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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: H-5

Last update of repository: 11 July 2019

Muzeinoe ob"edinenie “Muzei Moskvy”


Fondy
[Fonds]

Head: Evgeniia Zabilevna Smelova


Holdings

All of the archival materials held in the museum are directly connected with the political, economic, and cultural life of the city of Moscow and, to a certain extent, Moscow Oblast. All are held in Documentary Fond (Dokumental'nyi fond).
        The earliest documents come from the seventeenth-century patrimonial archive of the Artem'ev-Khlyzov clan of free peasants living in the Pomor'e region. Other documents relating to the pre-Soviet period have been arranged in thematic collections. Official documents include those issued by the city governor (gradonachal'nik), organs of city administration, and verdicts and sentences passed by Moscow courts.
        There are documents originating from some of the large Moscow enterprises and trading companies such as the Prokhorov and Izmailov Textile Mills, the Danilov Sugar Refinery, and the “Kooperatsiia” Consumer Society. Thematic arrangement is also given to documents from insurance companies, savings and merchant banks, and documents on the history of the fire-brigade.
        The history of education, science, culture, and the arts is reflected in documentation from higher educational establishments, such as the Imperial Technical Secondary School (Imperatorskoe Tekhnicheskoe uchilishche), the Higher Educational Courses for Women (Vysshie zhenskie kursy), the Moscow Archeological Institute, and Moscow Imperial University, as well as from secondary schools (litsei, gimnazii, uchilishcha), social organizations, scientific institutions, and clubs, such as the Moscow Technical Society and the Russian Theater Society.
        The museum contains theplans and facade drawings of a number of famous buildings in Moscow that were constructed from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, together with documents issued by a number of city-planning organizations like the Moscow Building Commission (Komissiia dlia stroenii v gorode Moskve) and the Commission for the Restoration of the Kitai-Gorod Wall (1815–1840).
        There is an extensive collection of proclamations, leaflets, and handbills issued by various parties and unions that were active during the three Russian revolutions atthe beginning of the century.
        The postrevolutionary period is represented by documentation from such Moscow plants and factories as the “Kotloapparat” (formerly Dangauer & Kaiser), “Manometr,” “Dinamo,” Hammer and Sickle (“Serp i Molot”), and “Borets.” These collections include the memoirs and recollections of various workers.
        The museum has a large collection of materials relating to the period of the Second World War. There are documents showing the formation and military operations of the various home-guard divisions during the Battle of Moscow, together with the written memoirs and recollections of the men who fought in the home guard and some of their personal possessions and documents.
        There are documents in the museum which reveal, albeit in a fragmentary fashion, the work of those engaged in public education and the teaching of culture and sport. These include documents from the Russian Bibliophile Society (Russkoe obshchestvo druzei knigi), the Commission under the Old Moscow Museum (Komissiia pri muzee “Staraia Moskva”), and the Society for the Study of Moscow Guberniia (Obshchestvo izucheniia Moskovskoi gubernii) (1921–1934).
        Of particular importance are the personal archives of a number of historians who specialized in the study of Moscow antiquities, such as P.V. Sytin, B.S. Zemenkov, P.N. Miller, and N.P. Chulkov. There are also personal papers of the Syreishchikov and Bakhrushin merchant families, the historians Veber, and the Volkonskii and Egor'ev-Svarichevskii families. In addition, considerable space in the archives is devoted to the personal documentation of people who were repressed under the Stalin regime, people who became heroes or who fought in WorldWar II (the Great Patriotic War), war photo-correspondents, Moscow City Soviet deputies, scientists and scholars, and those who worked in the construction of the city and the underground metro.
        There are a number of early manuscript books held in Rare Book Fond (Fond “Redkaia kniga”). Graphic materials including many posters and maps held in Grapfic Materials Fond (Fond izobrazitel'nykh materialov).


Working conditions:
Archival documents are held in the general Division of Fonds and can be consulted by researchers as required in museum offices.

Reference facilities:
There are inventories and reference card catalogues.

Copy facilities:
Photographic copies can be made upon request.


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted