Metadata: S. Ia. Nadson
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. 198
- Title:
- S. Ia. Nadson
- Title (official language):
- Надсон С. Я.
- Creator/accumulator:
- Nadson, Semyon Iakovlevich
- Date(s):
- 1870s/1902
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 181 archival storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
- The fonds contains notebooks, journals and autograph manuscripts of poems, articles and stories of S. Ia. Nadson (1870s-1880s), letters from readers to the poet (undated) and articles about him by various authors published on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of his death (1900s). Pertaining to the history of Jews in Russia are journals of S. Ia. Nadson that reflect issues in the identity formation of Jewish converts to Christianity, as well as their integration into Russian society in the late 19th century (1880).
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Semyon Iakovlevich Nadson (1862-1887) was a poet and literary critic. He was born into the family of a court councillor, a Jewish convert to Russian Orthodoxy. In 1879, he enrolled at the Pavel Military Academy, but due to illness graduated only in 1882; receiving the rank of second lieutenant, he served in the Caspian regiment, which was stationed in Kronstadt. In 1884, he retired from military service. He worked as secretary of the editorial office of the newspaper Nedelia, but his worsening tuberculosis soon forced him to quit working entirely. His first publication came in 1878 with the poem “At Dawn” in the journal Svet. In 1883-84, he published articles and reviews in Otechestvennye zapiski and in 1886 his critical feuilletons were printed in the Kiev newspaper Zaria. In 1885, the first collection of Nadson’s poems, and the only to be published during his lifetime, brought him considerable fame. The last years of his life were given over entirely to the treatment of his illness and were spent in the south of Russia and foreign resorts with material support from friends and the Literary Fund.
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
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds is arranged by structure.
- Finding aids:
- A card file is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary
