“The Oldest and Incomparable Historiographer of Our Time”: Student’s Memories of Professor Sigizmund Valk (Part I)

Abstract

Memoirs dedicated to Sigismund Natanovich Valk were written by his student Gennady Leontyevich Sobolev, Russian historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Honorary Professor of St. Petersburg State University, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, specialist in the history of Russia of the 20th century, founder of the scientific school of historians of Russian revolutions and the Civil War, the most respected researcher of the history of the Siege of Leningrad. S. N. Valk (1887–1975) was an outstanding theorist of source studies, archival studies and archaeography. He graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University in 1913. He was the employee of the Petrograd Historical and Revolutionary Archives (1918–1922), teacher (since 1923) and professor at Leningrad State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences (1936), head of the Archaeographic Commission of the USSR Academy of Sciences, researcher at the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences (since 1931). The article presents memories about S. N. Valk when the author was a student at the Faculty of History of the Leningrad State University in 1954–1959. G. L. Sobolev describes the narratives that shaped him as a historian: S. N. Valk’s seminars on ancient Russian history with firstyear students, the work in the archive under Valk’s supervision, conducting research for the thesis and the help of the teacher in choosing a direction of future professional activity. In addition, the memoirs reflect the university life of students of Leningrad State University in the 1950s, the principles of organizing the educational process at the faculty during this period, the work of the university library, and much more. The memories have important historical context, reflecting the everyday life of post-war Leningrad, and the system of secondary and higher education in the USSR.