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

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.

1. Chuikina S.A. Dvoryanskaya pamyat’: “byvshie” v sovetskom gorode (Leningrad, 1920—30-e gody) [Noble Memory: “Former People” in the Soviet City. Leningrad, 1920s—30s]. St. Petersburg, Izdatel’stvo Evropeiskogo Universiteta v Sankt-Peterburge, 2006, 259 p.

2. Naumov O.N. The Arsenyevs Nobles — Employees of the Library of the State Rumyantsev Museum in the Post-Revolutionary Years, Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science], 2022, vol. 71, no. 3, pp. 285—294. DOI: 10.25281/0869-608X-2022-71-3-285-294 (in Russ.).

3. Naumov O.N. Pushkin and the Soviet Government (Experience of Socio-Genealogical Discourse), Klio, 2017, no. 5, pp. 105—114 (in Russ.).

4. Polushin V.L. Potomki velikogo dreva [Descendants of the Great Family Tree]. Krasnoyarsk, Bonus Publ., 1999, 489 p.

5. Galin G.A. Deti i vnuki Pushkina [Pushkin’s Children and Grandchildren]. Moscow, Novyi Indeks Publ., 2009, 312 p.

6. Pushkiny: genealogicheskaya ehntsiklopediya [The Pushkins: Genealogical Encyclopedia]. Moscow, ROSSPEHN Publ., 2020, 591 p.

7. Tsentral’nyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv goroda Moskvy [Moscow Central State Archive], coll. 4, aids 12, fol. 154, 35 p.

8. Arkhiv Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Archive of the Russian State Library], aids 125, fol. 473, 16 p.

9. Lukash I.S. The Severed Branch, Rodina [Homeland], 1990, no. 6, pp. 40—45 (in Russ.).

10. Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi voenno-istoricheskii arkhiv [Russian State Military Historical Archive], coll. 400, aids 9, fol. 27314.

11. Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi voenno-istoricheskii arkhiv [Russian State Military Historical Archive], coll. 409, aids 1, fol. 177329, 11 p.

12. Rusakov V.M. Potomki A.S. Pushkina [Pushkin’s Descendants]. Leningrad, Lenizdat Publ., 1978, 224 p.

13. Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library], coll. 217 (G.P. Georgievsky), cart. 13, fol. 86, 2 p.

14. Rykhlyakov V.N. (ed.) Imperatorskii Aleksandrovskii litsei: vospitanniki, pedagogi i sluzhashchie: biograficheskii slovar’ [Imperial Alexander Lyceum: Educators, Teachers and Employees: biographical dictionary]. Moscow, Staraya Basmannaya Publ., 2019, 551 p.

15. Rusakov V.M. Izbrannye rasskazy o potomkakh Aleksandra Sergeevicha Pushkina [Selected Stories about the Descendants of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin]. Pskov, 2010, 327 p.

16. Zelov N.S. Respect for the Poet’s Memory, Vestnik arkhivista: spets. vyp., posvyashchennyi 200-letnemu yubileyu A.S. Pushkina [Herald of an Archivist: Special Edition Dedicated to the 200th Anniversary of A.S. Pushkin]. Moscow, 1999, pp. 98—104 (in Russ.).

17. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii [State Archive of the Russian Federation], coll. R-4737, aids 1, fol. 175, 238 p.

18. Pushkin G.G. It’s Only Me Left, Slovo [Word], 1994, no. 7/8, pp. 2—7 (in Russ.).

19. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii [State Archive of the Russian Federation], coll. A-2306, aids 1, col. 1463, 9 p.

20. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii [State Archive of the Russian Federation], fol. 1861, 3 p.

21. Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library], coll. 547 (P.S. Popov), cart. 5, fol. 54, 2 p.

22. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii [State Archive of the Russian Federation], coll. R-4359, aids 1, fol. 261, 9 p.

23. Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library], coll. 369 (V.D. Bonch-Bruevich), cart. 322, fol. 28, 5 p.

24. Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library], coll. 792 (V.S. Nechaeva), cart. 18, fol. 13, 4 p.

25. Mann P. The Descendants of The Great Poet, Vechernyaya Moskva [Evening Moscow]. 1935, April 16 (in Russ.).

26. Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva [Russian State Archive of Literature and Art], coll. 384, aids 6, fol. 17, 10 p.

27. Popov P.S. New Archive of A.S. Pushkin, Zven’ya [Links], vol. 3/4. Moscow, Leningrad, 1934, pp. 129—178 (in Russ.).

28. Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library], coll. 369 (V.D. Bonch-Bruevich), cart. 194, fol. 37, 1 p.

29. Arkhiv Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Archive of the Russian State Library], aids 22, fol. 127, 33 p.

30. Samarin A.Yu. M.P. Keller — The Head of the Department of Rare Books of the Library of the Rumyantsev Museum, Rumyantsevskie chteniya. Istoriko-kul’turnye traditsii i innovatsionnye preobrazovaniya Rossii. Prosvetitel’skaya otvetstvennost’ bibliotek: Materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauch. konf. [Rumyantsev Readings. Historical and Cultural Traditions and Innovative Transformations of Russia. Educational Responsibility of Libraries: Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference]. Moscow, Pashkov Dom Publ., 2009, part 1, pp. 216—222 (in Russ.).

31. Koval L.M. A.S. Pushkin and the Keepers of His Memory, Vestnik arkhivista: spets. vyp., posvyashchennyi 200-letnemu yubileyu A.S. Pushkina [Herald of an Archivist: Special Edition Dedicated to the 200th Anniversary of A.S. Pushkin]. Moscow, 1999, pp. 8—14 (in Russ.).

32. Arkhiv Rossiiskoi gosudarstvennoi biblioteki [Archive of the Russian State Library Archive], aids 7.II, fol. 22, 21 p.

33. Kuglyukovskaya L.I. The Fate of the Employees of the Rumyantsev Museum and the State Library of the USSR Named after V.I. Lenin during the Purges and Repressions: (1918—1939), Kniga v prostranstve kul’tury [Book in the Space of Culture], 2008, issue 1, pp. 28—46 (in Russ.).