ON THE QUESTION OF THE FATE OF THE ARCHIVE AND LIBRARY OF THE PROFESSOR A.А. DMITRIEVSKY
The article is an attempt to reconstruct the destiny of the archive and library of Alexey Afanasievich Dmitrievsky, the outstanding Russian liturgist, Byzantinist and archaeologist (1856-1929). The manuscripts and archival materials from the scientist's collection are dispersed presently in three archival collections of Saint Petersburg, and the situation with his library has been unclear to this day. During the research in the archives of Saint Petersburg and the Academy of Sciences Library, a number of documents that would help reconstructing the destiny of A.A. Dmitrievsky's collection were identified. The author has concludes that the archive and the library were divided by the scientist into two unequal parts: the greater one was kept at his apartment and transferred to the State Public Library (now - the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg) after the death of the scientist in August 1929; as for the smaller part, A.A. Dmitrievsky, due to the lack of both space and finance, was going to sell it in 1923-1929 to the Academy of Sciences Library, and after this project failed - to the Byzantological Commission of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. The handwritten materials and books offered for sale were passed into the Manuscript Department of the Academy of Sciences Library for storage and remained there after the scientist’s death. Vsevolod Sreznevsky, Vladimir Beneshevich and Petr Kudryavtsev were acting as contact men in the project of selling the collection. However, that project has been never realized, and now this part of the scientist's collection is stored in the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Archive and in various funds of the Academy of Sciences Library.