Sergei Ivanovich Arkhangelsky (22 January 1882, Semyonov — 7 October 1958, Gorky) — medievalist historian, specialist in the history of the 17th-century English Revolution and the agrarian history of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Doctor of Historical Sciences (1939), professor (1934), USSR (1946). One of the founders of the history faculties in Gorky, creator of the Nizhny Novgorod local-history school and school of general history.[3]

Education and Teachers

Arkhangelsky came from a noble family. In 1906 he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University. Among his teachers were P. G. Vinogradov, R. Y. Vipper, V. O. Klyuchevsky, D. M. Petrushevsky, and A. I. Savin.[1]

Teaching and Academic Career

From 1907 to 1916 Arkhangelsky taught literature at the Mariinsky Women's Gymnasium in Nizhny Novgorod. From 1916 he was a lecturer, then professor, at the Nizhny Novgorod People's University and the Pedagogical University (GPI, from 1918). From 1934 to 1946 he headed the Department of General History at the Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) GPI. From 1946 he was dean of the Faculty of History and Philology and head of the Department of General History at Lobachevsky University (GGU).[1]

His research interests spanned general and Russian history, local history, social history, revolutionary lawmaking, and agrarian history. He was the author of the first Soviet textbook on the history of the Middle Ages (1937).[2] He trained a whole generation of students, among them the historians E. D. Telegina, A. V. Sedov, and E. D. Vorobyova.[2]

Major Works

Arkhangelsky's publications include works on the history of the peasant and labor movement in Nizhny Novgorod Province, as well as fundamental studies of the agrarian legislation of the English Revolution:[1]

  • "The Agrarian Movement in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, 1861–1906" (1922)
  • "The Local Method in Historical Scholarship" (1926)
  • "Agrarian Legislation of the Great English Revolution, 1643–1648" (Moscow–Leningrad, 1935)
  • "History of the Middle Ages" (textbook, Gorky, 1937)
  • "Agrarian Legislation of the English Revolution, 1649–1660" (Moscow–Leningrad, 1940)
  • "Essays on the History of the Industrial Proletariat of Nizhny Novgorod and the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 17th–19th Centuries" (Gorky, 1950)
  • "The Peasant Movement in England in the 1640s–1650s" (Moscow, 1960, posthumous)

Legacy

In January 1982, marking the scholar's 100th birthday, the Faculty of History and Philology of Lobachevsky GGU held an extended meeting of the academic council with reports from his students, and the academic conference "Problems of General History." The conference included sections for scholars of antiquity and medievalists.[2] Arkhangelsky's biography and scholarly legacy continue to be studied by Nizhny Novgorod historians; among the researchers are A. A. Kuznetsov and I. V. Ketkova.[2][3]

Sources

  1. roii.ru — New Facts of the Biography of S. I. Arkhangelsky • A. A. Kuznetsov (Andrey Kuznetsov) • ROII (archive)
  2. opentextnn.ru — Sergei Ivanovich Arkhangelsky (1882 — 1958) — OPEN TEXT (archive)
  3. museum.unn.ru — S. I. Arkhangelsky — "an example of selfless love, dedication, and devotion to one's profession and scholarship" — Lobachevsky University Museum (archive)