“A precious source for the investigation of many issues connected with the historical geography of the Russian land…”: Devoted to the release of the book by V.G. Buhert “The Land Surveying Chancery Archives (the Central Land Surveying Archives). 1768–1939”

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the book by V.G. Buhert, a famous Russian archivist. The book is devoted to the history of the formation and activities of the Land Surveying Chancery Archives (the Central Land Surveying Archives) which existed from 1768 to 1939, as well as to the Chancery’s structure and the subject matter of its documents. Starting with the second half of the 18th century, the Russian authorities began carrying out the land surveying procedure. As a result, valuable documentary material was accumulated in the Land Surveying Chancery – cartographic records (schemes, maps, collections of maps), text documents (land plat books, notes on economy issues), etc. At present, the documents are kept in the Russian State Archives for Ancient Acts.
It is pointed out that on the basis of detected documents the author of the book managed to restore some little-known information about the acquisition, registration and the description of archival sources, as well as about the fate and fortunes of the Archive’s workers.
The reader of the book gets to learn about the destinies and the activities of the researchers and ordinary workers of archives who laboured for the benefit of archives and for the development of archival science. Many of them contributed not only to the improvement of a concrete archives, but also to the progress of other Russian archives.
It is highlighted that the author worked out a specified method of detecting and exploring archival records. Successively using contemporary research methods, V.G. Buhert tackled the tasks of the systemically integral, historical and archival character.