G. A. Vereshchagin at the Head of the Leningrad Military Library of the Workers and Peasants' Red Army (to the 140th Anniversary of his Birth)

In 2024, we meet the 140th anniversary of birth of Grigory Alexandrovich Vereshchagin, the head of the Leningrad Military Library of the Workers and Peasants’ Red Army (RKKA), which today bears the name “Information Historical and Scientific Center – Military Historical Library of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”.

The biography of G. A. Vereshchagin, who headed the Library from 1924 to 1934, actually preserved it in the difficult post-revolutionary years and strengthened its position as one of the central libraries of the Military Department, was not previously been the subject of special study. The purpose of the article is to present, based on the results of the reconstruction of G. A. Vereshchagin’s life and professional path, his contribution to the formation and development of the Library in the Soviet period of national history.

As a result of the analysis of a wide source base, previously unknown facts of G. A. Vereshchagin’s life related to his studies, military service, and activities as the head of the Leningrad Military Library of the Red Army were established.

Some aspects of the history of the Library headed by him were revealed: dates and procedure for its reorganizations in 1924-1932, sources of replenishment of collections, the most important of which were the State Book Stock and the Obligatory Copy of military literature, which entered the Library in 1925-1930. It is shown that the main activities of G. A. Vereshchagin as the director of the Library were: the formation of library collections, the organization of work on the creation of alphabetical and systematic catalogs, the development of the classification scheme of the Military Department of the Library.

For the first time, archival documents related to G. A. Vereshchagin’s life and work are introduced into the scientific circulation, the history of his ex-libris creation is revealed.

1. Bekzhanova NV (2020) Alexander Alekseevich Gisetti – a revolutionary, writer, librarian. Rumyantsevskie chteniya – 2020: materialy Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf. (21–24 apr. 2020 g.). Moscow, pt. 1, pp. 76–81. (In Russ.).

2. Medvedeva GE (2021) Personalities in library science. Demyan Romanovich Novikov – a librarian, soldier, educator. Bibliotechno-informatsionnyi diskurs 1 (1): 69–76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47612/LID-2021-1-1-69-76. (In Russ.).

3. Mikheeva GV (2022) Alexander Ivanovich Krasovsky – librarian of the Imperial Public Library. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo instituta kul'tury 2: 168–176. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30725/2619-0303-2022-2-168-176. (In Russ.).

4. Bakhturina TA [et al.] (comps) (2023) The Great librarian: Eduard Rubenovich Sukiasyan. Moscow: Pashkov dom. (In Russ.).

5. Likhomanov AV (2024) “Librarian by vocation”: 200 years since the birth of V. V. Stasov. Bibliografiya i knigovedenie 1: 149–155. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25281/2411-2305-2024-1-149-155. (In Russ.).

6. Panchenko AM (2006) The first regimental librarian of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment. Bibliotekovedenie 5: 108–115. (In Russ.).

7. Panchenko AM (2008) Cornet A. A. Fet – librarian of the 13th Military Order of General Fieldmarshal Count Minich Dragoon Regiment. Bibliotekovedenie 6: 78–83. (In Russ.).

8. Panchenko AM (2021) Colonel F. F. Kruse: twenty years at the service of the library of the General Staff. Bibliografiya i knigovedenie 6: 70–80. (In Russ.).

9. Panchenko AM (2021) Colonel A. I. Grigorovich as a librarian, bibliographer and regimental historiographer. Bibliografiya i knigovedenie 2: 111–131. (In Russ.).

10. Bekzhanova NV (2023) Alexander Alekseevich Panov (1907–1981) – military man and librarian. Nauka i biblioteka. Saint Petersburg, iss. 8, pp. 192–199. (In Russ.).

11. Tsymbal GS, Savel'eva LV and Luk'yanovich AA (2015) His name has not been forgotten – Grigory Vereshchagin, head of the Leningrad branch of the military library of the Red Army Staff. 1924–1934). Trudy Vtorykh nauchnykh chtenii imeni Svetleishego Knyazya general-fel'dmarshala Petra Mikhailovicha Volkonskogo, osnovatelya Biblioteki General'nogo i Glavnogo shtaba Russkoi armii. Saint Petersburg, vol. 2, pp. 107–111. (In Russ.).

12. Shustov AS (1903) Saint Petersburg merchants and commercial and industrial enterprises of the city for the 200th anniversary of the capital: an ill. almanac. Saint Petersburg. (In Russ.).

13. Kucheruk IV (2022) Activities of the School of Folk Art in 1912–1917. Kaspiiskii region: politika, ehkonomika, kul'tura 3: 27–30. (In Russ.).

14. Barskov YL (ed.) (1914) Pedagogical Museum of Military Educational Institutions, 1864–1914: hist. essay. Saint Petersburg. (In Russ.).

15. (1925) Proceedings of the Leningrad Society of Bookplate Artists. Iss. 6. Leningrad: Tip. «Komintern» izd-va «Krasnaya nov'». (In Russ.).

16. Kalmykov SP (2011) Voenizdat: history and present. Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal 4: 53–58. (In Russ.).

17. Suvorova VP (2005) Bibliophile from Vasilyevsky Island. Moscow. (In Russ.).

18. Vereshchagin G (1929) From the history of the struggle against the revolution in 1905. Krasnyi Arkhiv 1: 216–232. Leningrad. (In Russ.).

19. Petrova NY, Zemlyanskii VL and Kanev IA (2022) Military librarianship in the Petrograd military district in 1918–1924. Grotovskie chteniya – 2022: materialy Vseros. nauch. konf. (Samara, 17–18 noyab. 2022 g.). Samara, pp. 104–110. (In Russ.).

20. Oldenburg SF and Karskii EF (comps) (1934) Science and scientific workers of the USSR: ref. book. Pt. 5. Scientific workers of Leningrad: with the appendix of a list of sci. institutions of Leningrad. Leningrad. (In Russ.).