V. F. Odoevsky and I. V. Got'e: scholar-librarians in service to the state.

Schaffner, Bradley L.

Most library research collections reflect the scholarly interests of the people charged with developing these resources. Libraries themselves often flourish or flounder based on the strength of their leadership and administrators' ability to provide a vision on how the institution should be developed and maintained to best support the needs of its patrons. The Russian State Library, formerly known as the Lenin Library and, prior to 1925, as the Rumiantsev Museum Library, bears witness to a long and interesting history, having survived war, revolution, and the political and social upheavals that often accompany such events. A number of talented directors have provided leadership to the institution, making it one of the world's great research libraries today. This essay focuses on the careers of two scholar-librarians: Prince Vladimir F. Odoevsky, who as director of the Rumiantsev Museum from 1846 to 1861 oversaw its transfer from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and Iurii V. Got'e, who served as head librarian throughout the years of the Bolshevik Revolution and subsequent civil war. Although neither Odoevsky's nor Got'e's career focused on librarianship, both men gave invaluable service to the continuing development of the institution by providing intelligent leadership during two crucial junctures in the library's history. In addition to examining the careers of Odoevsky and Got'e, the essay analyzes these scholar-librarians' impact on the development of the Russian State Library.

The Russian State Library began as the book and manuscript collections of the Rumiantsev Museum, which opened to the public in St. Petersburg in November 1831. Earlier, Nikolai Petrovich Rumiantsev (1754-1826), foreign minister of Russia from 1806 to 1812, had donated to the Russian government the collections that formed both the museum and library. (1) During its tenure in St. Petersburg, administrative oversight of the museum passed from the Ministry of Education, which had no interest in further developing the collections, to the St. Petersburg Public Library (now the Russian National Library), which likewise did not take a strong interest in the operation of the organization. As a result, the museum received minimal monetary support, leading one observer to note that the museum was like "an orphan of the state, highly noble by birth, but neglected." (2)

The financial situation of the Rumiantsev Museum and Library did not improve after its transfer to Moscow in 1861. However, due to numerous donations of books, papers, and manuscripts, the library's holdings increased ten fold, numbering close to one million volumes in 1911. (3) By 1918, museum administrators realized that they could no longer continue to develop both a universal museum and a library in the current building due to lack of space for the Rumiantsev's expanding holdings. (4) They decided that the library and manuscript divisions should remain in their current location, while the museum collections would be transferred to other institutions in Moscow. For example, the Antiquities Section was integrated into the holdings of the Moscow Historical Museum (5) In 1921, the Soviet government officially approved the restructuring and renamed the organization the State Rumiantsev Library. (6) On February 6, 1925, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee renamed the institution the V. I. Lenin Library of the USSR. (7) With this proclamation, the library in essence replaced the Petrograd Public Library as the Soviet national library, and it remained in this role throughout the Soviet period. In January 1992, a few months after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian government renamed the organization the Russian State Library. (8)

Prince Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky (1804?-69) served as the guiding force in moving the Rumiantsev Museum from St. Petersburg to Moscow. According to his biographer Neil Cornwell, Odoevsky "was a central figure in Russian culture over a period of nearly half a century." (9) His creative and scholarly activities encompassed the fields of music, literature, philosophy, science, education, and librarianship. In the 1830s, Odoevsky's popularity as a writer ranked second only to such literary giants as Aleksandr Pushkin and Nikolai Gogoy'. (10) Along with his creative and scholarly endeavors, Odoevsky pursued an active career in government service, and supported many social and humanitarian causes. Some observers have argued, perhaps correctly, that this additional government and social service hindered the complete development of his literary talents, so that he was: a great man engaged on minor affairs, for his posts, occupations, and activities led him to devote his energies to unglamorous and sometimes unrecognized causes like the education of children and peasants, the establishment of public libraries and adequate public schools, and the development of musical culture and facilities. (11)

Born in Moscow in 1803 or 1804, (12) Odoevsky was the son of the director of the Moscow State Bank and a peasant woman. In 1822, he graduated from the Noble Boarding School attached to Moscow University. (13) Although noble by birth, descended from Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov and in the line of descent from Riurik, like many other members of the Russian nobility, Odoveskii had to work in government service to support himself. (14) Of course this service limited the time that he could devout to his creative and scholarly pursuits.

In 1823, Odoevsky helped to organize and then chaired the "Society of Philosophy" (Obshchestvo liubomudriia), a Moscow organization interested in German philosophy. Although apolitical, the organization had close ties to the Decembrists, a group of liberal army officers who hoped to replace the monarchy with a republic. (15) Members of the group included the Decembrist V. K. Kiukhel'beker, with whom Odoevsky published the journal Mnemozina (1824-25), and his cousin, the poet A. I. Odoevsky, who also took part in the revolt. (16) Despite these close ties to the Decembrists, it appears that the December 1825 uprising against the rule of Nicholas I took Odoevsky by surprise. (17) He did not support the revolutionaries, and believed that "the Decembrists embarked on nonsense." (18) Although the society was not politically involved with the revolutionaries, its members burned society records and disbanded after the rebellion.

Odoevsky's writing career flourished in the 1830s, particularly with the publication of Russian Nights (Russkie nochi), a collection of short stories. Obviously the German Romantic writers, particularly E. T. A. Hoffmann, influenced Odoevsky, but apparently his critics have overemphasized this influence on his work. (19) Odoevsky's fiction reflects two tendencies. The first concerned his attempt to express his philosophical convictions creatively, while the second commented on the problems of Russian life, primarily through the use of satire. (20) While many critics consider the publication of Russian Nights the pinnacle of Odoevsky's literary career, his most enduring contribution as a writer remain his children's stories. He possessed the rare talent of being able to write both entertaining and educational stories, so much so that they continue to be popular today. (21)

Even with the success of Russian Nights and his children's tales, Odoevsky is not remembered so much for his literary talent, but rather for his influence over many other great Russian writers. The critic Vissarion G. Belinsky noted that his work contributed to the development of the Russian Realist School and prose tradition. (22)

Similarly, Odoevsky affected the music of the nineteenth century. Although a talented musician, people remember him better for his writing on, and criticism of, music rather than his musical performances. As a result of this work, Odoevsky earned the respect of many of the leading Russian composers of his day, and he greatly influenced the behind-the-scenes development of musical life in the country. (23)

Finally, through most of his adult life, Odoevsky hosted weekly soirees in his home for many of Russia's great authors, musicians and scholars. (24) These events placed him in the center of mid-nineteenth-century Russian cultural life.

Odoevsky had a lifelong interest in the education of the Russian people. In his opinion, education should focus on the demands of everyday life. (25) To this end, Odoevsky and the civil servant A. P. Zablotsky-Desiatovsky edited the journal Sel'skoe chtenie (Rural Readings) in four issues from 1844 to 1847. Written in simple, straightforward language for the non-specialist, it covered a variety of topics ranging from agriculture to Russian history and culture. Authors such as V. I. Dal', A. F. Vel'tman, and M. N. Zagoskin contributed works to the journal. (26) The publication of eleven editions of the first volume attests to the journal's success. (27) In addition, Odoevsky served as an education consultant, reviewed textbooks for the Ministry of State Domains, and collaborated on the series Biblioteka dlia vospitaniia (Library for Education). (28)

Along with his cultural and educational pursuits, Odoevsky pursued an interesting and diverse career in government service. He began in 1826, working briefly at the Deputies' Assembly of Moscow Nobility. Later that same year, he moved to St. Petersburg, and began work in the Censorship Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1828, he transferred to the Department of Spiritual Matters Related to Foreign Religions, and quickly moved on to serve as the librarian to the Committee on Foreign Censorship, where he occasionally served as a censor. From the perspective of contemporary American librarianship, it seems strange that an author, educator, and librarian such as Odoevsky would even consider supporting censorship, much less actively assisting the government in such activities. But Odoevsky believed in the "protective" aspect of censorship, and even helped to draft the Censorship Statute of 1828. Later, however, he realized the futility of attempting to censor all publications and opposed such activities. (29) In 1833, he became a member of the General Meeting of the Economic Department and served on committees for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. By 1838, he moved to the Ministry of State Domains, receiving a position in the Second Department of His Majesty's Own Chancery, concerned with the codification of law. Tiring of the politics of the tsarist court, he transferred to the St. Petersburg Public Library in 1846. (30)

The government placed the Rumiantsev Museum under the administrative control of the St. Petersburg Public Library on September 1, 1845, and Odoevsky became director of the museum on July 12, 1846. (31) Upon his appointment, he focused his attention on its internal organization. Odoevsky asked each employee of the museum to keep a journal of their daily duties and accomplishments so that he could review the work flow and perhaps improve procedures. He also endeavored to provide better access to the Russian-language materials held in the library. When he assumed the directorship, the library catalog was of little help because it was simply a chronological registry of receipts and relatively useless to anyone searching for materials. To solve this problem, he instructed the staff to create an author/title catalog. (32)

As with most public institutions before and since, a lack of adequate funding was the major problem facing the Rumiantsev Museum: (33) there was no money for collection development and the museum was understaffed, with its few employees receiving low wages. (34) Perhaps most urgent and problematic was the lack of funds for the repair of the buildings that housed the museum. V. V. Stasov, an employee of the Public Library, wrote about the extremely poor shape of the Rumiantsev Museum. The main building consisted of an old noble house, neglected and forgotten, growing old without repair, like an old garden, formerly light and lovely, but now all of the paths are overgrown and wild, everything grew out dense and green where one walks in thick darkness and dismal desolation.... (35)

Unable to obtain funds for the repair of the buildings from either the government or the Public Library, Odoevsky believed that several options existed for the museum: 1) sell the small building and use the money to start repairs on the main building; 2) sell both buildings and try to purchase a new structure to house the collections; 3) sell both buildings and transfer the collections to the Public Library (the administrators of the Public Library preferred this choice); or, 4) sell the buildings and move the collections intact to Moscow, which did not have a public library at the time. (36) Luckily for the Rumiantsev Museum and the people of Moscow, Odoevsky and the government supported the fourth option, and transferred the collections to Moscow in 1861 (37) In Moscow, out of the shadow of the St. Petersburg Public Library, the Rumiantsev Museum and Library would have a better chance to flourish, which indeed it did. Although Odoevsky accompanied the collections to Moscow, he stepped down from the directorship after his appointment as Senior Senator of the Eighth Department of the Government Senate in Moscow in November 1861. (38)

Unlike Odoevsky, Iurii V. Gofe (1873-1943) did not devote his life to government service. A historian and archeologist, Gofe focused his professional career on teaching and research. Although the eldest son, Got'e chose not to enter the family's business of operating an approximately 118-year-old bookstore, but rather pursued an academic career, obtaining degrees from Moscow University. (39) During the course of his studies, Got'e worked with noted scholars such as V. I. Ger'e, P. G. Vinogradov, V. O. Kliuchevskii, who served as Got'e's main advisor, and Pavel Miliukov, who sparked his interest in historiography. (40)

A prolific scholar who published at least 161 works, Got'e wrote and lectured on Russian history and historiography, Scandinavian and English sources for the study of Russian history, the history of the South Slavs, the Lithuanian-Russian state, Poland, and the archeology of Russia and East Central Europe. (41) The great Russian historian V. O. Kliuchevskii encouraged Got'e to conduct research in Russian archives. (42) Got'e's work continues as a model of archive-based research for the demographic, social, economic, and political history of Russia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with historians still considering his scholarship the standard works on the subjects. (43) Gore's first book, based on his masters thesis, was The Moscow Region in the 17th Century (Zamoskovnyi krai v XVII v. Opyt issledovaniia po istorii ekonomicheskogo byta Moskovskoi Rusi, 1906); it was reprinted by the Soviet government in 1937. This publication served as the first study on the economic history of the Moscow region in the seventeenth century, laying the groundwork for the study of the economic history of Russia. (44) He further pursued his studies and research, and in 1913, he defended and published his doctoral dissertation, the first volume of The History of Local Administration in Russia from Peter I to Catherine II (Istoriia oblastnogo upravleniia v Rossii of Petra I do Ekateriny II. Tom 1, Reforma 1727 goda. Oblastnoe delenie i oblastnye uchrezhdeniia 1727-1775).

Got'e held multiple appointments to several academic institutions throughout his career. He taught high school from 1896-1902 and then began to teach at Professor Ger'e's Higher Women's Courses until 1918, when it merged with Moscow University. After passing his Magister exam in 1903, Got'e began teaching at Moscow University, being elected full professor on April 15, 1915. He continued to teach at the university until the mid-1920s, when he and many other prominent historians left to work at the Independent Institute of Historical Studies (RANION). He also taught history at several other institutions, and in 1919, Got'e began to lecture on archeology. Along with his teaching and research duties, Got'e also served as an archivist in the Archives of the Ministry of Justice in 1897. The following year, he began working in the Rumiantsev Museum as a clerk and junior curator in the Department of Russian Antiquities. In 1911, he became head librarian and associate director of the museum, a position that he held until his arrest and exile in 1930. (45)

During the chaotic period of the Russian revolutions and civil war (1917-22), the Rumiantsev Museum Library benefited from Got'e's guidance and common-sense approach to working with the new Bolshevik government that came to power under Vladimir I. Lenin's leadership in 1917. Got'e makes it clear in his diary that he does not approve or support the new leaders of Russia; time and again, he refers to the Bolsheviks as "gorillas." (46) He believed that the Bolsheviks were destroying the civilized culture of Russia, and driving the country to ruin so that soon "everything will gradually die off. (47) In order to do what was best for the museum, Got'e set his personal feelings aside, cooperating with the new government that he despised in order to save the museum.

On several occasions Gofe went out of his way to accommodate requests for library materials from government officials, including Lenin. He advised librarians at other institutions to do likewise. (48) Rather than turn away requests from government officials, Gofe drafted new regulations to try to accommodate their needs. (49) However, he did not allow government officials to abuse these library rules and turned down unreasonable requests. For example, for unexplained reasons, he did not allow a functionary from the Commissariat of Nationalities, who later became the head of Joseph V. Stalin's personal secretariat, to check out materials. (50)

Got'e also attempted to assist the government in the creation of new publishing and library policies. He attended various meetings on library affairs at the Commissariat of Enlightenment. (51) He also frequented conferences to develop publishing and book distribution policies. (52) In addition, he participated in meetings about general Soviet cultural policies, for example, sessions at the Commissariat of Enlightenment concerning the organization of Soviet cinematographic affairs and the Commission on the Preservation of Historical Monuments. (53) Although Got'e did not enjoy attending these meetings, it did allow him to establish important contacts in the government which could be used to solve both personal and professional problems.

The cooperation of the Rumiantsev Museum Library with the Soviet government contrasted starkly with the oppositional stance of the Petrograd Public Library. Soon after assuming power, Lenin sent a letter to the library in Petrograd asking it to establish both domestic and international book exchanges, and to operate the reading room from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. daily so that workers would have the opportunity to use the library in their off hours. (54) Unsympathetic towards the new government, the library administration in Petrograd refused to act on Lenin's request. Got'e faced similar resistance to cooperation with the Bolsheviks by the staff of the Rumiantsev Library. During a meeting of the library administrative council on December 20, 1917, Nikolai Romanov, a professor of art at Moscow University, felt that the institution should resist any efforts by the Bolshevik "dogs" to place a commissar in the library. Got'e successfully objected to this type of belligerent action and argued that in order to preserve the museum and Russia's culture in general, they had to work with the people in power. He wrote: And if they [the government] call for help not in a political cause, but in a cultural cause, then we, for the sake of the cause as well as for the sake of our institutions welfare and its direct goals, should not aggravate the situation without weighty reasons of extreme need. (55)

This outlook enabled Gofe to continue working through the hardships of the revolution and civil war, and allowed him to cooperate with a government to which he was morally opposed. He chose this path to protect the library for "better times." (56)

Unfortunately Got'e never saw better times. He continued to direct the Lenin Library (the government changed the name of the library to honor the Bolshevik leader in 1925) until his arrest in 1930 in connection with the Platonov Affair, in which the Soviet government accused approximately 120 scholars of attempting to restore the monarchy. A Soviet court sentenced Got'e to five years in a northern prison camps. (57) Upon his release, Got'e did not return to the Lenin Library, but he did resume teaching. In 1939, the Academy of Sciences elected him as a full member. (58)

Although neither Odoevsky's nor Got'e's careers truly focused on librarianship, both men gave invaluable service to the Russian State Library by providing intelligent leadership during two crucial junctures in the library's history. Odoevsky saved the library by supporting the museum's transfer to Moscow, even though this choice was unpopular with some administrators of the Public Library and scholars in St. Petersburg. In Moscow, and out of the shadow of the Public Library, the collections of the Rumiantsev Museum Library began to grow and flourish. Got'e put his own political beliefs aside, and as head librarian of the institution, he made every effort to cooperate with the new Soviet government so that the library would survive and grow. As a result, the library replaced the Public Library as the de facto Soviet National Library in 1925, and today remains one of the world's great research libraries.

(1) The collection consisted of 710 manuscripts, 28,200 books, and 1,465 coins and medals. Donald L. Schafly, Jr. "Rumiantsev, Nikolai Petrovich," in The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History, ed. Joseph L. Wiezcyniski (Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International Press, 1983), 32: 14.

(2) "Pasynok sud'by," Russkie vedomosti, no. 115 (May 21, 1911), 4.

(3) "Pasynok sud'by," Russkie vedomosti, no. 116 (May 22, 1911), 4.

(4) Istoriia Gosudarstvennoi biblioteki SSSR imeni V. I. Lenina za 100 let: 1862-1962 (Moscow: Izdanie Biblioteki, 1962), 79; P. M. Bogachev, "Gosudarstvennaia biblioteka SSSR imeni V. I. Lenina za 40 let (1917-1957)," in Sorok let bibliotechnogo stroitel'stva v SSSR, ed. F. S. Abrikosova (Moscow: Gosudarstvennaia biblioteka SSSR im. V. I. Lenin, 1958), 33.

(5) A. K. Vinogradov, "The Fortunes of the Roumiantzow Museum," (unpublished manuscript held in the Hoover Archives), 6.

(6) Bogachev, "Gosudarstvennaia biblioteka SSSR imeni V. I. Lenina," 33.

(7) Ibid., 34.

(8) A brief history of the Russian State Library can be found at: http:// www.rsl.ru/history/history.htm.

(9) Neil Cornwell, "Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevskii 1804-1869: Prose Writer and Cultural Dignitary," in Reference Guide to Russian Literature, ed. Neil Cornwell and Nicole Christian (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998), 588.

(10) Ralph E. Matlaw, introduction to Russian Nights, by V. F. Odoevskii, trans. Olga Koshansky-Olienskov and Ralph E. Matlaw (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1965), 7.

(11) Ibid., 7.

(12) His year of birth has never been certain: both 1803 and 1804 were cited by him on different occasions, with the latter year now being accepted by most commentators. Neil Cornwell, Vladimir Odoevsky and Romantic Poetics: Collected Essays (Providence, RE Berghahn Books, 1998), 2-3.

(13) O. D. Golubeva and A. L. Gol'dberg, V. I. Sobol'shchikov (Moscow: Kniga, 1983), 141.

(14) James Stuart Campbell, V. F. Odoyevsky and the Formation of Russian Musical Taste in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Garland Publishing, 1989), 1. Cornwell writes that "Odoevsky was an aristocrat equal in seniority and birth to any in the realm, including the Romanov family; indeed, in later life he accordingly became Russia's 'premier nobleman'" (Cornwell, Odoevsky and Romantic Poetics, 3).

(15) Neil Cornwell, introduction to Romanticheskiye povesti, by V. F. Odoevskii (Oxford: W. A. Meeuws, 1975), ii; Matlaw, introduction to Russian Nights, 8.

(16) Golubeva and Gol'dberg, V. I. Sobol'shchikov, 141.

(17) Neil Cornwell, The Life, Times and Milieu of V. F. Odoyevsky, 1804-1869 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1986), 180-81.

(18) Z. A. Kamenskii, Moskovskii kruzhok liubomudrov (Moscow: Nauka, 1980), 42.

(19) Charles E. Passage, The Russian Hoffmannists (The Hague: Mouton and Co., 1963), 89-114.

(20) Matlaw, introduction to Russian Nights, 9-10.

(21) Cornwell, Odoevsky and Romantic Poetics, 173; Matlaw, introduction to Russian Nights, 9.

(22) Cornwell, introduction to Romanticheskiye povesti, xi-xii.

(23) Campbell, V. F. Odoyevsky and the Formation of Russian Musical Taste, ix.

(24) Matlaw, introduction to Russian Nights, 7.

(25) Cornwell, Odoevsky and Romantic Poetics, 64.

(26) Gary R. Jahn, "Tolstoy and Popular Literature," http://www1.umn.edu/lol-russ/ PopLit/Tolstoy%20and%20Popular%20Literature.htm.

(27) Cornwell, Odoevsky and Romantic Poetics, 168-69; Campbell, V. F. Odoyevsky and the Formation of Russian Musical Taste, 25.

(28) Cornwell, Odoevsky and Romantic Poetics, 163-64.

(29) Ibid., 196-200; Marianna Tax Choldin, A Fence Around the Empire: Russian Censorship of Western Ideas Under the Tsars (Durham, NO Duke University Press, 1985), 202.

(30) Cornwell, Odoevsky and Romantic Poetics, 14.

(31) Golubeva and Gol'dberg, V. I. Sobol'shchikov, 202.

(32) Ibid., 202-03.

(33) M. M. Klevenskii, Istoriia gosudarstvennoi ordena Lenin Biblioteka SSSR im. V. I. Lenina: Tom I. Istoriia Biblioteka Moskovskogo Publichnogo Rumiantsevskogo Muzeia, 1862-1917 gg. (Moscow: s.n., 1953), 13. "Pasynok sud'by," 4.

(34) Golubeva, V. I. Sobol'shchikov, 202-03.

(35) V. V. Stasov, "Rumiantsovskii Muzei: Istoriia ego perevoda iz Peterburga v Moskvu v 1860-1861 gg.," Russkaia starina 37 (1883), 88-89.

(36) Piatidesiatilietie Rumiantsovskago Muzeia v Moskvie: 1862-1912. Istoricheskii ocherk (Moscow: s.n., 1913), 79-80.

(37) Golubev and Gol'dberg, V. I. Sobol'shchikov, 206-11.

(38) Golubeva and Gol'dberg, V. I. Sobol'shchikov, 214; Cornwell, Odoevsky and Romantic Poetics, 205.

(39) I. V. Got'e, Time of Troubles: The Diary of Iurii Vladimirovich Got'e. July 8, 1917 to July 23, 1922, trans., ed., and intro. Terrence Emmons (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988), 10.

(40) V. I. Picheta, "Akademik Iurii Vladimirovich Got'e," Istoricheskie zapiski 15 (1945), 301-03.

(41) Got'e, Time of Troubles, 12.

(42) Picheta, "Akademik Iurii Vladimirovich Got'e," 303.

(43) Got'e, Time of Troubles, 12.

(44) Picheta, "Akademik Iurii Vladimirovich Got'e," 303-04.

(45) Got'e, Time of Troubles, 120; Edward Kasinec, "The Soviet Library as Victim: Five Hitherto Unknown Letters to Iu. V. Got'e," Bulletin of Research in the Humanities 87:2-3 (1986-87): 172.

(46) For example, see Got'e, Time of Troubles, 160-61.

(47) Ibid., 223.

(48) Ibid., 126-27; 133; 138; 149-50; 239-40.

(49) Ibid., 127.

(50) Ibid., 417.

(51) Ibid., 235; 241-43; 306.

(52) Ibid., 146-47; 352; 386; 404.

(53) Ibid., 218-19;120.

(54) Lenin and Library Organizations (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1983), 38.

(55) Got'e, Time of Troubles, 90.

(56) Ibid., 459.

(57) Got'e, Time of Troubles, 22; Konstantin F. Shteppa, Russian Historians and the Soviet State (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1962), 49-50.

(58) Got'e, Time of Troubles, 23.