170 years of serving Russia: works of the Russian Geographical Society at the exhibition and in the collections of the Presidential Library

18 to 31 August, the Presidential Library is holding a multimedia exhibition timed to the 170th anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society. Plasma screens feature information about the history, expeditions and scientific activities of the society members.

On multimedia screens of the Presidential Library one can not only trace the milestones of development of the Geographical Society but also get information about large-scale research and publishing activities of the Russian Geographical Society. Among its founders were such famous personalities as admirals F. Litke, I. Kruzenshtern, F. Wrangell; naturalist K. Ber, astronomer V. Struve, scholar and writer V. Dahl et al.; the works of some of them joined the electronic collections of the Presidential Library.

Russian Geographical Society is one of the oldest non-governmental organizations in Russia, the Provisional Charter of which was approved by the Emperor Nicholas I on 6 (18) August 1845. The government promised to provide financial support to the society "...ten thousand silver rubles annually from the State Treasury... The main funds, without which enterprises can neither be valid, nor proportionate to the dignity of the state, will be donated by the monarch himself."

The draft Charter of the Russian Geographical Society, drawn up by Count Litke, clearly defined the main goals and objectives of the organization: "to collect, process and distribute in Russia geographic, ethnographic and statistical information in general and in particular on Russia itself, as well as to disseminate reliable information about Russia in other countries."

Foundation of the Russian Geographical Society is inseparably linked with the name of the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich - the first chairman of the society. He occupied the pos for almost 50 years and in fact was the official lobbyist of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.

In the second half of the 19^th century, he assisted in organizing such expeditions as Vilyuisk, Amur and Khorasan (1858-1859), which provided significant results. For the Siberian expedition of the astronomer L. Schwartz (1855), the Grand Duke provided chronometers and versatile tools. One of the meetings of the society discussed the issue of the Azov Sea silting up and the prohibition of navigation in its waters. A special research expedition, which would be prepared some years later had to resolve the situation.

A systematic study of the North began. Two polar stations equipped, which marked the beginning of meteorological observations in the Arctic.

Within 170 years the society has repeatedly changed its name – first it was the Imperial, then a Geographical one in the Soviet age... At the present time the Russian Geographical Society acquired its original name. Sergei Shoigu was elected president of the Russian Geographical Society. Chairman of the Board of Trustees became President of Russia Vladimir Putin.

The Presidential Library is actively developing cooperation with the Russian Geographical Society. The collections and the website of the library feature over 1,000 volumes of priceless works of geographers, ethnographers, travelers, published under the auspices of the Russian Geographical Society from 1846 to 1943.

Through a joint project of the Presidential Library and the Geographical Society, and with the assistance of the Irkutsk Regional State Universal Library and Omsk State Regional Scientific Library periodicals, reports and other works of expeditions were digitized. Editions printed in St. Petersburg (Leningrad), as well as the works of regional offices joined the collections. Among these are periodicals of the society - "Notes" and "Izvestia", the ethnographic magazine "Living Antiquity": "Izvestia of the Russian Geographical Society. Navigation map of the contractor Shumanov of 1798", "Notes of the Western Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Book 3 Omsk, 1881," "Izvestia of the Russian Geographical Society. Temporary Map of the Lake Baikal" 1897" and other materials no less important for science and national economy of Russia.

In addition to periodicals of the society, the works of researchers also joined the collections. Among them there are the materials of the first major expedition of the Russian Geographical Society in the Polar Urals, in which the Europeans first discovered for themselves the Ridge Pai-Khoi making its geological, biological and ethnographic description. For this work the expedition head, Ernst Hoffmann was awarded the Grand Konstantin medal of the Russian Geographical Society. There also have been digitized the works of expeditions of N. Przhevalski, M. Pevtsov, G. Potanin, G. Groom Grzhimailo, V. Obruchev, V. Roborovsky, P. Kozlov and other prominent scientists and researchers.

From the conclusion of a cooperation agreement between the Russian Geographical Society and the Presidential Library in September 2013 until the present day, RGO 83 titles of periodicals, totally more than 2, 500 editions from the collections of the Society’s scientific library have been digitized. In 2016 the cooperation will continue.

To visit the exhibition please pre-register by calling (812) 334-25-14 or send an email to: excursion@prlib.ru.