Tsvetaev, I. V.

Although his daughter Marina is far better known to posterity than he, Ivan Vladimirovich probably inspired some of her Silver-Age poetic sensibilities with his interest in philology and antiquities. The family lived for several years in Italy, where Ivan studied Latin epigraphy. He was instrumental in the building of the Museum of Fine Arts named for Alexander III (renamed now for Alexander Pushkin), and served as its first director when it opened in 1912. At his inspiration, the museum included artefacts from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages. His brother Dmitrii was deeply involved with the culture of medieval Rus’ at the Moscow Archeological Institute and the Archive of the Ministry of Justice.

Samokvasov, D. Ia.

A lightning rod for many issues, Samokvasov levied his influence at a number of the archeological congresses. He combined his positions as director of the Archive of the Moscow Ministry of Justice with that of law professor at the University of Warsaw, and one of the most creative archeologists of the Stone Age. A devoted monarchist, he belonged to the ultra-conservative Union of Russian People after 1905.

Nikitskii, A. V.

Nikitskii was yet another priest’s son who received his education in the seminary, but was sent to St. Petersburg to train for a career as a teacher. His talents at Greek would have been wasted at a gymnasium, and he became a respected scholar of Greek epigraphy. He also taught at the St. Petersburg Women’s Pedagogical Institute. At the Odessa Congress, he argued that Novgorod had already opened a Window on the West via trade through the Neva, so Muscovite conquest was detrimental.

Pavinskii, A. I.

Adolf Pavinskii spent his teaching career at the University of Warsaw, then a part of the Russian empire. He had studied in Germany with Leopold Ranke, and published in several languages, including German. His specialty lay in perhistoric Poland and the evolution of Slavic tribes. He also worked in the main archive of Poland.

Ivanovskii, L. K.

A medical doctor, Lev Ivanovskii taught anatomy to the female students in the Military Surgical Academy, and also served both St. Petersburg and Warsaw. He excavated in several kurgans in European Russia, but his major contribution was to write “Instructions for the Descriptions of all Forms of Excavations,” which he presented at the 3rd Congress in Kiev, in 1874. He worked at St. Petersburg Medical Academy.

Evarnitskii, D. I.

From an Orthodox noble family that had fled the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth to Sloboda Ukraine and registered with the Zaporozhian Cossacks, Evarnitskii became their most committed historian. After studying with Sumtsov at Kharkov University, he began excavating in the region of the Dnepr rapids when he wasn’t traveling to lecture on Cossacks. He taught briefly at Kharkov University where in 1885 he stood accused of advocating south Russian separatism. Moving to St. Petersburg to teach at the pedagogical institute, he made friends with renowned artist Ilya Repin, who used Evarnitskii as the model for the scribe in his painting “Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan” (pictured here). He landed a position at St. Petersburg University, from which he was expelled in 1891 for his Ukrainophilism, sent to Central Asia where he excavated for three years. In 1895 he began lecturing at the University of Warsaw, moving quickly to Moscow University. In 1902 the Ekaterinoslav zemstvo invited him to curate the archeological museum left to them by philanthropist-merchant A. N. Pol’, the driving force behind the iron industry in the area. Following the Bolshevik Revolution he organized a Department of Ukrainian Studies at the newly opened university in Ekaterinoslav. Today the museum is named for him. NB: He changed the spelling of his name to Iavor- when he discovered that his family had fled from that region.

Danilevich, V. E.

Danilevich counted among the influential and politically active archeologists who had studied first under V. B. Antonovich at Kiev’s St. Vladimir University. After graduating in 1896, he taught history at numerous gymnasia around the empire: Baku, Iurev (Tartu), Revel (Tallin) until 1903, when he became a privat-docent at Kharkov University. Danilevich was renowned for using archeology to teach history, and his lectures became a textbook. He moved to St. Vladimir in 1907, and then to Warsaw University in 1915. In 1917 he supported socialism, if not necessarily Bolshevism. During Ukraine’s short-lived independence, he taught at the university in Kiev, and then in schools around the city following the advent of Soviet power. He directed the Archeological Commission at the Ukraine Academy of Science.