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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: H-214

Last update of repository: 18 March 2020

Gosudarstvennyi memorial'nyi muzei A.V. Suvorova (GMM A.V. Suvorova)


Fond redkoi knigi, kinofotofononegateki, redkikh pechatnykh i rukopisnykh istochnikov
[Fond of Rare Books; Film, Photograph, Negative, and Sound Archives; and Rare Printed and Manuscript Sources]

Opening hours: by appointment

Holdings

Total: 4,837 units; first half 18th c.–1970s
basic fond—3,246 units (early 18th c.–1970s); ancillary fond—1591 units

The archival materials include documentation on the life and work of the eighteenth-century General and Supreme Commander (Generalissimus) of the Russian military forces, A.V. Suvorov, and the development of military science in Russia from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. The manuscripts are not assigned to a separate section, but included in the holdings of the rare books fond.
        Among them are letters and documents relating to Suvorov and his relatives, including a number of Suvorov autographs, such as reports written or dictated by him regarding military operations, and letters to members of his family and relatives. There are a number of official awards and letters patent, including charters conferring upon him “the Key to Kobrin” and the titles of “Count of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation,” and military rosters including his name in different military units in the course of his career. There are maps and diagrams of military campaigns and battles drawn by Suvorov himself. There are several journals and diaries of participants in the Swiss-Italian campaign of 1799, including General P.I. Bagration. There is a whole complex of documents relating to the Russian Army in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as certificates of military decorations, and other materialsrelating to Suvorov’s comrades-in-arms, P.I. Bagration, N. Griazev, and I. Grigorovich.
        Among the personal papers of several of Suvorov’s biographers or those who wrote about his military exploits, are those of Generals A.I. Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii, and A.F. Petrushevskii (among the most interesting archives in the museum), and military historian and astronomer V.P. Engel'gardt (Engelhardt) (including his correspondence with Petrushevskii). The papers of D.A. Miliutin include materials on the Russo-Austrian campaign in 1799 and drafts andfragments of his five-volume monograph on the Franco-Russian campaign in 1799 (published in St. Peterburg, 1852–1857). There are also papers of the military historian Colonel A.N. Orlov and the executor of Suvorov’s estate, Count D.I. Khvostov.
        Documentation on the history of the museum includes documents of the Suvorov Commission (1898–1904), which raised the public funding throughout the country for the building of the museum. There are some of the administrative records of the museum itself, along with archival materials, including pictorial and photographic materials.
        Documents from the Soviet period relate to the military careers of the units and officers who were awarded the Order of Suvorov (founded in 1942) and to the partisan brigades bearing Suvorov’s name. Among these are documents of N.I. Archakov, V.N. Kushnarenko, A.A. Novikov, V.Z. Romanovskii, and V.P. Sviridov. There is a special collection, “The Suvorov Legacy in the Soviet Armed Forces,” with reference to a number of prominent Soviet military commanders.
        Among pictorial materials are many portaits of Suvorov himself. There are photographs of Russian officers and military commanders as well as portraits of the Cavaliers of the Order of Suvorov.


Working conditions:
Researchers are accommodated in working premises, where materials are available the day they are ordered.

Reference facilities:
There are inventories and subject card catalogues, but manuscript materials are listed together with other materials in the general fond.

Copy facilities:
Xerox copies can be prepared.


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted