Romanov, Boris Aleksandrovich (historian)

Father - Alexander Dementievich Romanov, engineer, professor at the Institute of Railway Engineers . He knew Western European and Oriental (including Chinese ) languages.

Mother - Maria Vasilievna, nee Shatova, school doctor.

He graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University in 1912 . Doctor of Historical Sciences ( 1941 , thesis: "Essays on the Diplomatic History of the Russian-Japanese War"), Professor ( 1947 ). Belonged to the "Petersburg school" of historians, A.E. Presnyakov considered his teacher.

Start of activity

At university he specialized in the history of ancient Russia. He was left at the university to prepare for a professorship, at the same time, he taught in secondary schools, was engaged in writing articles for the dictionary of F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron and the Russian Encyclopedia.

In 1918 - 1929 he was a member of the Central Archive: senior archivist, head of the economic section. Under his leadership were collected funds of the ministries of finance, trade and industry, banks and joint stock companies. This determined his interest in the history of Russia's economic policy in the Far East , which led to the writing of a number of articles, and then the publication of the capital work “Russia in Manchuria”. I came to the conclusion that the driving force of Russian expansion in the Far East was the Ministry of Finance, headed by S. Yu. Witte . Combined the selection of a relevant topic with a thorough source study, which was unusual for a time when ideological schemes were in vogue, often poorly supported by facts. This approach was met with misunderstanding on the part of both the “official” school of Pokrovsky and the traditional representatives of the “St. Petersburg school” (the latter believed that the historian should not deal with topics relevant for that time).

At the same time in 1919 - 1927 he taught at the Petrograd (Leningrad) University.

Arrest, Prison, Camp

On January 13, 1930, he was arrested under the “ Academic Case ”, sentenced to five years in prison. He spent more than a year in pre-trial detention, then served time on the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal ( 1931 - 1933 ). According to the “days off,” the period was reduced by one and a half years. During the arrest, all scientific materials collected over the years of work were withdrawn from him, which were not later returned to him.

Resumption of work

After being released from the camp, he collaborated with academic scientific institutions on a contractual basis, was engaged in technical work: compiled bibliographic indexes, wrote cards for the Old Russian dictionary. He prepared internal reviews of historical monographs, compiled a textbook “The Revolution of 1905 and the Western European Press”, prepared a textbook on “Russian Truth”.

In 1941 - 1944 he worked at the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the USSR Academy of Sciences . From 1944 to 1950 he was a professor at the Faculty of History at Leningrad State University. Since 1944 - Researcher of the Leningrad branch of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences (LOII). During World War II was evacuated in Tashkent . After the war, he published three major works: two major monographs (“People and Manners of Ancient Russia” and “Essays on the Diplomatic History of the Russian-Japanese War”), as well as comments on “Russian Truth”.

"People and customs of ancient Russia"

The book "People and manners of ancient Russia" - a kind of collective portrait of people and pictures of the manners of pre-Mongol Russia . It is based on a rigorous analysis of a small number of written sources that have reached our time from the 11th - early 13th centuries.

In 1949, the study of Romanov was sharply criticized for his “misanthropic”, gloomy character, excessive attention to sexual, intimate moments. He was accused of “objectively finding himself in false positions”, “in direct conflict” with the task of cultivating “a sense of national pride in our great homeland, a sense of Soviet patriotism.” As a result, the recommendation of the expert commission on awarding the Stalin Prize to his book “Essays on the Diplomatic History of the Russian-Japanese War” was canceled (and “objectivistic errors” were discovered in this work). Romanov was dismissed from Leningrad University. He was refused access to the materials of the Archive of Russian Foreign Policy. Currently, the book "People and manners of ancient Russia" is considered a classic.

Recent years

In the early 1950s, the scientist was engaged in the publication of the Law of Law in 1550 - a monument to Russian legal thought. In 1953, the Leningrad branch of the Institute of History, in which Romanov worked, was eliminated, but the historian remained to work in the Department of Ancient Manuscripts and Acts. Two years later, LOIA was restored. In the last years of his life, he worked on a new, substantially expanded edition of "Essays on the Diplomatic History of the Russian-Japanese War."

Among the famous students of Romanov: B. V. Ananich , R. Sh. Ganelin , N. E. Nosov , V. M. Paneyakh , R. G. Skrynnikov , A. A. Fursenko .

Pupil B.A. Romanova, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor V. M. Paneyakh : “ Romanov was ahead of his time not only as a professional historian, but also as a thinker, citizen, person. He did not suffer from the syndrome of national concern, did not look for a recipe for saving Russia in religion and in the past, did not idealize the past, did not close himself, he said, within the framework of the national poshekhonya. Objectivism was peculiar to him as a means of opposing the vulgarized Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist doctrine. He protested against the power of the apparatchiks in science, against their arbitrariness, despised academic snobbery, fought against the hegemonism of scientific schools, monopolism in science . ”

Articles

• Smerdiy horse and serf: (In the annals and Russian Pravda) // News of the ORSF. St. Petersburg, 1908. T. XII, Vol. 3
• Witte and the concession on the river. Yalu: A Documentary Comment on “Memoirs” gr. S. Yu. Vitte // Collection of articles on Russian history dedicated to S. F. Platonov. Pg., 1922.
• Concession on Yalu. To the characteristic of the personal policy of Nicholas II // Russian past. T. 1. Pg, 1923.
• “Likhunchangsky Fund”: From the history of Russian imperialist policy in the Far East // Class struggle. 1924. № 1-2.

Monographs

• Russia in Manchuria (1892-1906). Essays on the history of autocracy's foreign policy in the era of imperialism / Ed. V. Yu. Wiese and R. L. Samoylovich. - L .: Edition of the Leningrad Oriental Institute named after A.S. Yenukidze, 1928.
• Essays on the Diplomatic History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1895-1907. 2nd ed. M.-L., 1955 (first edition - 1947).
• People and customs of ancient Russia. L .: Publishing House of the Leningrad State Order of Lenin University, 1947 (second edition: M.-L., 1966, with the subtitle "Historical and domestic essays of the XI-XIII centuries." 3rd edition: M., 2002).

Comments

• Comments to the “Russian Truth” // Pravda Russkaya, V. 2. M.-L., 1947.

• Romanov, Boris Alexandrovich // The Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 t.] / Ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Boris Alexandrovich Romanov: [obituary] // Questions of history . 1957. No. 12. P. 213-214;
• Valk S.N. Boris Aleksandrovich Romanov // Historical notes . 1958. T. 62. p. 269-282;
• Likhachev D. S. Boris Alexandrovich Romanov and his book “The People and Manners of Ancient Russia” // TODRL . 1958. T. 15. S. 486-495 (the same: Likhachev D. S. The past to the future: articles and essays. L., 1985. P. 469-485);
• Nikiforov V.N. Boris Alexandrovich Romanov. To the 80th anniversary of the birth // Peoples of Asia and Africa . 1969. No. 3. P. 208–209;
• Studies in the socio-political history of Russia: a collection of articles in the memory of B. A. Romanov / resp. Edited by N. E. Nosov . L., 1971 (Proceedings of LOII. Vol. 12);
• Fursenko A. A. About the life path of B. A. Romanov // Questions of history. 1989. № 11;
• Problems of the socio-economic history of Russia: the 100th anniversary of the birth of B. A. Romanov / resp. ed. A. A. Fursenko. SPb., 1991.
• Paneyah V.M. Boris Alexandrovich Romanov (1889-1957): the difficult fate of a scientist // New and newest history . 1993. № 1. S. 171-194;
• Boris Alexandrovich Romanov. Letters to friends and colleagues // Patriotic history . 1993. № 3. S. 125-154;
• Kagan M., D. Romanov, Boris Alexandrovich // Encyclopedia "Words about Igor's regiment" . Vol. 4. M., 1995;
• Paneyah V.M. “Real Life”: Boris Alexandrovich Romanov - student of St. Petersburg University (1906–1911) // Collection of scientific articles on the 60th birthday of I. Ya. Froyanov. SPb., 1996. pp. 723-737;
• Paneyah V.M. “The People and Manners of Ancient Russia” by Boris Alexandrovich Romanov: the Fate of the Book // TODRL. SPb., 1996. T. 50 . Pp. 825-839;
• Paneyah V.M. Boris Aleksandrovich Romanov // Historical science of Russia in the 20th century. / resp. ed. G. D. Alekseev . M., 1997. p. 437-464;
• Paneyah V. M. Boris Alexandrovich Romanov and Ivan Ivanovich Smirnov // At the source. Collection in honor of S. M. Kashtanov. Issue 1. M., 1997. Part 2. S. 490-545;
• Paneyah V.M. Boris Alexandrovich Romanov. // Portraits of historians. Time and fate. T. 1 (Russian history) / resp. ed. G. N. Sevostyanov . M. - Jerusalem, 2000;
• Paneyakh V.M. Creativity and the Fate of a Historian: Boris Alexandrovich Romanov ; SPb., 2000. Retz .: Rostovtsev E. A. The scientist in the context of the epoch // Nestor. № 4. SPb., 2004. P. 336-342. ;
• Ananyich B.V., Paneyakh V.M.B.A. Romanov and his works on the Far Eastern policy of Russia // St. Petersburg - China. Three centuries of contacts. St. Petersburg., 2006. pp. 230-252;
• Ekaterina Nikolaevna Kusheva - Boris Alexandrovich Romanov: Correspondence 1940-1957 / status V.M. Paneyah. SPb., 2010;
• B. A. Romanov. To the 120th anniversary of birth: bibliography / comp. A. S. Krymskaya; rep. ed. V.M. Paneyah. St. Petersburg, 2011.

• The article on the website "Biografika SPbGU"
• Biography in the encyclopedia "St. Petersburg"
• List of works