Two-century anniversary of Peter the Great in the correspondence of metropolitan historians and Petrozavodsk local historians

The relevance of the topic is due to the 350th birth anniversary of Peter the Great celebrated in 2022. In this regard, it is of great interest to look at the celebration of his 200th birth anniversary in 1872. The purpose of the article is to analyze conducting the commemorative celebrations in Petrozavodsk in 1872. The article is based on the materials of the “Case of building a monument to Peter the Great in Petrozavodsk” stored in the Scientific Archives of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. At the end of 1871, the Governor of the Olonets Province (Guberniya) G. G. Grigoriev instructed the Secretary of the Olonets Province Statistical Committee and local historian A. I. Ivanov to prepare an essay on the activities of Peter the Great in the territory of the Olonets Province. A. I. Ivanov turned to historians E. V. Barsov, S. M. Solovyov, A. I. Artemyev and V. I. Rozhkov for help in finding the sources. The Scientific Archives of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences has preserved extensive correspondence on this issue. E. V. Barsov sent several letters with the information about various sources on this period in the territory of the Olonets Province. A. I. Artemyev gave an overview of academic publications and recommended that P. N. Petrov be involved in the work. V. I. Rozhkov promised to find sources about the Olonets Petrine foundries in the Archives of the Mining Department. A response letter from S. M. Solovyov was not found among the documents. Only V. I. Rozhkov and E. V. Barsov provided real help to A. I. Ivanov, and he used their materials and advice in his essay “Emperor Peter the Great and His Activities in Olonets” published in Petrozavodsk in 1873. The attempt of local authorities and local historians to write a historical essay on the activities of Peter the Great in the Olonets region, based on archival materials and meeting the requirements of contemporary historical science, is of great interest. It can be concluded that although this plan was only partially implemented, A. I. Ivanov’s essay was the best scholarly work on this problem for 30 years. V. I. Rozhkov and E. V. Barsov became interested in this topic and continued studying the activities of Peter the Great in the Olonets region after 1872.