F. Schmourlo (1854–1934) – Scientific Correspondent of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Rome (1903–1924): Non-accomplished Project. Part II
Authors: Yakovenko Sergey 
Published: January 2025

The efforts undertaken in 1895 to organize a permanent mission of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Rome culminated in the establishment in 1903 of the position of scientific correspondent, to which Professor of Russian History at Yuryev University E. F. Schmourlo (1854–1934) was elected. His task was to identify as fully as possible the materials of Roman, Italian and European archives and libraries on Russian history. The collected documents were supposed to be published in a series of thematic collections and collection of materials. In the first series, an incomplete collection of documents for 1578–1581 was published, and in the second, four volumes of thematic publications (three of them in two issues). The scientific correspondent formed a large special library, which was intended to serve his needs and the needs of those Russian researchers who would come to conduct their research in Rome. To facilitate future archival work, he was also entrusted with the compilation of a paleographic collection. Thanks to persistence and some additional efforts, the scientific correspondent received permission to work in the Archives of the Congregation for the Propaganda of the Faith, closed to a wide circle of researchers, and collected many new materials there. Unfortunately, the broadly conceived scientific undertaking could not be fully realized. A Russian institute like those national scientific institutions that appeared there at the end of the 19th century after the opening of the Vatican Archives to researchers was not created in Rome. E. F. Schmourlo proposed a project for such an Institute to the Academy of Sciences in 1917. In connection with the outbreak of World War I, the activities of the scientific correspondent changed significantly – in 1915–1916 he was assigned to oversee the protection of “historical monuments and scientific collections in the area of military operations”. Then in 1918–1919, after the “October Revolution” in Russia, he actively joined the work of the anti-Bolshevik organization “Union for the Revival of Russia in Unity with the Allies” for some time. Having found himself a forced emigrant and having practically lost contact with the Academy of Sciences, he continued to fulfill his duties and conduct scientific research as much as possible. At the end of 1924, it became clear that this work was already difficult to do in Rome, especially since in December 1924 the Academy of Sciences decided to abolish the position of scientific correspondent. Having received its consent to transfer the library of the scientific correspondent in Rome to the Institute of Eastern Europe (Istituto per l’Europa Orientale) for temporary use for 10 years, having sold his personal library and received a pension from the Czechoslovak government, E. F. Schmourlo moved to Prague at the end of 1924, where he headed the Russian Historical Society, which he had organized in 1925. In 1935, his archive was transferred to the RZIA in Prague, from where it was transported to Moscow in 1945 (currently – GARF).