One of the founding members of IMAO, Filimonov enjoyed the leisure of his noble background to educate himself in many aspects of archeology. In 1867 he was sent to Paris to manage the display of Russian antiquities at the International Exposition, and he also worked on the Ethnographic Exhibition in Moscow in 1879. A curator at both Moscow’s Armoury and the Rumiantsev Museum, the Imperial Society of Lovers of Natural Sciences, Anthropology,and Ethnography dispatched him to both Crimea and then the Caucasus to oversee excavations.
Theme: Rus
A major issue throughout the history of Russian archeology was the role of the clergy, given that so much of what these societies considered important revolved around Christianity. A patriotic native of Vladimir Province and educated in the local seminary, Georgievskii worked for the archival commission always pressed for better training among the clergy for collection and protection of antiquities. A master of icon painting, he travled to Athens, Constantinople, and Serbia to enhance his skills. He wored for numerous institutions: Library and Archive of Brotherhood of Aleksandr Nevskii in Vladimir, the Vladimir Academic Archive Commission, the Supreme Committee on the Guardianship of Russian Iconography, the Educational Council of the Holy Synod, as well as the Petersburg Institute of Fine Arts. Moreover, he accompanied the King of Greece and members of the Romanov royal family around Vladimir-Suzdal on a state visit.
Son of the great linguist Vladimir Dal, who had compiled the authoritative 4-volume dictionary of the Russian language, Lev studied historical architecture. An active member of the IMAO, he died prematurely when on the planning committee for the 5th congress in Tiflis. He studied and taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture;
Ultimately a professor of history at St. Vladimir University, after teaching at numerous gymnasia, Golubovskii specialized in the pre-Petrine era and integrated archeology into his courses.
The consumate Ukrainian, born in Kiev and educated there under V. B. Antonovich, Bagalei specialized in All Russian (vse-rossiiskaia) History, that is, Little Russia. Rising to become rector of Kharkov University, after 1917 he became a member of the Ukrainian Academy of Science and of the archival commission. Throughout his career he was one of those who connected the text to the artefact, and strove to make Kharkov the central such institution in Little Russia, not yet Ukraine. His lively papers at a number of congresses about the uniqe qualities of Little Russian prepared him to participate in the Ukrainization of the region.
Great grandson of Catherine the Great, from her relationship with Grigorii Oslov, Bobrinskii enjoyed considerable wealth and social prestige, which he deployed at Chairman of the Archeological Commission, 1886-1917. His attempts to be elected to the first two Dumas from rightwing parties failed, but representing Kiev Province, the Third Duma elections proved the charm. He was also a member of the State Council and an ober-hofmeister to Tsar Nicholas II. He also directed the St. Petersburg orphanages for the charitable trust of Tsaritsa Maria Fedorovna.
An important Belorusian scholar, Dovnar-Zapolskii analyzed all archeological corners of the NW region through Ukraine, and published inexhaustibly. He worked for the IMAO as secretary of its Archeographical Commission and edited numerous of its publications.
Educated in the classics and serving as a professional soldier, Brandenburg found himself director of the Artillery Museum in St. Petersburg in 1872, a position he held til his death. Rising to the rank of Lt. General, he expanded his interest in displaying artefacts of artillery to the systematic excavation of numerous kurgans, especially on medieval battle fields. His greatest success came when he restored much of Staraia Ladoga, 1884-89.
A. I. Musin-Pushkin was quite simply Imperial Russia’s premier antiquarian. Nikolai Karamzin depended upon his manuscript collection to write his canonical 12-volume “History of Russia.” Musin-Pushkin is also credited with the “discovery,” which essentially means “making public information about” essential primary sources: the Tmutarakan Stone, the earliest example of Russian epigraphy; “The Lay of the Igor Campaign,” a foundational bylina, or epic poem; and the Laurentian Codex of Russia’s Primary Chronicle. He served as both Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod, 1791-97, and President of the Academy of Arts, 1794-97. A significant portion of his library fell victim to the burning of Moscow in 1812, during the Napoleonic Wars.
The son of a priest from Vologda Province, Pavel Ivanovich finished his Master’s in 1837 at the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy, on Ancient Jewish Synogogues. Discovered by historian Mikhail Pogodin, Savvaitov enjoyed a splendid career as a teacher of Russian libterature in both military and commercial schools. His most famous work was a hermeneutical study of the Bible, and his best known contribution to archeology was Description of ancient royal utensils, clothes, weapons, military armor, based on the collection in the Moscow Armoury. He also wrote Travels of the Novgorod Archbishop Anthony to Constantinople at the end of the 12th century and published copiously on the monasteries of his native Vologda. He also published on Finno-Ugric (Zyrian) linguistics.