Review of the Personal Fund of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich in the State Archive of the Russian Federation

Print

Scientific article

УДК 94(47)+930.253+093

DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2021-3-891-903

Sofjin, Dmitriy M.

Perm State National Research University, Perm, Russian Federation

Sofjina, Marina V.

Perm State Institute of Culture, Perm, Russian Federation

Review of the Personal Fund of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich in the State Archive of the Russian Federation

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the personal fund of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich, a member of the Russian Imperial House, the younger brother of Emperor Alexander III, an outstanding state, military and public figure who held the posts of Moscow Governor-General, Commander of the Moscow Military District, Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. The fund, formed and described in the Soviet era, contains 160 cases, including youth and adult personal diaries of the fund-builder, epistolary, educational and official documents, photographs and other illustrative materials, and other documents. Various groups of storage units of the fund are analyzed, the features of each group and its information potential, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the materials, the source analysis of the most important documents is given. Special attention is paid to the diaries of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich and the letters of his correspondents, among which the most significant historical sources should be recognized as the letters of his nephew, Emperor Nicholas II, his cousin and friend, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, Ober-Procurator of the Most Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev, a former teacher of the fund-builder. These documents, among other things, cover important issues of state policy, show the behind-the-scenes side of making certain decisions in the leadership of the country. The fund also deposited letters and telegrams from other outstanding Russian figures – Alexander III, Commander-in-Chief of the Guard Troops and the Petersburg Military District Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav von Plehve, Minister of War Aleksey Kuropatkin, Minister of Justice Nikolay Muravyov, Metropolitan Sergius of Moscow. Among the official documents, it is particularly necessary to highlight the reports of the Moscow commandant to Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich as the Moscow Governor-General, given at the time of celebrations during the coronation of Nicholas II. These materials shed additional light on the organizational aspects of the last coronation in the history of the Russian Empire. The fund has a fairly extensive collection of illustrative material, primarily photographs, including photographs taken personally by Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich. A significant array of storage units of the fund has already been put into scientific circulation, and some materials have been published. At the same time, many documents still require research.

Keywords

Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich, Russian Imperial House, State Archive of the Russian Federation, personal fund, diaries, letters, source criticism.

Download the article: pdf

References

Velikii knyaz’ Sergii Aleksandrovich na sluzhbe Moskve i Otechestvu [Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich in the Service of Moscow and the Fatherland. In Russ.]. Moscow, Soyuz Dizain publ., 2015, 272 p.

BOKHANOV, A. N. Velikii knyaz’ Sergei Aleksandrovich [Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich. In Russ.]. IN: Rossiiskie conservatory [Russian Conservatives. In Russ.]. Moscow, Russkii mir publ., 1997, pp. 323–371.

GRISHIN, D. B. Tragicheskaya sud’ba Velikogo knyazya [The Tragic Fate of the Grand Duke. In Russ.]. Moscow, Veche publ., 2006, 304 p.

PLOTNIKOVA, I. V. (ed.). Na sluzhbe u Rossii. Velikii Knyaz’ Sergei Aleksandrovich [In the Service of Russia. Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich. In Russ.]. Moscow, Fond pamyati Vel. Kn. Sergeya Aleksandrovicha publ., 2013, 244 p.

SOF’IN, D. M. Velikii knyaz’ Sergei Aleksandrovich. Put’ russkogo konservatora [Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich. The Path of the Russian Conservative. In Russ.]. Moscow, ESPO publ., 2016, 240 p.

About the authors

Sofjin Dmitriy Mikhailovich, PhD in History, associate professor, Perm State National Research University, Department of Interdisciplinary History, assistant professor, Perm, Russian Federation, +7-342-239-62-84, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sofjina Marina Vladimirovna, PhD in History, Perm State Institute of Culture, Chair of Documentation and Library Affair and Bibliography, assistant professor, Perm, Russian Federation, +7-342-233-12-28, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

Acknowledgments: The reported study was funded by RFBR, project number 20-09-41012 Palestine «Diaries of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich, 1895–1897».

Submitted 27.02.2021, published (for Citation):

SOFJIN, DMITRIY M., SOFJINA, MARINA V. Obzor lichnogo fonda velikogo knyazya Sergeya Aleksandrovicha v Gosudarstvennom arkhive Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Review of the Personal Fund of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich in the State Archive of the Russian Federation. In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2021, no. 3, pp. 891-903. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2021-3-891-903

You can read completely article in the russian historic-archival magazine “The Herald of an Archivist”. Read more about terms of subscription here.

Полностью материал публикуется в российском историко-архивоведческом журнале ВЕСТНИК АРХИВИСТА. Ознакомьтесь с условиями подписки здесь.