The article analyzes Kalmyk Khan Ayuka̓s letters kept at the National Archives of the Republic of Kalmykia. Until the 18th century, the Kalmyk archives was part of the Astrakhan provincial archives, subsequently, in the late 18th – early 19th centuries it developed into a structural unit of the local government of Kalmykia. After the October revolution of 1917, the archives of the Kalmyk people administration became the basis for the creation of the Kalmyk archives. This institution is now a unique repository of documents since 1713.
The letters of the Kalmyk Khans are located in Fund 36 “Attached to Kalmyk affairs under the Astrakhan governor”. Some of them have been published. The letters are written in old Kalmyk (Oirat) language with the translation into Russian. The language of the letters is extremely laconic, much has been left unsaid, the most important information must have been transmitted orally through envoys. Letters of the Kalmyk Khans, preserved in the National Archives of the Republic of Kalmykia, are a valuable sources that provide the opportunity to consider not only the Russian-Kalmyk relations, the nuances of the relationship between the Kalmyk Khans and the Russian authorities, but also the relationship within the Khanate, between the Khan and his children and grandchildren, between the Khan and the Kalmyk noyons.

The article examines and analyzes sources that disclose one of the secrets of obtaining information by an English journalist. The sources are: “The case of a barrister Frantz Olshevsky and others”, which was started as a result of receiving and distributing official documents that were not to publicize. The file containing the documents is kept in the State Archives of the Russian Federation, in the fund of the Department of Police of the Ministry for Internal Affairs. The other is the memoirs of one of the first regular correspondent of the British newspaper The Times in Saint Petersburg at the end of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century, kept in the personal archive of John Ford, the United Kingdom.
The analysis of the documents reveals the connections between the members of the secret community existed at the territory of the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th century. The purpose of the community was to obtain illegally such official documents as the Reports to the Tzar and the journal of the Committee of Minister from the Office of the Committee of Ministers. Their aim was to publish these documents abroad; in particular, the role of participants in this process is determined and the motives for the commission of malfeasance are identified. A secret relationship of the British journalist with one of the representatives of this community is revealed and its role in the life of this representative is shown.

The emergence of communities of Russian diaspora in several countries of the World caused the formation of extensive archival heritage. The study of this heritage is one the most topical contemporary problems. The activities related to revealing, restitution to Russia and use of this heritage significantly increased in the last decades. This is connected with the change of political situation, the availability of access of researchers to archival collections of Russian diaspora. The topicality of this fundamental research problem is being deepened by the necessity of elimination of existing information flaw during the contemporary period of Russian history – to reveal the information about the documents of Russian diaspora and their locations in foreign archives and compile it in the unified information data base. The revealing of contemporary location of different documents of this group has as a further aim the reconstruction of integrity of dispersed archival collections by the ways of restitution, exchange or copying of documents and also by the way of virtual unification, for example, in the form of digital archive. The availability of possibly complete information about documents which are kept in foreign archives, libraries, museums, private collections gives the opportunity to reconstruct on the revealed documentary base the comprehensive picture of the most tense periods of Russian history.

The article describes a difficult procedure of establishing the Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk starting with the very beginning of the idea and the pro and contra arguments up to the process of the building restoration and the collection of exhibit items. The work also includes the information about the museum’s exposition, which is now available for the visitors. The research is based on the archival records from the State Archives of the Vitebsk region, on the information received during the author’s visit to the Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk and also on the autobiography written by the artist about the Russian period of his life. The author of the article introduces into scientific use those archival records that have not been published before though they have been connected with the establishment of the museum. The paper also touches upon the poorly studied information about the sources of the museum funding, including international sponsors, the data about the provenance of the exhibit items and their authenticity, about the presence of the house in Chagall’s pictures and in his memoires, and about the way the rooms were used when the artist and his family owned the house and how the apartments were changed during the restoration. The article includes the pictures and copies of the archival records connected with the negotiating process with the authorities of Belarus to open the museum.

The article is devoted to the experience of using the funds of Russian archives by researcher Alexey Romanovich Levaskin. He was a professional orchestral soloist – a tubist with a wide experience of diverse orchestral practice. A touring musician and the soloist of the orchestra, the researcher for several years dedicated all his free time to the exploration of the history if the tuba in Russia and its influence on Emperor Alexander III who was genuinely interested in studying it.
The archival survey was based on the sources of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), the Russian State Archives of Literature and Art (RGALI) and the Russian State Historical Archives (RGIA).
In the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), A.R. Levaskin identified Fund 667 “Alexander III” (1845–1896). In the Russian State Archives of Literature and Art (RGALI), heascertained Fund 659 “The Moscow Bureau of the Imperial Theaters” (1806–1917) and the journal “Yearbook of the Imperial Theaters”. In the Russian State Historical Archives (RGIA), the researcher identified Fund 500 “The Court Orchestra of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” (inv. 1, 1882–1917), where he detected the documents on the history of creation and the activities of the Court orchestra.

The article deals with the activity of Russian historians–archivists directed to the detection, study and publication of the documents of Foreign archival Rossica in the post–Soviet period (1992–2017). The paper analyses the content of the archival heritage research of the Russian Diaspora, the geographical dispersion by world regions and countries of the documentary sources of Russian origin published by Russian researchers. The author’s analysis, connected with the use of archival documents in Russian periodicals publications, allows him to come to the conclusion that the archives of Europe (63.8%) and America (29%) are more frequently used.
The article gives a detailed review of the activity of VNIIDAD related to the detection and study of Foreign archival Rossica, of the main publications on this topic of the fellows of the Institute.
The author notes that the study of the archival heritage of the Russian Diaspora makes it possible to reconstruct with a greater degree of authenticity the integral history of the Russia of the 20th century, which is important for the formation of modern national identity and the creation of a civil society.
The author of the article draws a conclusion about the necessity for the creation of an inter-archives reference-book on Foreign archival Rossica which can help researchers to navigate in the diverse documentary heritage of Russia Abroad.

The article attempts to examine the history of the archival service in the Arkhangelsk province from the point of view of the approach of the Soviet authorities to ensure the safety of documents of the departments and organizations that existed on the territory of the province before the revolution of 1917.
The events described in the article have not previously received their coverage on the pages of scientific and popular publications, as related documents have not yet been introduced into scientific circulation. The period of study was characterized by the great social upheaval, the consequences of which could not but affect the safety of the old archives. For the representatives of the new local administration, as well as for the majority of the population, such archives did not represent any practical or cultural and historical significance, and that fact left an imprint on the way the SNK decrees on archives administration were executed.
In fact, it was only in 1920 that the issue started being resolved, when the Soviet power was re-established in the provincial center. In the conditions of the post-war devastation, the questions of the administration of the provincial archival fund were accomplished on the residual principle, there were neither personnel, nor the rooms suitable in size for archival storage. V. Ivanovsky, the only person, who was entrusted with the duties of preserving the documentary heritage of the region, became the ancestor of the archival service of the Arkhangelsk province.

The article discusses the issues connected with the resolutions of the supreme body of the USSR executive power, Sovnarcom – Sovmin of the USSR, in the field of archives administration during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 and in the post–war period. The author investigated a set of the materials of the voluminous fund of the USSR Council of Ministers (F. R-5446), kept in the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF).
The basis of the paper is the analysis of the recently declassified resolutions of the Sovnarcom – Sovmin of the USSR. In particular, the research revealed, reviewed and scrutinized the resolutions of the supreme body of the USSR executive power concerning the conducting of the evacuation of state, party and departmental archives to the East – to Saratov, Tchkalov, Ufa and other USSR localities; the formation of new archival repositories (the RSFSR Central State Archives of the Far East, the Russian Overseas Historical Archives in Prague (RZIA), the Central State Specialized Archives, the Archives of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR), and also the resolutions concerning the transfer of the archival funds in the post–war period (to the archives of the GDR, Poland,  Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, etc.).
The article touches upon the issues connected with the adoption by the USSR Soviet of Ministers of the resolutions on the immortalization of the names of prominent Russian historians and archivists Vladimir Ivanovich Picheta and Sergey Konstantinovich Bogoyavlensky.
When carrying out the research, the author made active use of the information that had been received as a result of the work with the data base “Resolutions of the Sovnarcom – Sovmin of the USSR” designed by the specialists of the State Archives of the RF.

The exhibition activity of the academic Archives began in 1911, when its papers were used at the Jubilee exhibition “Lomonosov and the Elizabethan Time”. In 1925–1939 the Archives prepared the exhibitions dedicated to the 200-anniversary of the Academy of Sciences and its Archives. In 1940 in the framework of the commemorative activities devoted to the 175-anniversary of the death of M. Lomonosov, the Archives wasassigned the responsibility of ensuring the historical part of the commemoration. After the Great Patriotic War, the Archives continued its exhibition activity, popularizing domestic science by submitting its documents to the expositions. The Archives prepared a series of exhibitions connected with the activities of the scientists – G. Langsdorf, K. Tsiolkovsky, V. Shukhov, etc. We should also mention the large-scale exhibition organized in collaboration with the Pasteur Institute (France) “Russian Biologists at the Pasteur Institute”, held in the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Jointly with the Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the academic Аrchives prepared three exhibitions in Moscow and Warsaw in Science Days of the two countries. It became possible to hold such exhibitions largely due to the active research work and the use of modern information technologies. 100 exhibitions have been prepared for the period of 2003–2011.

The article attempts to consider the problems associated with archaeographic publications of electronic documents. If acquisition, storage and use of electronic documents of organizations have deliberately been covered both by legislation and methodical recommendations and have been discussed in many scientific articles, electronic documents of personal origin have been deprived of attention.
The article deals with three types of problems: technical, archaeographic and software. Technical problems are important at the stage of acquisition and description of the foundation of personal origin. The software has an impact on the possibility of archaeographic transmission of the document due to the changes in the structure of the document by different software. For the Word documents, it is primarily the loss of information contained in the edit mode. The article deals with the formats of transmission to the archives of electronic documents – PDF/A, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as some promising developments in this field in other countries, such as the formats of PDF/A-3, PDF/E. The research comes up with the solution of some archaeographic methods of text transmission of electronic documents, primarily of personal origin, including: the transfer of hyperlinks and embedded objects, such as photos, Excel spreadsheets. Virtual exhibitions are suggested to be seen as a type of publication in an electronic environment. Important issues requiring further study and the need to change the “Rules of publication of historical documents in the USSR” are highlighted.

The article discusses the activities of D.I. Dovgiallo, one of the representatives of the pre-revolutionary archival-archaeographic school, a graduate of St. Petersburg Archaeological Institute, who worked in the late 19th – early 20th centuries as an archivist at the Vitebsk Central Archives of Ancient Register Books (1897–1903), then – the chairman of the Vilna Archaeographic Commission (1913–15).With the establishment of the Commission, D.I. Dovgiallo became an authorized representative of the RSFSRGlavarchiv for the Mogilev provinceand made a significant contribution to the archival reform in Russia and Belarus in the 1920s. His personality was a vivid example of preserving and augmenting– under the conditions of Soviet realities – of the archival-archaeographic traditions formed in Russia in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries.Dovgiallo was one of the initiators of the creationof the Archaeographic Commission within the structure of the Institute of Belarusian Culture, which became the predecessor of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences. Being at the head of the Commission together with M.V. Dovnar-Zapolsky, Dovgiallo, drawing on the experience of its Vilna predecessor, developed a plan of a serial documentary publication that was purely national in nature, thereby contributing to the formation of Belarusian archaeography. The archival and archaeographic experience of D.I. Dovgiallo was in demand in the conditions of the formation of the State Archival Service of Soviet Belarus, as evidenced by his assiduous participation in the First All-Belarusian Conference of Archivists (May 1924), the SecondMeeting of Belarus Archivists (December 1927) and his teaching activity at Belarusian State University. D.I. Dovgiallo in Belarus, as well as S.V. Rozhdestvensky, I.L. Mayakovsky in Russia, advocated a strong union between archivists and archaeographers, on the one hand, and historians, on the other; he was a supporter of the democratization of archives through the involvement in their work of many local history researchers.

The aim of the work is to study the history of the creation and activity of the Department of scientific and technical archives of MGIAI – IAI between 1969 and early 1990 through the prism of the study of the biographies of the first generation scholars. The article discusses the conditions for the formation of social demand for the development of educational and scientific direction connected with scientific and technical documents and archives. The study was based on the personnel documents from the archives ofthe Russian State University for the Humanities (prof. A.A. Kuzin, prof. N.G. Filippov, prof. K.B. Gel’man-Vinogradov, assoc. prof. P.S. Preobrazhenskaya). In the professional biographies of the scholars, the general and individual creative aspects of their activity have been revealed; their influence on the formation of the scientific school of scientific and technical documents and archives has been traced.
The work is built in the context of the historiographical approach to the archival administration of scientific and technical documents. The main components of this educational and scientific knowledge have been highlighted. The contribution of the Department’s staff to its creation has been determined, particularly, the interdisciplinary character, the combination of archival and historical-technical approaches, the study of the institutional forms of scientific and technical activities in Russia, the construction of the methodological base of documentary and special archival science, the identification of historical and cultural properties of scientific and technical documents. The process of special archival knowledge formation reflected in educational-methodical and research works of the teachers of the Department has been traced.
Conclusions are drawn about the dependence of the development of the scientific school of archival science of scientific and technical documents on the professional, creative and personal qualities of the team of teachers of the Department of scientific and technical archives, as well as about the completion  of the period of development of the Department of scientific and technical archives within the frames of the traditional domestic archival science in the early 1990s.