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The President of the Russian Academy Duchess Catherine Dashkova was born
On March 17 (28), 1743 was born the duchess Catherine Romanovna Dashkova (born Vorontsova), the director of St.-Petersburg Academy of Science and the President of the Russian Academy.
Catherine was elevated in the house of her uncle, the vice-chancellor Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov. Owing her passion for reading she became one of the most cultivated women of her time. Her favorite authors were Montesquieu, Voltaire, Boileau, Helvetius. Also from her early years Dashkova took a great interest in the issues of the Russian policy.
In 1758 Dashkova met with the great duchess Catherine Alekseevna, the future empress Catherine II. They became good friends because of similar literature likings.
In 1769-1782 Dashkova had made a number of journeys abroad. She visited Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Holland, France, Italy. She met with European enlighteners such as J. J. Russo, Voltaire, D. Didro, V. A. Kaunitz, A. Smith.
In 1783 the empress assigned Dashkova for the post of the director of St.-Petersburg Academy of Science presided by the count K. Razumovsky. Thus Dashkova became the first woman in the world governing the Academy of Science. Under her guidance a series of valuable publications had been carried out including the collected works of M. V. Lomonosov, the works of S. P. Krasheninnikov, I. I. Lepyokhin. Also the generally accessible courses of natural science were resumed. In 1783-1784 Dashkova had been at the head of ‘Sobesednik lyubiteley russiyskogo slova’ (the issue of the lovers of Russian literature) where published their works G. R. Derzhavin, D. I. Fonvizin, M. M. Kheraskov, V. V. Kapnist, Ya. A. Knyazhnin.
In October of 1783 Catherine Dashkova was assigned the president of the Russian Academy established on her proposal. The institution became the center for the Russian language and literature study. Catherine the Great appreciated the literature taste of Dashkova but what appealed to the empress most of all was Dashkova’s objective to raise the Russian language so that it became one of the greatest literature languages of Europe. The principal scientific enterprise of the Russian Academy was the publication in 1789-1794 of six volumes of ‘The vocabulary of the Russian Academy’ – the first explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. The eminent scholars and literary men contributed to its development.
In 1794 in “The Russian theater or the complete collections of all the Russian theater plays” collection also edited under the guidance of the Russian Academy president was published ‘Vadim of Novgorod’ a tragedy by Ya. Knyazhnin which provoked anger of Catherine the Great. Dashkova fell into disgrace and was dismissed. In 1801 when Alexander I mounted the throne, the members of the Russian Academy asked Dashkova to take once more the post of the president but she refused.
Dashkova spent her last years working on memoires. The manuscript of her ‘Notes’ appeared abroad and was published first in English and then in French. Dashkova’s memoirs is an important historical document containing a range of interesting information about the Russian aristocracy life of the second half of the 18th century, the palace revolution of 1762, the impressions of the duchess about her journeys abroad.
Catherine Dashkova died in 1810 and was buried in the Trinity cathedral in Troitskiy village of Kaluga province.
In 1992 was created Dashkova Humanities Institute in Moscow. Under the institute was formed the Society of Dashkova which studies the life and literary heritage of the duchess. In 1999 Dashkova Humanities Institute established the medal of the duchess Dashkova ‘For service to Freedom and Enlightenment’.
Lit.: Афанасьев А. Н. Литературные труды Дашковой // Отечественные записки. 1890. № 3; Краснобаев Б. И. Глава двух академий // Вопросы истории. 1971. № 12. С. 84-98; Лозинская Л. Я. Во главе двух академий. М., 1983; Суворин А. С. Княгиня Е. Р. Дашкова. Вып. 1. СПб., 1888.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Русская старина : ежемесячное историческое издание. СПб., 1873, т. 8, [кн. 11, ноябрь];
Русская старина : ежемесячное историческое издание. СПб., 1874, т. 9, [кн. 3, март];
Русская старина : ежемесячное историческое издание. СПб., 1906, Т. 125, кн. 3, март;
Русская старина : ежемесячное историческое издание. СПб., 1906, Т. 126, кн. 4, апрель;
Русская старина : ежемесячное историческое издание. СПб., 1906, Т. 126, кн. 5, май;
Русская старина : ежемесячное историческое издание. СПб., 1906, Т. 127, кн. 7-8, июль-август;