Metadata: N. K. Mikhailovskii
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. 181
- Title:
- N. K. Mikhailovskii
- Title (official language):
- Михайловский Н. К.
- Creator/accumulator:
- Mikhailovskii, Nikolai Konstantinovich
- Date(s):
- 1844/1922
- Language:
- Russian
- French
- Extent:
- 1,375 archival storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
- The fonds contains materials pertaining to N. K. Mikhailovskii’s biography (1844-1900); manuscripts of his works (1888-1903); correspondence (1876-1908), including letters from readers and subscribers (1873-1902); and documents of various persons (1882-1906), newspaper clippings, etc. Materials pertaining to Jewish history and culture (mainly in ops. 1 and 2) include letters to N. K. Mikhailovskii from L. Azef (undated), I. K. Brusilovskii (1895-97), S. A. Vengerov and Z. A. Vengerova (1895-1901, and undated), Ia. Drabkin (1896), I. I. Gerbsman (1902), A. G. Gornfel’d (1896), Ia. G. Gurevich (1895-1903), D. I. Zaslavskii (1898), A. M. Kalmykova (1894), A. G. Kovner (1898), A. A. Kaufman (1893-94), S. Leibovich (1888), I. E. Mandel’shtam (undated), S. L. Poliakov (1899), S. A. Rappoport (1887), E. N. Chirikov (1895-96), L. Ia. Shternberg (1889), and P. S. Iushkevich (1897-98); a letter from an unknown person signed “A Jewish Student” (1900); a letter congratulating N. K. Mikhailovskii on the 40th anniversary of his literary career from “a group of Jewish members of the intelligentsia” (1900); etc.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Nikolai Konstantinovich Mikhailovskii (1842-1904) was a commentator, literary scholar and critic, translator, sociologist, and one of the major theoreticians of populism. He studied at the St. Petersburg Institute of Mining Engineering. In 1863, without finishing his studies, he was forced to leave the institute due to his participation in student unrest. In 1860, he began his literary career, by the mid-1860s becoming a professional writer and commentator. From 1868 on, he worked at the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, first as a staff member, then as an editor; he published the articles “What is Progress?”, “The Struggle for Individuality”, etc. In 1879, he became associated with the People’s Will organisation, publishing articles in its newspaper. After the closure of Otechestvennye zapiski in 1884, he contributed to the journals Severnyi vestnik and Russkaia mysl’ and the newspaper Russkie vedomosti. In 1882, he was deported from St. Petersburg for his involvement with revolutionary organisations, first to Novgorod province, then to Vyborg, where he remained until 1886. In 1891, he was again deported for taking part in a demonstration at the funeral of N. V. Shelgunov. From 1892, he was one of the editors of the journal Russkoe bogatsvo.
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
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds comprises three series arranged by structure and in part alphabetically.
- Finding aids:
- Inventories are available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary
