Russian Historical Society aims at practical work

St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Historical Society is aimed at practical and useful for the people work related to the disclosure of "white spots" of history.

Specific activities were discussed yesterday at a meeting at the State Hermitage Museum, chaired by the Head of the St. Petersburg branch of the Society and the museum Director Michael Piotrovsky. According to him, it is important not only to show the history, but to make it interesting in form, to attract young people. To do this, the Russian Historical Society intends to work in joint effort with the Presidential Library, use its facilities to digitize documents, hold online conferences and lectures.

"We have serious work ahead. In 2014, it is important to recall the history and lessons of the First World War, whose centenary will be celebrated. We have to involve the Kaliningrad region, where in the territories of the former East Prussia there are great, lesser known graves of our soldiers. Educational project on the Russian Guard will also be implemented. The work will involve Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve," said Mikhail Piotrovsky.

Special attention will be paid to the 70th anniversary of the full liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade. The documents will help to reveal the role of the Battle of Leningrad in the outcome of the Second World War. At the meeting, it was stressed the importance of organizing and conducting large-scale action to video record the memories of citizens of the besieged Leningrad, to digitize their diaries.

The 285th anniversary of the general Alexander Suvorov and the 110th anniversary of the museum bearing his name to be celebrated in 2014 will be marked with Promulgation of new, previously little-known materials. The focus will also be on the 150th anniversary of the Judicial Reform, which is especially important in connection with the relocation of the Russian highest judicial authority to St. Petersburg.

At the meeting it was noted that the archives of the Imperial Russian Historical Society, which held by the Institute of History of Sciences of the RAS and the Russian State Historical Archive will also be digitized. The Presidential Library has already begun this work. Under the active support of the director of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Irina Popova, the holdings of the first national digital library in the country were supplemented with new materials: rare photos of interiors of the mansion of the chairman of the Historical Society in 1909-1917, Grand Duke Nikholai Mikhailovich and modern photographs taken in the same building - 18, Palace Embankment.