Metadata: A. S. Norov
Collection
- Country:
- Russia
- Holding institution:
- The National Library of Russia
- Holding institution (official language):
- Российская национальная библиотека. Отдел рукописей.
- Postal address:
- 91069, Russia, St. Petersburg, ul. Sadovaia, д. 18, main building
- Phone number:
- (812) 310-28-56
- Web address:
- http://www.nlr.ru
- Email:
- office@nlr.ru
- Reference number:
- F. 531
- Title:
- A. S. Norov
- Title (official language):
- НОРОВ А. С.
- Creator/accumulator:
- A. S. Norov
- Date(s):
- 1707, 1821/1872
- Language:
- Russian
- French
- English
- Arabic
- Greek, Ancient (to 1453)
- Hebrew
- Italian
- Latin
- German
- Greek, Modern (1453-)
- Extent:
- 960 storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
The fonds includes a considerable set of various materials on Jewish history and culture. Housed in the inventory’s first section, “Biographical materials of A. S. Norov,” which contains certificates conferring ranks and honours, diplomas from Russian and foreign learned societies, foreign-travel passports, inheritance and financial documents, etc., are notes regarding the grammar rules of ancient Hebrew, a Hebrew alphabet, and grammar exercises completed in A. S. Norov’s hand.
Materials of the second section encompass documents pertaining to A. S. Norov’s official activities at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Education, Senate, and State Council. Among these are materials connected with the operations of the Department of Spiritual Affairs of Foreign Confessions: a copy of a memorandum to the Grodno civil governor from Prince A. N. Golitsyn, director of the Department of Spiritual Affairs of Foreign Confessions, arguing that the accusation that Jews used Christian blood for ritual purposes was groundless, and that normal due process should be applied in cases of Jews being investigated for murder, with an appended excerpt from I.-B. Levinsohn’s book Éfés dammîm: A Series of Conversations at Jerusalem between a Patriarch of the Greek Church and a Chief Rabbi of the Jews, Concerning the Malicious Charge against the Jews of Using Christian Blood (Eng. trans. London, 1841); memoranda from various persons addressed to A. S. Norov in his capacity as minister of education regarding issues of education in Russia, with appended government edicts on “the Jewish question” (1835-61); and also authorised copies of memoranda and reports of Education Minister Prince P. A. Shirinskii-Shikhmatov on the issue of introducing a new system for educating Jewish youth (1850s).
The third section, “Works by A. S. Norov,” contains autograph manuscripts of all of his works, and materials he used in writing them, including parts 1 and 2 of his “Journey to the Holy Land in 1835” (1830s); “Jerusalem and Sinai. Notes from a Second Journey to the Orient” (latter half of the 1860s), which describes A. S. Norov’s route from Acre-Beirut-Jerusalem-Hebron, including notes on Jerusalem’s Jewish quarter, with an appended piece titled “A View on the History of Jerusalem”; materials used by A. S. Norov in writing these include travel notes, maps, excerpts, sketches, bibliographic descriptions of literature on the history and geography of Palestine; extracts from an article on a trip to Jerusalem by Capt. Ch. G. Newbold in 1836, as well as from works by Herodotus and Strabo; the text of “The Pilgrimage of Hegumen Daniil to the Holy Land in the Early Twelfth Century,” published by the Archeographic Commission, edited by A. S. Norov with commentary by him, and voluminous other material used in preparing it for publication, along with a French translation of this monument of old Russian literature, a map of Jerusalem, etc. (1864).
The fourth section has letters to and from A. S. Norov. Among his correspondents were statesmen (Emperors Nicholas I and Alexander II; A. M. Gorchakov, A. Kh. Benkendorf, M. A. Korf); scholars (N. I. Kostomarov, M. P. Pogodin, V. Ia. Struve); and writers (D. Davydov, V. S. Odoevskii, E. P. Rostopchin, and others).
The sixth section, “Materials of other persons,” includes, along with works, documents, and letters from various persons, “A Brief Memorandum on A. S. Firkovich’s Collection of Ancient Hebrew Manuscripts” by that collector’s son-in-law G. S. Firkovich (1859); a piece by the academician A. F. Bychkov on the pilgrimages made by Andrei Ignat’ev and the Moscow merchant Vasilii to holy sites in the 15th and 18th c.; excerpts from the Old Testament; a handwritten copy (1707) of a document titled “Pilgrimage, or the journey of the honest hieromonk Ippolit Vishenskii, who has taken the monastic vows of the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb of the Cathedral of the Chernigov Archbishopric, to the holy city of Jerusalem”; a handwritten copy of the Book of Jeremiah made in the 1830s; and M. O. Koialovich’s “A Note on the Jews,” about the condition of Jews in the Southwestern territory (1860s).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Avraam Sergeevich Norov (1795-1869) was a statesman, poet, translator, historian, philologist, and collector. He studied at the Moscow University boarding school, but did not graduate, instead transferring to military service. During the War of 1812 he was wounded in the Battle of Borodino, and lost a leg. He retired in 1823 with the rank of colonel and entered service at the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the position of special-assignments officer. From 1839-50 he was a member and overseer of the Senate Petition Commission; from 1850-54, deputy minister of education; and from 1854-58, minister of education. In 1851 he was elected a full member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Over the course of many years, he chaired the Archeographic Commission and was a member of many learned societies and commissions, and was an honorary member of the Imperial Public Library. In 1854 he became a member of the State Council. He first traveled through Europe in 1821; in 1834-35, he made a trip to Palestine; in 1840 he was in Egypt; and in 1862 he made a second trip to Palestine. As a young man he wrote poetry and translated ancient authors, but he is best known for his extensive and highly detailed descriptions of his travels. As a religious believer, in his books he pays a great deal of attention to describing temples, religious rituals, and clergymen.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Alexander II
- Benkendorf, A. Kh.
- Bychkov, A. F.
- Davydov, D.
- Firkovich, A.
- Firkovich, G. S.
- Golitsyn, A. N.
- Gorchakov, A. M.
- Herodotus
- Ignat’ev, Andrei
- Jeremiah
- Koialovich, M. O.
- Korf, M. A.
- Kostomarov, N. I.
- Levinsohn, I.-B.
- Newbold, Ch. G.
- Nicholas I
- Norov, A. S.
- Odoevskii, V. S.
- Pogodin, M. P.
- Rostopchin, E. P.
- Shirinskii-Shikhmatov, P. A.
- Strabo
- Struve, V. Ia.
- Vishenskii, Ippolit
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds includes a single inventory systematised by structure.
- Finding aids:
- An inventory is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary