Overcoming the «archival disorder». Interaction between A.A. Geraklitov and the Special Commission for the Preservation of Local Archival Materials at the Imperial Russian Historical Society

The article deals with the one of the most important episodes in the development of the Historical Archives of the Saratov Scientific Archival Commission – the interaction of its curator A.A. Geraklitov and the Special Commission for the Preservation of Local Archival Materials at the Imperial Russian Historical Society in 1912–1916. It particularly notes the influence of the Special Commission on Geraklitov’s development as an archivist is noted. Based on the commission’s request in 1912, he prepared a report on the condition of the archives in the Saratov region. That work contributed to receiving a one-time grant from the Special Commission in the amount of 2000 rubles. The Saratov Archival Commission decided to spend that grant on surveying the regional archives. For his colleagues from the regional archives, Geraklitov compiled a guide for the description of archival premises, in which he formulated his thoughts on appraising the documents. In addition, the grant made it possible to expand the storage space for the files in the Archival Commission and to foster the publication of the archive’s collection of finding aids. The author characterizes A.A. Geraklitov participation at the Congress of the Representatives of the Governorate Scientific Archival Commissions and Corresponding Institutions on May 6–8, 1914, organized by the Special Commission. For the Congress, Geraklitov prepared a report on historical archives at archival commissions. The Congress served as an important impetus for discussing and resolving the issues of centralizing archives and developing instructions for selecting and storing files. A.A. Geraklitov also took part in that discussion, thanks to which it is possible to observe his growth as the organizer of archives administration in the Saratov region.

1. Brzhostovskaya, N.V. (1954), “Activities of regional archival commissions on the creation of historical archives”, Trudy Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo istoriko-arkhivnogo instituta [Works of the Moscow State Institute for History and Archives], vol. 5, pp. 78–116.

2. Khorkhordina, T.I. (2003), Rossiyskaya nauka ob arkhivakh: istoriya, teoriya, lyudi [Russian archival science. History, theory, people], RGGU, Moscow, Russia.

3. Kosheleva, E.Yu. (2008), Razvitie arkhivnogo dela v Saratovskoi gubernii v poreformennyi period: 1864–1917 gg. [Development of archives administration in the Saratov region in the post-reform period. 1864–1917], Ph.D. Thesis (History), Moscow, Russia.

4. Mayorova, A.S. (2009), “Activities of Saratov Scientific Archival Commission in 1917–1918”, Herald of an Archivist, no. 2, pp. 139–156.

5. Pervushkin, V.I. (2008), «Byt’ neutomimymi rabotnikami na pol’zu rodnoi istoricheskoi nauki…»: Istoriya Tambovskoi, Saratovskoi i Penzenskoi gubernskikh uchenykh arkhivnykh komissii [“Being tireless workers for the benefit of our native historical science…”. History of the Tambov, Saratov and Penza regional scientific archival commissions], PGPU, Penza, Russia.

6. Samokhvalova, N.V. (2006), “Participation of Saratov residents in the First Congress of Representatives of Regional Scientific Archival Commissions”, in Kraevedenie i arkhivnoe delo v provintsii: istoricheskii opyt i perspektivy razvitiya: Materialy mezhregional’noi nauchnoi konferentsii, posvyashchennoi 120-letiyu Saratovskoi gubernskoi uchenoi arkhivnoi komissii [Local history and archival work in the provinces. Historical experience and development prospects. Proceedings of the Interregional Scientific Conference Commemorating to the 120th Anniversary of the Saratov Regional Scientific Archival Commission], Saratov, Russia, pp. 63–67.

7. Sanin, O.G. (2017), “Mikhail G. Sobakin is the head of the Moscow archives of the College of Foreign Affairs”, RSUH/RGGU Bulletin. “Records Management and Archival Studies. Computer Science. Data Protection and Information Security” Series, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 9–31.

8. Shumeiko, M.F. (2019), “D.I. Dovgiallo as an archivist, archaeographer, expert in source studies. To the scholar’s 150th anniversary”, History and Archives, no. 3, pp. 125–141.

9. Zakharov, V.M. and Zakharova, T.A. (2005), Saratovskaya uchenaya arkhivnaya komissiya (1886–1920) [Saratov Scientific Archival Commission (1886–1920)], Izdatel’stvo VolGU, Volgograd, Russia.