The Presidential Library awarded the Certificate of Honor of the Russian Geographical Society

The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, President of the Russian Geographical Society Sergei Shoigu awarded specialists of the Presidential Library with a certificate of honor "for the great contribution to the activities of the Russian Geographical Society and in connection with the 175th anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society".

The Russian Geographical Society and the Presidential Library are developing close cooperation. One of the most important tasks of the Russian Geographical Society is to facilitate the collection and the dissemination of reliable information about Russia. The Presidential Library is focusing on the same problems.

A cooperation agreement was signed between the organizations back in 2013. To date, more than 5.5 thousand books, brochures, periodicals, archival files and photographs, including rare and especially valuable ones, have been converted into electronic form.

The Russian Geographical Society (RGO), created on August 18, 1845 at the behest of Nicholas I, united scientists, travelers and local historians. The main task of the society "was to gather and direct the best young forces of Russia for a comprehensive study of their native land". The expeditions of the society played an important role in the development of Siberia, the Far East, Central and Central Asia, and the vastness of the World Ocean. More information about these expeditions is available on the Presidential Library’s portal.

The digitized issues of the Izvestia of the Russian Geographical Society, available in remote electronic reading rooms of the Presidential Library, located throughout Russia and abroad, illustrate the geography and history of various parts of our homeland.

The project to digitize archival documents for the provinces of the Russian Empire, which started in 2016, is successfully continuing. In less than 5 years, 61 thousand pages of archival documents have been digitized. Today, the materials of the Olonets province are being digitized. A new project for the digitization of maps of the Russian Empire will also be developed.

Thanks to modern information technology, truly interesting and unique materials become available to a wide range of people. Thus, the cultural and historical heritage of Russia has been preserved for future generations.