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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: H-210

Last update of repository: 18 March 2020

Voenno-istoricheskii muzei artillerii, inzhenernykh voisk i voisk sviazi (VIMAIViVS)


Nauchnyi arkhiv
[Scientific Archive]

Website: http://www.artillery-museum.ru/ru/mus...

Opening hours: MF 10:00–16:30

Holdings

Total: 130 fonds; 217,261 units; 1628–to present
documentary materials—238,489 units (17th–20th cc.); technical drawings—8,430 units; graphic materials—23,255 units

The Historical Archive (as part of the division) holds documents on the history of Russian artillery from 1628 to the present day. Documents originated in the various offices of artillery administration in Russia. There include records of the seventeenth-century Gunnery (Pushkarskii) prikaz, the Artillery prikaz, the Main Artillery and Fortifications Chancellery (Kantseliariia Glavnoi artillerii i fortifikatsii), the Artillery Department (Artilleriiskii departament), the Headquarters of the Commander in Chief of the Artillery (Shtab general-fel'dtseikhmeistera), the Main Artillery Administration (GAU), with its various commissions, committees, and technical and military training schools.
        Materials on the history of the artillery for the years 1918-1940 are fragmentary. They include correspondence, technical journals, reports, and particularly technical drawings relating to the invention, improvement, and testing of new artillery and small arms.
        Apart from documentation originating from the artillery offices, the archive also contains some material that was once held in various regimental museums, as well as documents from the Imperial Russian Military History Society (Imperatorskoe Russkoe voenno-istoricheskoe obshchestvo), the Trophy Commission (Trofeinaia komissiia), and the archive of the former Military Museum of the Military Communications Academy (Voennyi muzei Voennoi akademii sviazi).
        There are the personal papers of military historians and archeologists, such as Lieutenant-General N.E. Brandenburg (1839–1903), who directed the museum starting in 1872; N.M. Pechenkin (1871–1918); and Major-General D.P. Strukov (1864–1920), who was secretary of the Military History Society. There are also a number of small personal fonds from such noted commanders as Generals in the Infantry M.I. Dragomirov (1830–1905) and M.D. Skobelev (1843–1882); Admiral F.F. Bellinsgauzen (Bellingshausen) (1778–1852); and from Russian and Soviet designers, such as Colonel-General V.G. Grabin (1900–1980) and Lieutenant-General V.G. Fedorov (1874–1966), who were both doctors of technical sciences.
        The museum possesses an extensive collection of photographs and graphic materials on the history of artillery, the engineer corps, and the signal corps. These include portraits of military commanders; drawings of battle scenes and military uniforms; technical drawings of firearms and side-arms, ammunition, and signaling equipment; and plans and drawings of plants, arsenals, and fortresses, covering a period from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries.


Reference facilities:
There is a complete list of fonds—“Spisok fondov Arkhiva VIMAIViVS” (59 prerevolutionary and 65 Soviet-period fonds) and a two-part register of opisi—“Kniga ucheta opisei Arkhiva VIMAIViVS.” There are inventory opisi. Subject and name card catalogues include paragraphs from the 1957 guide, by origin and provenance of the materials, subject coverage of materials (1917–1956), and author files.
        Subject survey indexes include “Perechen' tematicheskikh ukazatelei arkhivnykh dokumentov Istoricheskogo arkhiva Artilleriiskogo istoricheskogo muzeia,” consisting of 48 manuscript indexes, including ones on the history of Leningrad, textual drawings, great Russian commanders, men of the Russian artillery, Russian inventors, and M.V. Lomonosov, among others.
        There are a number of thematic surveys of fonds. There are two unpublished catalogues, one covering documentation of military communications—“Katalog sredstv voennoi sviazi russkoi i sovetskoi armii” (1987), and one covering documentation from World War II—“Spravochnik po dokumentam Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny 1941–1945” (1990).
        A computerized database is being established for the division holdings.


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted