“P.P. Smirnov ventures in his work, his scientific research; he never retreats when faced with the difficulties of controversial phenomena and attempts to resolve them”. Review of the book by N.A. Komochev and A.A. Karandeeva “Professor P.P. Smirnov at the Institute for History and Archives, 1930–1940. Documentary chroni

Abstract

The article analyzes the publication by N.A. Komochev and A.A. Karandeeva, related to the activities of the Russian historian, source researcher Pavel Petrovich Smirnov during his directorship at the Institute for History and Archives in 1941–1942. The authors compiled a chronicle of the scientist’s life with the help of the preserved biographical materials, the memoirs of P.P. Smirnov’s wife. The publication, for the first time, introduces into scientific circulation the documents from the personal collections of the Archives and the Scientific Library of the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library, the Central State Archives of Moscow, the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Tver Center for Documentation of Modern History. The book includes the research, archaeographic and reference parts, each of which allows us to fully evaluate P.P. Smirnov’s personality, his multifarious activities and contribution to the national historical science. The chronicle of P.P. Smirnov’s life is at the heart of the publication – it was compiled by the authors and indicates the milestones of the scholar’s life and activity. The inclusion in the text of the chronicle of the quotations from the memoirs of S.V. Smirnova and other sources, revealing in great detail the circumstances of the events described in the chronicle, the professional path of the scientist, his views, personal experiences, provided the means to brighten up the “matter of fact” biographical information, to make such data complete