Serving the Empire? The Ukrainian Nobility in the Late Eighteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

The focus of this article lays on the Cossack-rooted noble stratum on the Left Bank Ukrainian lands in the course of the long nineteenth century. It is asserted that various aspects of the issue have attracted scholarly attention in recent decades. The author approaches the subject through the examination of literary and historical works as well as private historical collections which the Ukrainian noble families possessed during the period. The evocative role of these artifacts is evaluated from the perspective of the “Cossack myth” and the restoration of the hetmancy in 1918.

Transition from analogue to digital at the National Archives of Zimbabwe

This paper seeks to bring to light the contemporary landscape of digital technology at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) and its move towards the provision of access and awareness of its historical collections through technology. The institution has geared towards opening its doors to the public through outreach programmes; public exhibitions; websites; oral history projects; publications and broadcasting archives with changing circumstances. The ideology of taking the archives to the citizens has paved way for outreach archivists to do the right thing, in line with their obligations to provide access to information. The National Archives of Zimbabwe, like any other archive, preserves records that have been selected for permanent preservation because of their historical and enduring value. The paper explores the challenges faced by the public archivist in the management of traditional and analogue archives and the subsequent need for transition to digital technologies. The adoption of digital technologies in the management of public archives will enable the public archivists to provide faster and easier access to the archival materials. Digital technologies enhance information sharing and reduce redundancy of the collections. The researchers used a qualitative case study methodology with an interpretivist perspective where the main focus of the research was on the NAZ’s Public Archive. Interviews, document analysis and observations were used as the major data collecting methods. The results showed that the institution had made a good start, encouraging progress and was still working on the migration from analogue technology to full adoption of digital technology.

Transition from analogue to digital at the National Archives of Zimbabwe

This paper seeks to bring to light the contemporary landscape of digital technology at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) and its move towards the provision of access and awareness of its historical collections through technology. The institution has geared towards opening its doors to the public through outreach programmes; public exhibitions; websites; oral history projects; publications and broadcasting archives with changing circumstances. The ideology of taking the archives to the citizens has paved way for outreach archivists to do the right thing, in line with their obligations to provide access to information. The National Archives of Zimbabwe, like any other archive, preserves records that have been selected for permanent preservation because of their historical and enduring value. The paper explores the challenges faced by the public archivist in the management of traditional and analogue archives and the subsequent need for transition to digital technologies. The adoption of digital technologies in the management of public archives will enable the public archivists to provide faster and easier access to the archival materials. Digital technologies enhance information sharing and reduce redundancy of the collections. The researchers used a qualitative case study methodology with an interpretivist perspective where the main focus of the research was on the NAZ’s Public Archive. Interviews, document analysis and observations were used as the major data collecting methods. The results showed that the institution had made a good start, encouraging progress and was still working on the migration from analogue technology to full adoption of digital technology.

To the Study of the Historical Narrative of Peter the Great’s Time. “Shestvia Journal” in the Funds of the Manuscripts Department of the RNL

Introduction. The “Shestvia (Procession) Journal” is one of the most common monuments of the historical narrative of the Peter the Great era. This monument has been published many times, but still does not have a scientific publication, and its handwritten tradition has practically not been studied. Methods and materials. This work examines the manuscripts of the “Shestvia Journal” in the funds of the Department of Manuscripts of the National Library of Russia. Analysis. The study of the literary “convoy” of historical collections about Peter the Great makes it possible to establish that the “Shestvia Journal” was assigned a strictly defined place in the narrative about the initial period of the reign of Peter the Great: in 42 collections it was directly connected with the texts of the “Notes” by A.A. Matveev, and only in eight lists had a separate existence. Results. Observations on the manuscripts of the “Shestvia Journal” held in the collections of the Manuscripts Department of the National Library of Russia allow us to hypothesize that the journal was created not as an independent work, but as part of a cycle of texts devoted to the early history of the reign of Peter the Great. This cycle, along with the magazine, included “The Legend of the Conception and Birth of... Emperor Peter the Great”, as well as the work of Count AA. Matveev on the rifle riots of 1682 and 1698.

Moths (Insecta: Lepidoptera) of Delhi, India: An illustrated checklist based on museum specimens and surveys

There have been several recent checklists, books and publications about Indian moths; however, much of this work has focused on biodiversity hotspots such as North-east India, Western Ghats and Western Himalayas. There is a lack of published literature on urban centres in India, despite the increased need to monitor insects at sites with high levels of human disturbance. In this study, we examine the moths of Delhi, the national capital region of India, one of the fastest growing mega-metropolitan cities. We present a comprehensive checklist of 338 moths species using 8 years of light trapping data (2012-2020) and examining about 2000 specimens from historical collections at the National Pusa Collection of ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (NPC-IARI) spanning over 100 years (1907-2020). The checklist comprises moths from 32 families spanning 14 superfamilies with Noctuoidea (48.5%) and Pyraloidea (20.4%) being the the two most dominant superfamilies. We provide links to images of live individuals and pinned specimens for all moths and provide detailed distribution records and an updated taxonomic treatment. This is the first comprehensive annotated checklist of the moths of Delhi. The present study adds 234 species to the biodiversity of moths from Delhi that were not reported previously, along with illustrations for 195 species.