collector and Old Believer P. Ovchinnikov (1843—1912), now stored in the Manuscript Research Department of the Russian State Library. The special attention is paid to early history of the collection: to features of work of the collector with manuscripts, and also to their use by other researchers. The research is based on the data of various sources — notes on books, memoirs of contemporaries about P. Ovchinnikov, the unpublished documents.


Author(s):  
Margarita Y. Dvorkina

The article is devoted to the memory of Lyudmila Mikhailovna Koval (October 17, 1933 – February 15, 2020), historian, Head of the History sector of the Russian State Library (RSL) and the Museum of Library history. The author presents brief biographical information about L.M. Koval, the author of more than 350 scientific and popular scientific works in Russian and in 9 foreign languages. She published 29 books in Publishing houses “Nauka”, “Kniga”, “Letniy Sad”, ”Pashkov Dom”, most of the works are dedicated to the Library. Special place in the work of L.M. Koval is given to the Great Patriotic War theme. The article considers the works devoted to the activities of Library staff during the War period. L.M. Koval paid much attention to the study of activities of the Library’s Directors. She prepared books and articles about the Directors of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums and Library from the end of the 19th century and almost to the end of the 20th century: N.V. Isakov, D.S. Levshin, V.A. Dashkov, M.A. Venevitinov, I.V. Tsvetaev, V.D. Golitsyn, A.K. Vinogradov, V.I. Nevsky, N.M. Sikorsky. The author notes contribution of L.M. Koval to the study of the Library’s history. Specialists in the history of librarianship widely use bibliography of L.M. Koval in their research. The list of sources contains the main works of L.M. Koval, and the Appendix includes reviews of publications by L.M. Koval and the works about her.


Author(s):  
Svetlana Y. Khvostova

On the Opening of the Department of the Russian State Library in Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, as well as about the history of the Library of Schneerson family, which had become the center of the collection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (11-1) ◽  
pp. 132-147
Author(s):  
Dmitry Rakovsky

The main purpose of this article is to study the role of the Russian Museum in the formation of the historical consciousness of Russian society. In this context, the author examines the history of the creation of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III and its pre-revolutionary collections that became the basis of this famous museum collection (in particular, the composition of the museum’s expositions for 1898 and 1915). Within the framework of the methodology proposed by the author, the works of art presented in the museum’s halls were selected and distributed according to the historical eras that they reflect, and a comparative analysis of changes in the composition of the expositions was also carried out. This approach made it possible to identify the most frequently encountered historical heroes, to consider the representation of their images in the museum’s expositions, and also to provide a systemic reconstruction of historical representations broadcast in its halls.


Author(s):  
Semen M. Iakerson

Hebrew incunabula amount to a rather modest, in terms of number, group of around 150 editions that were printed within the period from the late 60s of the 15th century to January 1, 1501 in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Turkey. Despite such a small number of Hebrew incunabula, the role they played in the history of the formation of European printing cannot be overlooked. Even less possible is to overestimate the importance of Hebrew incunabula for understanding Jewish spiritual life as it evolved in Europe during the Renaissance.Russian depositories house 43 editions of Hebrew incunabula, in 113 copies and fragments. The latter are distributed as following: the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences — 67 items stored; the Russian State Library — 38 items; the National Library of Russia — 7 items; the Jewish Religious Community of Saint Petersburg — 1 item. The majority of these books came in public depositories at the late 19th — first half of the 20th century from private collections of St. Petersburg collectors: Moses Friedland (1826—1899), Daniel Chwolson (1819—1911) and David Günzburg (1857—1910). This article looks into the circumstances of how exactly these incunabula were acquired by the depositories. For the first time there are analysed publications of Russian scholars that either include descriptions of Hebrew incunabula (inventories, catalogues, lists) or related to various aspects of Hebrew incunabula studies. The article presents the first annotated bibliography of all domestic publications that are in any way connected with Hebrew incunabula, covering the period from 1893 (the first publication) to the present. In private collections, there was paid special attention to the formation of incunabula collections. It was expressed in the allocation of incunabula as a separate group of books in printed catalogues and the publication of research works on incunabula studies, which belonged to the pen of collectors themselves and haven’t lost their scientific relevance today.


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