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Archaeography Committee for issue of the national history sources established
December 24, 1834 (January 5, 1835) in St. Petersburg at the Ministry of Education under the supervision of the Minister, Count S. S. Uvarov, was established Archaeography Committee to publish the historical materials, collected by archaeography expedition (1828-1834).
The first known archeography expedition in Russia was organized by historian and archaeographer G. F. Miller. From 1733 to 1743 he traveled over Siberia, where he found a large number of sources in more than 20 archives, and brought a large collection of archival documents. It was Miller, who introduced the Russian chronicles to educated audience.
In 1828, Russian historian and archaeographer P. M. Stroyev appealed to the Academy of Sciences with a proposal to organize an archaegraphy expedition to "review, analyse and describe, with all possible accuracy, monastery, conciliar, religious schools’ and other collections of manuscripts. The Academy endorsed the idea. In 6 years the expedition had traveled over the north-eastern and central regions of Russia and visited more than 200 archives and libraries. As a result, about 3 000 historical and legal acts issued before 18th century were collected, a catalog of manuscripts and printed books, stored in monastery libraries was compiled. After the establishment of Archaeography Committee it was needed to review and systematize the collected acts and prepare them for publication. The efforts of the Committee resulted into the publication of "Acts, collected in libraries and archives of the Russian Empire by archaeography expedition of the Imperial Academy of Sciences”.
Following the approval of the Archaeography Committee statute by Nicholas I in 1837, it was authorized to demand the delivery of the documents from the archives, and could use the manuscripts held by the libraries and acquire them from individuals. Archaeography Committee, owing to its correspondents in Russia and abroad, had discovered a significant number of documents on Russian history in foreign archives. In 1841 began the publication of the “Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles”; from 1862 – “Annals of Archaeography Committee activities”, which included historical documents, researches, descriptions of archival collections; from 1872 - the "Russian History Library". The Committee had also published "Acts of Archaeography expedition", "Historical Records", "Additions to the historical records", "Acts of the Western Russia", "Acts of the South and Western Russia", "Legal Acts", "Acts of legal life."
Archaeography Committee had introduced a huge number of documents to the scientific society and played an important role in the development of the Russian historical science, by making a significant contribution to the development of methods and means of publication of historical sources, in particular, the annals. In addition to the publication of acts, the Committee cared about improving the national numismatics, publishing the pictures and making up a complete description of Russian coins and medals. The sources, published by the Committee, contributed to a more in-depth study of national history.
From 1922 Archaeography Committee had been under the jurisdiction of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and in 1956 – started to function under the History Department of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow.
Lit.: Археографическая комиссия // Большая советская энциклопедия. М., 1950. Т. 3. С. 163—166; Археографическая комиссия // Отечественная история с древнейших времен до 1917 года: энциклопедия. М., 1994. Т. 1. С. 117—119; Библиографический указатель изданий Археографической комиссии, 1836-1936. Л., 1985; Брачев В. С. Петербургская археографическая комиссия (1834-1929 гг.). СПб., 1997; Подробный каталог изданий археографической комиссии, вышедших в свет с 1836 по 1918 год. СПб., 1918; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://new.runivers.ru/bookreader/book44964/; Полное собрание законов Российской Империи. Собрание 2-е. СПб., 1837. Т. 12. Отделение 1-е (1838). № 9951; Софинов П. Г. Из истории русской дореволюционной археографии. М., 1957.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: