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PHJ № 3 (47) 2025 — I. E. Barykina. THE FORMATION OF THE PARLIAMENTARY CULTURE OF RUSSIAN SOCIETY: FROM THE MEMOIRS OF O. V. SINAKEVICH-YAFA ABOUT THE STATE DUMA OF THE FIRST CONVOCATION

The convocation of the State Duma in 1906 was met with significant enthusiasm by the Russian populace. However, for the electoral system and legislative institution to function effectively, it was necessary to form a political culture in Russian society. The State Duma of the first convocation is widely regarded as the most open parliament to society, evidenced by its organisation of public events. In June 1906, an excursion was organised for teachers participating in the Pedagogical Congress to the Tauride Palace. The event was documented in the notes of O. V. Yafa.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — R. A. Davydov. INSTRUCTION OF THE ARKHANGELSK MEDICAL BOARD OF 1837 ON THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF SCURVY ON NOVAYA ZEMLYA AND SPITSBERGEN

This work is a publication of the document “Instruction for the prevention of mortality occurring on Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen from scurvy”. The document was prepared at the suggestion of the military governor of Arkhangelsk after a number of deaths from scurvy among Russians engaged in hunting on Spitsbergen in the mid-1830s. The text of the document was drafted at the Arkhangelsk Medical Board in 1837 and printed as a pamphlet at the provincial printing house in the same year. The pamphlets were sent to the local police departments of the province to supply shipowners involved in organizing hunting expeditions to the Arctic archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen. One of the copies of the pamphlet is currently kept in the State Archives of the Arkhangelsk region. This document is interesting because it describes the main symptoms and the course of the disease in a laconic form, in a language understandable to a non-specialist. In particular, to prevent scurvy, those who hunted in the Arctic archipelagoes were advised to use sour products, i. e. sauerkraut, horseradish, cloudberries, cranberries and lingonberries. These products were easily available to the provincial population and could be stored for long periods during hunting expeditions. For the treatment of scurvy, it was recommended to “drink with the juice of cranberries or cloudberries” and a decoction of conifers, more precisely a decoction of pine cones. Thus, in 1837 — almost a century before vitamin C was officially discovered, artificially synthesised and the dependence of scurvy on a deficiency of this vitamin in the body was proven — doctors in Arkhangelsk gave recommendations for the prevention and treatment of scurvy patients, focusing on providing people with foods rich in vitamin C.богатыми именно витамином C.

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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 — E. D. Tverdyukova. “BECOMING NOT ONLY TOBACCO WORKERS, BUT ALSO AMMUNITION MANUFACTURERS”: THE LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE LENINGRAD TOBACCO FACTORY NAMED AFTER URITSKIY V. N. RUMYANTSEV TO THE V. P. ZOTOV (7.7.1942)

The published document is a primary source on the history of the 1st Leningrad Tobacco Factory named after Uritsky. It was the largest enterprise in the USSR to operate during the siege of Leningrad, supplying the city’s population and its defenders with cigarettes and tobacco. In the challenging conditions of war and blockade, smoking frequently served as means of coping with psycho-emotional distress, alleviating hunger, and acquiring a certain ritualistic significance. The factory’s activities in the initial year of the Great Patriotic War are discussed by the factory director, V. N. Rumyantsev, in a letter to V. P. Zotov, A. I. Mikoyan’s commissioner on food issues. The factory’s staff, in their efforts to substitute scarce raw materials, not only produced tobacco products but also successfully mastered the production of ammunition and medicines. The author of the letter goes on to describe his efforts to maintain the factory’s operational capacity during the first blockade winter, and characterizes the domestic characteristics of the workers.

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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 — A. V. Ashikhmin, D. N. Shilov. “WELL, BUT NOT THE TIME”. THE LAST REPORTS OF M. M. SPERANSKY TO EMPEROR ALEXANDER I ON THE REFORM OF THE SENATE IN 1811

This research is dedicated to the unfinished reform of the Senate carried out by Speransky in 1811. The authors analyzed a set of documents deposited in the Russian State Historical Archive in the fund of the Special Committee of Chairmen of Departments of the State Council (F. 1164), consisting of 32 parts. These documents were interpreted by researchers since the beginning of the 20th century, and their archival systematization was carried out during that period by A. R. Dobrokhotov, clerk of the State Chancery. Despite the obvious relevance of these sources for the history of such large-scale state transformations, most of them have not yet been published. Based on the research of predecessors, source studies, and archaeological research, the history of this collection is reconstructed. This archival complex fits into the history of the Senate reform in 1911, and the role of Speransky and other members of the State Сouncil in its development is revealed. The authors describe and analyze the contents of reform documents, including preparatory projects dating back to Catherine’s reign. This collection provides a comprehensive source on senatorial reform developed by Speransky. Access to these documents and their analysis helps us better understand the ideas of the reformer and his methods of working with historical and contemporary materials, as well as methods of communicating and defending his opinions during discussions. It also reveals additional aspects Speransky’s “technical bureau” work during its early period. For the first time in more than a century of research, the most important documents of the reform authored by Speransky were published — the note “On the formation of the Senate”, with attached drafts of manifesto and decrees, and the note “On the timeliness of establishing the Senate”, comprising parts 17 and 18 of the archival collection under consideration.

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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 — V. V. Shishkin. UNKNOWN LETTER OF HENRY III OF MARCH 10, 1585: ON THE EVE OF THE THE WAR OF THREE HENRYS

The letter of Henry III (1574–1589), the last of Valois, addressed to the French ambassador in Rome at the papal court, seigneur de Saint-Goart (Gouart). The document was submitted to the Archive of the Saint Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences as a gift on April 14, 2024. This is an order to the ambassador to ask Pope Gregory XIII to approve the royal decision regarding the appointment of a new prior of the Augustinian priory in Perigord, Saint-Etienne Du Peyrat, a certain Elis Patrice. In preparation for a new civil war in France, which remained in history under the name The War of Three Henrys (1585–1589), the king placed in secular and church posts, at court and in the field, the persons who were certainly devoted to him. Henry III removed from the post of prior a supporter of the Dukes of Guise, political opponents of the king, Bishop of Amiens. The reconstruction of events, according to the dorsal notes on the back of the letter, allows to understand the dramatic history of the approval of the royal decision, which eventually took place in 1586. This was due to the expulsion of Saint-Goart from Rome on the orders of the new Pope Sixtus V, and his triumphant return a few months after the restoration of relations between Henry III and the Holy See, under a new name and in a new status, Marquis de Pisany.

PHJ № 1 (37) 2023 – А. А. Komarov. Swedish ambassador to the USSR Rolf Sulman on his meetings and conversations with Nikita Khrushchev

This publication contains two letters from the Swedish Ambassador to the USSR, Rolf Sulman, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Torsten Nilsson. he letters present the impressions of the high-ranking Swedish diplomat as a result of his interaction with the Soviet leader. The tone of the letters witnesses that at the time of writing Soviet-Swedish relations were developing in a favourable spirit.

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PHJ № 2 (34) 2022 — E. F. Sinelnikova. SPEECH OF THE RUSSIAN NATURE AMATEURS SOCIETY SECRETARY ON THE SIMPLIFICATION OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES REPORTING FORMS, 1926

The article discusses the speech of the Russian Nature Amateurs Society secretary V. A. Kazitsyn, discovered in the Central State Archives of St. Petersburg in the fund of the Leningrad Branch of the Main Directorate of Scientific Institutions of the Academic Center of the People’s Commissariat of Enlightenment of the RSFSR (F. 2555). It raised the question of simplifying the reporting of scientific societies to administrative bodies, scientific administrative and financial control institutions. V. A. Kazitsyn’s speech focused on the difficulties that are caused by redundant reporting and control over the activities of scientific societies. This problem was one of the most important in the relationship between the authorities and scientific societies in the mid‑1920s. The published document is dated 1926. The report was intended for a meeting of directors of scientific institutions subordinate to Glavnauka, which took place in Leningrad on April 1, 1926. Undoubtedly, V. A. Kazitsyn was the spokesman not only for the opinion of the council of the Russian Nature Amateurs Society, but also for other scientific societies. The ways of solving problems in relations between the authorities and scientific societies, proposed in the speech, testify to the fact that scientists were striving to democratize these relations. However, the proposed adjustments to the system of state regulation of the activities of scientific institutions and organizations in the conditions of the formation of a totalitarian system in the country could not be implemented. We believe that the published document is an interesting source on the social history of Russian science in the 1920s.

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PHJ № 1 (33) 2022 — S. V. Kulikov. EMPEROR NICHOLAS II, COUNT D. M. SOLSKY AND THE CREATION OF THE STATE DUMA (JULY 1905)

The published “Memorandum” reproduces the contents of the audience given on July 4, 1905 by Nicholas II to D. M. Solsky, who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers and led the discussion of the draft legislative State Duma in this institution.

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PHJ № 1 (33) 2022 — D. I. Raskin. FROM THE HISTORY OF ONE UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO LEAD THE RUSSIAN PRESS

Published documents contain information on the history of the Press Committee. The creation of this committee was an unsuccessful attempt by Alexander II to direct public opinion by influencing the press. The establishment of the Press Committee was considered in the Council of Ministers (1858). It was a personal initiative of the emperor. The staff of the committee (N. A. Mukhanov, A. V. Adlerberg and A. E. Timashev) was extremely unsuccessful. The inclusion in the committee A. V. Nikitenko helped little. The statute of the committee, created by members of the Press Committee, testified to the “bureaucratic amateurism” of the authors. An attempt by the government to lead the Russian press was doomed to failure. The Press Committee ceased to exist in 1859.