Free Economic Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture and Husbandry (1765–1917)

The Imperial Free Economic Society (IFES) is the oldest public organization in Russia and the first scientific and educational society. Empress Catherine II, establishing this public organization on November 11 (October 31 according to the old style) 1765, responded to M. V. Lomonosov's idea of creating a special body for managing agriculture in Russia. The purpose of the society was to disseminate knowledge useful and necessary for agriculture and house building, to study the state of Russian agriculture and the diverse conditions of the country's economic life, as well as the achievements of agricultural technology and agrotechnology and the experience of their application in Western European countries.

The activities of the IFES continued until the beginning of the 20th century (officially abolished in 1919). During this time, the society organized about 250 essay competitions on topical socio-economic issues, numerous campaigns to collect information about economic life in Russia, dozens of expeditions to study the grain trade and labor productivity (in conjunction with the Russian Geographical Society), and launched a massive campaign to vaccinate and educate the population and spread agricultural education and economic knowledge.

The society's publishing activities developed actively. By the beginning of the 20th century, about 160 works on agricultural issues alone had been published with the society's participation, and the longest-running scientific periodical in the Russian Empire, Trudy Volnogo Ekonomicheskogo Obshchestva (Proceedings of the Free Economic Society), was published regularly (a total of 281 issues from 1765 to 1915).

Since 1861, the Literacy Committee has been actively working within the society, and three departments have been operating within the structure of the IEO: agriculture, technical agricultural production and agricultural mechanics, political economy and agricultural statistics. The society was headed by a president, and the departments were managed by their chairmen.  The presidents of the society at various times were Senator A. V. Olsufiev, General G. G. Orlov, Field Marshal I. G. Chernyshev, Admiral N. S. Mordvinov, Prince P. G. Oldenburgsky, jurist K. D. Kavelin, academicians A. P. Butlerov, M. M. Kovalevsky, and others. Many prominent scientists, statesmen, and public figures became members of the IVEO. Together with Russian universities and the Imperial Academy of Sciences, the IVEO made a huge contribution to the development of a number of important branches of Russian science and technology, primarily political economy, statistics, agronomy, and agricultural engineering. Thanks to active interdisciplinary communication among scientists, new areas of scientific and scientific-practical activity gained momentum.

The Presidential Library collections are constantly being enriched with electronic documents on the history of the IFES, writings by its members, and biographical materials. A significant part of this historical documentary heritage is included in this collection, timed to coincide with the 260th anniversary of the IFES.