Gavrila Derzhavin, Denis Fonvizin, and Ippolit Bogdanovich laid the groundwork for the great writers of the 19th century, especially for Alexander Pushkin.
Arthur Young in Jacques Necker, vodilna ekonomista in finančna ministra te dobe, sta postala člana Svobodne ekonomske družbe, ki je bila ustanovljena leta 1765 v Sv.