Annual School 'Archive of the Epoch: Philosophical Meanings'

The Interuniversity School of a Philosopher-Archivist "'Archive of the Epoch: Philosophical Meanings': Part II. 'Archive as the Future of the Academia'" was held at The Voronovo Educational Center from the 16th to the 19th of October.

Visiting academic supervisor of the School: Tatyana G. Shchedrina (Doctor of Philosophy, leading research fellow at the department of the History of Russian Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences; professor of Moscow Pedagogical State University, editor of the archives of the series "Philosophy of Russia in the first half of the 20th century").
The School was initiated by Irina O. Shchedrina (Candidate of Philosophy, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Humanities, Senior Research fellow, International Laboratory for the Study of Russian and European and Intellectual Dialogue, National Research University "Higher School of Economics").
During three days of intensive classes, students attended lectures and took an active part in master classes on archival work and restoration.
Guest speakers: Vladimir K. Kantor, Doctor of Philosophy, ordinary professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, chief researcher, head of the International Laboratory for the Study of Russian-European Intellectual Dialogue, gave a lecture entitled “Stepun as a University Philosopher (based on archive materials)”;- Boris I. Pruzhinin, Doctor of Philosophy, professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics; senior research fellow, Department of Philosophy of Natural Sciences, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, editor-in-chief of the journal “Problems of Philosophy” — spoke about his work on the book series “Philosophy of Russia in the 19th–20th Centuries”. Boris I Pruzhinin also gave a speech at the closing ceremony of the School in the Losev House library;- Elena V. Serdyukova, Candidate of Philosophy, Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Social and Political Sciences, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, shared her research experience and gave a talk about the specifics of working with the archive of N. O. Lossky;- Boris Vadimovich Mezhuev, PhD in Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, gave a lecture entitled “S. Trubetskoy as a Scientist and Teacher (Based on Archival Materials),” based on his work with S.N. Trubetskoy’s archival materials as part of the preparation of the volume “S. Trubetskoy”;- Tatyana I. Balakhovskaya, director of the “Peter Kapitza Memorial Museum”, Lev Shestov’s family archive custodian, demonstrated unique archival materials,  describing the existential communication paths between the families of Kapitsa, Bakh and Shestov;- Aleksandr V. Tkachenko, head of the Department of Restoration and Conserving Museum Objects at the Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature, held a workshop entitled “Basics of Restoration and Binding: Archival Documents of the University.” During the master class, students learned about the specifics of restoration and restored book pages independently.- Irina O. Shchedrina explained the specifics of research in Russian and foreign archives, demonstrated the capabilities of modern archival and library catalogues, and held a workshop on "Archaeographic Work". During this workshop students independently deciphered the first few sheets of handwritten documents from the 19th century.
- Tatyana G. Shchedrina gave a lecture on the topic “Family Education in the University Environment (Based on the Archive Materials of the Era)” and shared her experience of research work in the family archive of Gustav G. Shpet.

The closing ceremony of the School took place in the Library-Museum "Losev's House" on Arbat. All participants received certificates and memorable gifts.
Below, research assistant of the laboratory Anait Mikaelyan and a participant of the School shared her experience .
The Archivist-Philosopher School is an interdisciplinary research program where philosophers reflect on what archive, history, and text mean. The philosopher works with reality and reality is text, sign, future, history, and present. The archive includes all of these, which takes us into the laboratory of thinkers seeking for ideas.

After the welcoming speech, Vladimir K. Kantor gave a lecture “Fyodor Stepun as a University Philosopher (Based on Archive Materials)”. He told about the interesting path to collecting and publishing the texts of Fyodor A. Stepun, one of the greatest thinkers of Germany and Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Vladimir K. Kantor also mentioned Stepun's intellectual connections and correspondence with O. Spengler and other philosophers, his biography and creative path.

Then there was a lecture on “The Archive as a Source for Russian Philosophy,” by Irina O. Shchedrina. She told how to start working in the archive and also described the specifics of archival work, archival materials publishings, types of funds, working with the websites of the “Central State Archive of the City of Moscow” and the “Russian State Archive of Literature and Art.”
After that, a lecture entitled "Book series "Philosophy of Russia in the 19th-20th Centuries" as an Expression of the "Russian idea"" was given by Boris I. Pruzhinin. 
The first day of the school ended with an organizational meeting, at which the school participants were able to get to know each other.

On the second day of the school, Elena V. Serdyukova, gave a lecture "Philosophy and Science at the University (Based on the Materials of the Archive of N. O. Lossky)", telling about the path to researching the archive of Nikolay Lossky, the formation of his philosophical views, and his correspondence, including letters to Albert Einstein. 
Then the first part of the workshop "Archaeography Work" took place. The school participants, together with Irina O. Shchedrina, deciphered several pages of 19th century lecture notes on philosophy, physics, physical geography, meteorology, and higher mathematics.
At the lecture “Sergey N. Trubetskoy as a Scientist and Teacher (Based on Archive materials)” Boris V. Mezhuev spoke about Trubetskoy’s memoirs about Vladimir Solovyov and their correspondence, Boris Chicherin’s criticism of their philosophical ideas, and the pedagogical activities of Trubetskoy, a professor at Moscow University.
Tatyana I. Balakhovskaya (director of the “Peter Kapitza Memorial Museum, Lev Shestov’s family archive custodiaт) gave a lecture “Peter Kapitsa as an Organizer of University Education” based on the materials of the epistolary legacy. She told about Kapitsa’s career in physics, his scientific activity, interest in the organization of science, and communication between the families of Kapitsa, Bakh and Shestov.

After that, Irina O. Shchedrina hosted the second part of the workshop.
On the third and final day of the school, Alexander V. Tkachenko (head of the Department of Restoration and Conserving Museum Objects at the Vladimir Dal State Museum of the History of Russian Literature) shared information about the types of book constructions affecting the duration of their preservation at the master class "Basics of Restoration and Binding: Archival Documents of the University". Having become acquainted with samples of already restored items, the school participants tried a hand at being restorers.

After the lecture of Alexander V. Tkachenko, the school participants attended an interesting tour of the library-museum “The Losev's House". Having visited the inner courtyard, the museum and the library's reading rooms, the participants learned about the biography and works of the philosopher, cultural scientist, philologist and translator Fyodor Losev.

At the concert hall of the 'Losev House' the school participants attended the lecture "Family Education in the University Environment" (based on the archive materials of the era) by Tatyana G. Shchedrina about the biography of Gustav G. Shpet, his studies at the university, philosophical reflections, correspondence about philosophical activity, family education, university education tasks, etc. 
The final day of the school ended with  a closing ceremony, which was attended by its participants and founders: Boris I. Pruzhinin, Irina O. Shchedrina, Tatyana G. Shchedrina and Elena T. Shamarina - manager of the International Laboratory for the Study of Russian-European Intellectual Dialogue. Irina O. Shchedrina and Tatyana G. Shchedrina presented the participants with certificates of attendance at the "Philosopher-Archivist School”, and memorable gifts - books with the authors' autographs.It was followed by parting words to the school participants.

Partners:  journal 'Voprosy Filosofii' ('Problems of Philosophy'); Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Belgorod National Research University; Southern Federal University; State Academic University for the Humanities; Book series 'Philosophy of Russia in the First Half of the 20th Century'; Library-Museum 'The Losev’s House'; Petr Kapitza Memorial Museum.