Обзор личного фонда великого князя Сергея Александровича в Государственном архиве Российской Федерации

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the personal fund of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich, a member of the Russian Imperial House, the younger brother of Emperor Alexander III, an outstanding state, military and public figure who held the posts of Moscow Governor-General, Commander of the Moscow Military District, Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. The fund, formed and described in the Soviet era, contains 160 cases, including youth and adult personal diaries of the fund-builder, epistolary, educational and official documents, photographs and other illustrative materials, and other documents. Various groups of storage units of the fund are analyzed, the features of each group and its information potential, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the materials, the source analysis of the most important documents is given. Special attention is paid to the diaries of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich and the letters of his correspondents, among which the most significant historical sources should be recognized as the letters of his nephew, Emperor Nicholas II, his cousin and friend, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, Ober-Procurator of the Most Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev, a former teacher of the fund-builder. These documents, among other things, cover important issues of state policy, show the behind-the-scenes side of making certain decisions in the leadership of the country. The fund also deposited letters and telegrams from other outstanding Russian figures – Alexander III, Commander-in-Chief of the Guard Troops and the Petersburg Military District Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav von Plehve, Minister of War Aleksey Kuropatkin, Minister of Justice Nikolay Muravyov, Metropolitan Sergius of Moscow. Among the official documents, it is particularly necessary to highlight the reports of the Moscow commandant to Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich as the Moscow Governor-General, given at the time of celebrations during the coronation of Nicholas II. These materials shed additional light on the organizational aspects of the last coronation in the history of the Russian Empire. The fund has a fairly extensive collection of illustrative material, primarily photographs, including photographs taken personally by Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich. A significant array of storage units of the fund has already been put into scientific circulation, and some materials have been published. At the same time, many documents still require research.