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Birth of military engineer, lieutenant-general, historian Nikolai Karlovich Schilder
"Schilder was a very serious, conscientious campaigner;
the whole day from 9 o'clock in the morning he devoted
to the service and after 9 o'clock in the evening,
having heard a report of the officer on duty, was engaged in historical works until late at night."
General of Infantry N. A. Epanchin
May 21 (June 2), 1842, in St. Petersburg was born Nikolai Karlovich Schilder, a military engineer, lieutenant-general, director of the Imperial Public Library, who gained fame as the author of historical works and publisher.
The future historian was born in the family of a famous military engineer, Adjutant General Karl Andreevich Schilder and Alexandra Nikolaevna Dubenskaya – maid of honor at the Imperial Court, the daughter of a senator, privy councilor N. P. Dubensky.
In 1860, Nikolai Schilder graduated from the Page Corps under the first category and became an ensign in the Life Guards regiment with the attachment to Nicholas Academy of Engineering. Graduating from the Academy in 1862, Schilder was transferred to the Life Guards Combat Engineer Battalion.
In August 1863, Nikolai Karlovich was appointed adjutant of the Deputy Inspector-General of the Engineering, Adjutant General E. I. Totleben.
In February 1875 - September 1877, Schilder served in the Chief Engineer's Office.
During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, Nikolai Schilder participated in the siege and capture of Plevna. From September 1877 to June 1879, he was at the disposal of the Adjutant General Totleben, performing his special assignments.
In 1878, Schilder was promoted to major general with the appointment to the retinue of His Imperial Majesty. A year later, he changed the military service for teaching: from August 1879 to April 1886 Schilder worked as director of Nicholas Gatchina Orphan Institute, and served as head of Gatchina girls' school. In July-August 1879 Schilder was assistant editor of "Engineering Journal".
For three years, from April 1886 to July 1899, Nikolai Karlovich had been chief of the Nicholas Academy of Engineering and the Nicholas School of Engineers. In August 1893, he was promoted to lieutenant general.
After the death of the director of the Public Library A. F. Bychkov, July 12 (24), 1899 Schilder was appointed director of the library. He remained at that post until his death. Under the direction of Nikolai Karlovich was completed the construction of a new building (Vorotilovsky), opened a new reading room and resumed work of the Commission on international exchange of publications.
Literary and scientific activities of Schilder began with the publication in 1872 in the "Russian Antiquities" of a biographical sketch about his father. Later Nikolai Karlovich published in this journal many of his works. From 1892-1893, Schilder was the editor of "Russian Antiquity".
Nikolai Karlovich was particularly interested in the history of the first half of the 19th century. He wrote some fundamental scientific works about Russian Emperors: Alexander I, Paul I and Nicholas I. Because Schilder was acquainted with many people holding high posts, he gained access to the state archives, where none of the historians could get before. It allowed Nikolai Karlovich to first publish a considerable number of documents on the history of domestic and foreign policy of Russia. All Schilder’s studies are remarkable not only for their documentary-factual accuracy and rich illustrative material, but for careful attention of the author to psychological portraits of his characters.
In the last years of his life Nikolai Schilder began working on the history of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, but did not have time to finish it. The book was published in 1903, after the death of the author.
Prominent Russian historian Nikolai Karlovich Schilder died April 6 (19), 1902 and was buried in the Mitrofanievskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Lit.: Шильдер Николай Карлович [Электронный ресурс] // Российская национальная библиотека. 1998-2014. URL: https://nlr.ru/nlr_history/persons/info.php?id=161.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Шильдер Н. К. Император Александр Первый : его жизнь и царствовании. СПб., 1904. Т. 1;
Шильдер Н. К. Император Александр Первый : его жизнь и царствовании. СПб., 1904. Т. 2;
Шильдер Н. К. Император Александр Первый : его жизнь и царствовании. СПб., 1905. Т. 3;