Historical Society of Nestor the Chronicler

a society founded in Kiev in 1872 and officially initiated in January 1873. The society was transferred to the jurisdiction of the University of Kiev in 1874 and existed until 1917.

The society promoted the development of Russian historical science, disseminated historical knowledge, and studied ancient artifacts and monuments and assisted in their preservation. The society had 13 members in 1873,33 in 1877, and more than 100 in the 1890’s. Those active in the society included V. B. An-tonovich, K. N. Bestuzhev-Riumin, M. F. Vladimirskii-Budanov, M. V. Dovnar-Zapol’skii, V. S. Ikonnikov, N. I. Kostomarov, A. A. Kotliarevskii, and I. I. Sreznevskii. In contrast to other historical societies, the Historical Society of Nestor the Chronicler devoted its principal efforts to the study of the history, archaeology, and ethnography of the Ukraine and the south of Russia. It paid little attention to general theoretical problems. An idealistic and bourgeois-nationalist interpretation of the history of the Ukraine characterized the works of some of its members. The society organized public lectures and in 1879 began to publish Readings in the Historical Society of Nestor the Chronicler, issuing 24 volumes up to 1914.