Birth of statesman, prominent local historian of the Russian North and bibliographer Alexander Fedorovich Shidlovsky

On November 30 (December 12), 1863, Alexander Fedorovich Shidlovsky, statesman, local historian, researcher of the European North, bibliographer, state councilor, was born in Moscow in the family of a hereditary military man.

Alexander Fedorovich studied at the Nikolaev Cavalry School, Military Law Academy, Officer Cavalry School in St. Petersburg. At the same time he published articles on history, literature, bibliography, archiving in the journals "Russian Antiquity", "Bulletin of World History", etc., and attended a course at the Moscow Archaeological Institute. In 1902, he established the Museum of His Imperial Corps of Pages. In 1903, Alexander Shidlovsky resigned as a lieutenant colonel of the guard and entered civil service first as a prison inspector in Yekaterinoslavl, from 1906 - as vice-governor to Vyatka province, from 1908 - as vice-governor and governor to Arkhangelsk province. In Arkhangelsk, Shidlovsky organized the Arkhangelsk Society for the Study of the Russian North (AOIRS), was elected chairman of the board of the society.

Being initiator of the creation of the journal Izvestia of the Arkhangelsk Society for the Study of the Russian North, Shidlovsky published on its pages a series of articles on the history of Pomerania, the Arkhangelsk province, the Bibliographic Index of Literature on the North. During this period, Alexander Fedorovich organized expeditions to explore Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen, the Kola Peninsula, and the oil and coal deposits of the Pechora Territory. In Arkhangelsk, Shidlovsky had compiled indexes of literature on the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, Novaya Zemlya, Peter the Great's activities in the North.

From August 27 (September 9), 1911 Shidlovsky served as vice-governor of the Olonets Province. Alexander Fedorovich made a significant contribution to the development of the economy and culture of the province. In 1913, Shidlovsky organized and led the "Society for the Study of Olonets Province" - the first research organization in the region. The Society existed until 1918. Its successor was the Society for the Study of Karelia, established on June 16, 1923.

With the active participation of Shidlovsky, the journal “News of the Society for the Study of Olonets Province” was created, which included bibliographic materials related to the Olonets Province.

Alexander Fedorovich believed to the construction projects of the railway from the city of Petrozavodsk to the city of Murmansk, laying the White Sea-Baltic waterway. Since 1914, Shidlovsky was a member of the commission for the construction of the Murmansk Railway, in 1915 in St. Petersburg read a report on the state significance of the Onego-Belomorsky Waterway.

On November 15 (28), 1916, Alexander Shidlovsky was appointed the last governor of Olonets Province, in early 1917 - the governor of Arkhangelsk province, but did not take office due to the revolutionary events.

Since 1918 to 1929 Alexander Fedorovich worked at the Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces of Russia (KEPS) at the Academy of Sciences. Here he prepared extensive bibliographic materials about the North and Siberia. However, in 1929, Shidlovsky was repressed, dismissed from work. As a former “jailer and governor” in 1935 he was expelled to Kazakhstan, but soon he was allowed to settle in the city of Murom under the supervision of the NKVD. Until his death on November 19, 1942, he continued to work on the compilation of the “Bibliographic Index of the Main Literature on the Study of the Polar Countries”. In 1989, Alexander Fedorovich and his spouse were rehabilitated.

Alexander Fedorovich Shidlovsky was a full member of the Russian Bibliographic Society in St. Petersburg (since 1900), a founding member of the Arkhangelsk Society for the Study of the Russian North (since 1908), a full member of the Russian Geographical Society (since 1909). He was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of 2nd, 3rd and 4th degrees, St. Anne 2nd and 3rd degrees, a large silver medal of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.

Lit.: Мошина Т. А. Олонецкие вице-губернаторы : крат. биогр. справ. Петрозаводск, 2007. Из содерж.: Шидловский Александр Фёдорович. С. 34-36; Кораблёв Н. А. Олонецкие губернаторы и генерал-губернаторы : биогр. справ. Петрозаводск, 2006. Из содерж.: Шидловский Александр Фёдорович. С. 92-94; Орешина М. А. Россия региональная: теоретико-методологические аспекты изучения. М., 2000. Из содерж.: Шидловский Александр Федорович (1863-1934). С. 156-158; [Общество изучения Олонецкой губернии и его организатор А. Ф. Шидловский (с портр.)] // Петрозаводск : хроника трёх столетий, 1703-2003. Петрозаводск, 2002. С. 188-189; Дианова К. А. Деятельность А. Ф. Шидловского в Карелии // Карелия на этнокультурной и политической карте России. Петрозаводск, 2010. С. 52-56; Шидловская В. П. Литературная, историческая и географическая деятельность А.Ф. Шидловского // Европейский Север России : прошлое, настоящее, будущее. Архангельск, 1999. С. 305-310; Сабанцев А. Н. О судьбе личной библиотеки А. Ф. Шидловского // Краеведческие чтения. Петрозаводск, 2008. С. 17-18; Бученков А. Н. Вице-губернатор – краевед // Библиография. 2001. № 1. С. 103-111; Архангельское Общество изучения Русского Севера. Оставление А. Ф. Шидловским поста председателя правления : [с библиогр. его трудов и портр.] // Изв. Архангел. О-ва изучения Рус. Севера. 1911. № 19. С. 609-617; «Смущение в центре губернской твердой власти обостряется» : док. Госарх. Киров. обл. о конфликте вят. губернатора С. Д. Горчакова с вице-губернатором А. Ф. Шидловским, 1907 г. // Отечеств. арх. 2007. № 2. С. 102-114; Кутьков Н. П. Александр Фёдорович Шидловский [Электронный ресурс]: (к 150-летию со дня рождения) //  Календарь знаменательных дат Карелии, 2013 год. Петрозаводск, 2012. 

The material has been provided by the National Library of Republic of Karelia