Historical Society of the University of St. Petersburg

a historical society founded in October 1889 and functioning until 1917.

The permanent chairman of the committee of the society was N. I. Kareev. There were more than 160 members in 1890, more than 270 in 1895, and more than 180 in 1915. Historians of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, Kazan, and other cities collaborated in the society, including A. S. Lappo-Danilev-skii, V. I. Semevskii, I. V. Luchitskii, N. P. Pavlov-Sil’vanskii, E. V. Tarle, and B. D. Grekov. Unlike other historical societies, it devoted considerable attention to questions of theory. The discussion of theoretical questions provoked debates and aroused the active response of students, especially beginning in the mid-1890’s as the Marxists opened up the struggle in the press against the liberal Narodnik (Populist) movement and “legal Marxism.” Representatives of the latter tendencies belonged to the society. The student disturbances of the late 1890’s, the departure of Kareev and other progressive professors from the university, and the events of the Revolution of 1905–07 were used by the authorities to introduce restrictive measures against the society. The society died down for a time, but it became somewhat more active after 1907. The Historical Society of the University of St. Petersburg published the collection Istoricheskoe obozrenie (Historical Review) at irregular intervals from 1890 to 1916.