A self-described self-made man, Romanov was an importat Belarusian public intellectual, collecting folklore, publishing a newspaper, active in the school system in Mogilev, and he excavated more than 1,000 kurgans around Belarus. His most significant find was the Borisov Stone, one of the Dvina Stones. As head of the NW branch of the Imperial Geographical Society, Romanov embodies the importance of the local to the imperial.