A history of development of the Leningrad Oblast — in digital collection of the Presidential Library

August 1, 2017 marks the 90th anniversary celebration of founding of the Leningrad Oblast. There is an extensive collection focused on Leningrad Oblast: pages of history, which contains research works, essays, documents, including archival photographs and video materials, revealing the geographical, socio-economic, socio-political and other aspects of the history of the region in the period of the XVIII — the beginning of XX century.

“The northern or coastal part of St. Petersburg Province adjacent to the Gulf of Finland and cutting from the south into the marshy basin of Luga… was once the Izhorsk Lands (or Ingria, ether Ingermanland),” — according to the third volume of the Military Statistical Review of the Russian Empire of 1851-year edition. — “There is not any reliable information about the primitive political state of Ingermanland; but from the XI century, the Izhora Lands, the Karelia and Yam or Yem (the southern margin of Finland) already consisted the borderline north territories of Novgorod, so called Votskaya Pyatina.”

Such publications as Leningrad Oblast and the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of 1928, Leningrad and the Leningrad Province / Gubernia of 1925, A capture of the Swedish Fortress Noteburg on the Ladoga Lake by Peter the Great in 1702 of 1896-year edition and many others tell about what kind of people reside in the territory, and how its development was going on. A visual representation is given in selected for the collection rare plans and maps. Digitized photographs of the pioneer of color photography S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky, owing to which we can see the life of the province at the beginning of the XX century, are also among visual sources.

The selection also included some books dedicated to the residential areas of the Leningrad Oblast. So, the work of E. Nelidova focused on Rus' in its capitals (Part I, 1912) tells about the first capital of Russia — Staraya Ladoga. The author makes a point that the earliest allusions of it refer to 862, the beginning of the reign of Rurik, but specifies: “Local legends are not willing to lose Ladoga to Scandinavians. They tell us that even in remote pagan times, the Slavs founded Ladoga and named it in the name of their god of love and harmony — Lado. Lado personally floated down the river to Ladoga and remained ashore on the hill.”

The electronic collection also includes documentaries about Staraya Ladoga from “The ancient cities of Russia” cycle, telling about the first capital of Russia and its architectural monuments. In 2016 the Presidential Library prepared a trilogy on the occasion of the 89th anniversary of the establishment of the Leningrad Oblast.

The cooperation of the Presidential Library and Leningrad Oblast is actively developing. According to the signed in June 2014 agreement, 12 remote centers of access to the resources of the Presidential Library are currently open in the region, such as in Tikhvin, Vyborg, Slantsy, Priozersk, Lodeynoye Pole, and others. It is planned that by the end of 2017 a system of electronic reading rooms will cover the entire area.

Various projects are successfully implemented in other areas: documents of the Leningrad Oblast State Archives in Vyborg are converted into the electronic format, such key for of Leningrad Oblast events, as official ceremonies of awarding of talented youth, of honoring the graduates of the regional schools are being held in the Presidential Library. Leningrad Oblast students take are actively participating in the outreach and awareness raising projects of the Presidential Library, including multimedia and interactive classes, public video appearances of “Knowledge of Russia” series, and “Russia in the Electronic World” Olympiad for the school students.

In September 2017, an exhibition dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Leningrad Oblast and the 80th anniversary of the Vologda Oblast will open in the Presidential Library. The exhibits will follow the development of new areas reviewing the key events that have happened across these territories since their formation. The exhibition’s objective is to most completely depict life of the regions from their beginning of the early 20th century up to now.