The Creative Legacy of Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev: the Writer's Archive in the Russian State Library

Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of the formation of the personal archive of the famous Russian writer Ivan Sergeyevich Shmelev (1873-1950), stored in the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library (RSL). The composition of the fund is disclosed, its most important sections are listed. Through the main events of I.S. Shmelev's life, his creative path is shown, works written in the period 1894 — early 1920s, i.e. the time of I.S. Shmelev's life in Russia before emigration, draft autographs stored in the archive in several editions are presented. The sections of the fund, including articles, notebooks, sketches and excerpts of unidentified works, were analyzed, the correspondence of the writer, the materials of S.I. Shmelev, his son, as well as various materials of the 1925-1940s, documents related to the memory of the writer were studied. Individual materials of I.S. Shmelev, stored in other funds of the RSL, are reflected.