Grigory Alexandrovich Pushkin — an Employee of the State Library of the USSR Named after V.I. Lenin

Abstract

The biography of Colonel Grigory Alexandrovich Pushkin (1868—1940), grandson of Alexander Pushkin, is reconstructed on the basis of unknown materials of the Manuscripts Department and the Archive of the Russian State Library (RSL). The article told about his service in the Imperial and Red Armies, his family and difficult financial situation after 1917. It is shown what bureaucratic difficulties accompanied the assignment of his personal pension in 1923 and subsequent assistance. Particular attention is paid to the solution of the housing problem and obtaining accommodation in Moscow.The Letters of G.A. Pushkin to G.P. Georgievsky (1919), V.D. Bonch-Bruevich (1933) and P.S. Popov (1933), are published in full for the first time, as well as letters from Yu.N. Pushkina to V.S. Nechaeva (1936) and from V.D. Bonch-Bruevich to G.A. Pushkin (1933), which are kept in the Manuscript Department of Russian State Library.Article restores the history of G.A. Pushkinʼs working at the State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin based on the Personnel Files. From 1936 till 1938 he signed temporary employment contracts, while he worked on a permanent position only from January 1939 to January 1940.G.A. Pushkin’s biography is analyzed in the context of the social history of the Russian nobility after 1917 and its adaptation to the Soviet reality. The author concludes that the official persecution of the former elite promoted the appearance of the staff with wide knowledge, proficiency in foreign languages and organizational experience in the State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin. They influenced the development of the library as a research center.