Metadata: M. K. Lemke
Collection
- Country:
- Russia
- Holding institution:
- Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- Holding institution (official language):
- Институт русской литературы (Пушкинский Дом) Российской Академии наук
- Postal address:
- 199034, St. Petersburg, nab. Makarova, d. 4
- Phone number:
- (812) 328-19-01
- Web address:
- http://www.pushkinskijdom.ru
- Email:
- irliran@mail.ru
- Reference number:
- F. 661
- Title:
- M. K. Lemke
- Title (official language):
- Лемке М. К.
- Creator/accumulator:
- Lemke, Mikhail Konstantinovich
- Date(s):
- 1872/1929
- Language:
- Russian
- French
- Extent:
- 1,432 archival storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
The fonds contains manuscripts of M. K. Lemke, including articles and preparatory materials for various works (among them, editions of A. I. Herzen); an autobiography, personal materials, and correspondence with relatives (1896-1922); letters to M. K. Lemke from editorial offices of newspapers and journals and from various individuals (1897-1923); manuscripts and correspondence of M. K. Lemke’s wife, the children’s writer M. R. Lemke (1904-18) and materials of various persons (1904-19).
Documents pertaining to Jewish history and culture consist mainly of M. K. Lemke’s correspondence with Jewish literary and public figures about publication of their works in various journals and newspapers, including S. An-skii (in particular, with regard to his literary pseudonyms) (1900), A. I. Braudo (1904-05), Z. A. Vengerova (1906), S. A. Vengerov (1902-03), A. D. Vysotskii (1904), M. O. Gershenzon (including about the Odessa pogrom) (1907), I. V. Gessen (1902-16), Iu. M. Gessen (1911, 1917), Baron A. G. Gintsburg (1911), A. A. Gol’denveiser (1920), I. A. Gurvich (1904, 1906), Ia. S. Gurovich (1902, 1905), R. M. Kantor (1922) and others.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Mikhail Konstantinovich Lemke (1872-1923) was a commentator and historian of Russian journalism, censorship and the revolutionary movement. He studied at the Konstantin Military Academy and held the rank of officer. From 1898 to 1901, he headed the editorial office of the weekly Orlovskii vestnik and from 1901-02 served as editor of the Ekaterinoslav newspaper Pridneprovskii krai. In 1903-04, he was head of the history department of the liberal publishing house of M. V. Pirozhkov, as well as manager of the editorial offices and book depository of M. M. Stasiulevich. He was a contributor to the magazines and newspapers Smolenskii vestnik, Syn otechestva, Russkie novosti, Russkaia mysl’, Russkaia shkola, Vestnik prava, Russkoe bogatsvo and Mir Bozhii. A number of his articles were subsequently expanded and published separately in collections titled Thoughts of a Journalist (St. Petersburg, 1903), Essays on the History of Russian Censorship and Journalism of the 19th century (St. Petersburg, 1904) and The Era of the Censorship Reforms of 1859-65 (St. Petersburg, 1904). In 1904, he published the biographical sketch Nikolai Mikhailovich Iadrintsev. In 1906, he became editor of the bibliographic journal Kniga; in 1915-16, he served as military censor in the Supreme High Command General Headquarters. After the revolution, he lectured and conducted propaganda work at universities and factories and was involved in the reform of higher education. He was the founder and chair of the Society for the Study of the History of the Liberation and Revolutionary Movement in Russia. In 1920-21, he was one of the editors of the journal Kniga i revoliutsiia and then chairman of the board of the Petropechat’ trust. In 1922, shortly before his death, he joined the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). M. K. Lemke oversaw publication of The Notes and Diary of A. Nikitenko (2nd ed.; St. Petersburg, 1905), the collected works of N. A. Dobroliubov (four volumes; St. Petersburg, 1911), M. M. Stasiulevich and His Contemporaries in Their Correspondence (five volumes; St. Petersburg, 1911-13) and the complete works and letters of A. I. Herzen (22 volumes; Petrograd, Moscow, 1915-25).
The Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) (IRLI RAN) is a research institution within the Russian Academy of Sciences system. It was established in December 1905 on the initiative of several Russian cultural figures. In 1899, the Academy of Sciences had organised a commission to prepare celebrations of the centenary of Alexander Pushkin’s birth. The commission originally planned to erect a monument to the poet, but eventually it was decided to establish a museum and library. In April 1906, government funding was allocated for the acquisition of Pushkin’s library, which, upon its transfer to Pushkin House, became the initial basis for an enormous collection of books, manuscripts, and items related to the great Russian poet. The main fonds of the Pushkin House was assembled by B L Modzalevskii. He also drafted the “Pushkin House statute”, ratified by Emperor Nicholas II in 1907. Since 1930, the Pushkin House has been the academic Institute of Russian Literature while also preserving its original name of Pushkin House. In 1955, the Pushkin House was added to the State Codex of Particularly Valuable Objects of Cultural Heritage. The Pushkin House is currently one of the leading centres for research on Russian literature.
The manuscripts department constitutes a complex for source studies; along with the literary museum and library, it served as the basis for the establishment of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) (IRLI RAN) in 1930. It was organised in 1906, when the Pushkin House received the library of A. S. Pushkin, numbering over 3,500 volumes. In 1908, the first manuscript materials were received: A. N. Pleshcheev’s letters to V. D. Dandevil’ and autograph manuscripts of A. S. Pushkin; subsequently received (1928) was a collection of Pushkin-era manuscripts and memorabilia that had belonged to A. F. Onegin. By resolution of the government (1938) and Academy (1948), all Pushkin autograph manuscripts formerly held in the country’s various archives were concentrated at Pushkin House. In 1917, the manuscript heritage of M. Iu. Lermontov was transferred to Pushkin House, and in 1919, the Dashkov collection and the collection of M. I. Semevskii, consisting especially of the extensive archive of the journal Russkaia starina [Russian Antiquities]. Upon the incorporation of Pushkin House into the Academy of Sciences structure in 1930, the manuscripts department was established and tasked with the special functions of collecting, housing, systematising and studying the manuscript heritage of Russian writers, and fonds of their personal papers were organised. The manuscripts department also includes collections of literary organisations, publishing houses and periodicals. In all, the manuscripts department houses over 900 fonds and collections. There are also numerous reference and biblioGraphic materials, first and foremost the card catalogue of S. A. Vengerov. This is joined by the card catalogues of B. L. and L. B. Modzalevskii, as well as of V. I. Saitov; these contain bibliographic, biographical and genealogical information, not only about writers but also about the entire cultural stratum of 19th-century Russian society. The manuscripts department is constantly updated with new materials. The department’s research activities are reflected in its publications and editions, its primary serial being the Yearbook of the Manuscripts Department of Pushkin House. The web site of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) features an electronic version of the publication Personal Fonds of the Manuscripts Department of Pushkin House. An Annotated Index (St. Petersburg, 1999).
- Access points: locations:
- Russia
- Subject terms:
- Correspondence
- Literature
- Pogroms
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds comprises a single series arranged by structure and in part alphabetically.
- Finding aids:
- An inventory is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary
