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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: G-1

Last update of repository: 15 February 2021

Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka (RGB)


Otdel khraneniia i ispol'zovaniia dokumentov
[Division for Storage and Use of Documents]

Address: ul. Vozdvizhenka, 1

Telephone: +7 495 695-67-30

Opening hours: M–F 10:00–16:00
Transport: metro: Biblioteka im. Lenina, Arbatskaia, Borovitskaia, Aleksandrovskii sad

Head: Marina Vasil'evna Volkova (tel. +7 495 695-67-30)


Holdings

Total: 2 fonds; 88,500 units; 1862–to present (some of documents—”1857)
personnel files—30,000 units; photographs—3,800 units (1879–to present); negatives—2,000 units; films—11 units

The Division has two fonds: fond of the Archive of RGB (over 78,000 units) and fond of the Museum of the history of RGB (10,500 units). The RGB Archive contains the official records of the library, providing rich sources for the development of culture and library affairs in Russia and the Soviet Union.
        There are documents preserved regarding the work of the Rumiantsev Museum and library in the prerevolutionary period. These include decrees on the organization of the museum, the Statute and Charter (Polozhenie i Ustav) of 1869, official documents from the Ministry of Education (Ministerstvo prosveshcheniia), internal regulations for readers, and reports on the holdings. There are also newspaper clippings on the work of the Rumiantsev Museum and its library covering the years 1867 to 1883 from a collection made by N.Iu. Ul'ianinskii.
        Documentation for the postrevolutionary period relates to the various administrative bodies in the library (the Director’s Office, the Secretariat, the Academic Council) and their correspondence with higher agencies such as the Ministry of Culture, and with readers. There are copies of the library staff announcements and wall newspapers starting from the 1920s.
        The archive also contains documents from a number of academic societies, organizations, and institutions that at one time or another were attached to the library. These include the Association of Scientific Libraries (Assotsiatsiia nauchnykh bibliotek) (1928–1937), the Russian Library for People’s Education (Rossiiskaia biblioteka po narodnomu obrazovaniiu) (1923–1927), the Institute of Library Science (Institut bibliotekovedeniia) (1930–, now the Moscow State University of Culture [Moskovskii gosudarstvennyi universitet kul'tury]), the Literary Museum (Literaturnyi muzei) (1921–1931), the F.M. Dostoevskii Museum (1925–1938), the Chekhov Museums in Yalta (1926–1970s) and in Moscow (1923–1936), and the Tiutchev Estate-Museum in Muranovo. On the whole these files consist of correspondence, descriptions of exhibitions, and various legal documents.
        There are photographs and negatives held in the archive showing the work of the library since its organization and featuring individual items from the holdings. The earliest photographs of the Rumiantsev Museum (1879–1880) are to be found in an album by the photographer Mitreiter.
        The archives has 35 mm. films on the history and work of the library at various periods.

N.B. Records of the various divisions of the former Rumiantsev Museum (pictorial materials, graphics, etc.) have been dispersed among several different library divisions and other repositories, since they were transferred together with the collections.


Working conditions:
The Archive has moved in 1995 into the building across Mokhovaia from the main library building (Korpus “K”). Researchers work in the storage areas since there is no special reading room.

Reference facilities:
There are inventories, a card catalogue of personnel files, and a subject catalogue with auxiliary card catalogues.

Library facilities:
There is a reference library, which is open to researchers.

Copy facilities:
Photographic and xerox copies can be prepared, as well as microfilms. Copying is done at the RGB laboratory, on the basis of special application to the Scientific Secretary.


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted