«Директор угольных промыслов»: Н. А. Львов и институционализация угольного ведомства в России конца XVIII начала XIX века

“Director of the Coal Mines”: N. A. Lvov and the Institutionalization of the Coal Administration in Late 18th Early 19th Century Russia

The article explores how coal was portrayed as a “useful” resource and its early institutionalization in the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th century. It highlights Nikolai A. Lvov, appointed in 1797 as “director of the coal mines,” responsible for exploring and utilizing mineral fuel. The study argues that coal’s administrative focus was driven more by discourses emphasizing utility, public benefit, fiscal responsibility, forest conservation, and rational utilization of domestic natural resources. Utilizing archival correspondence, official reports, project memoranda, legislative acts, and Lvov’s 1799 treatise, ‘On the Utility and Use of Russian Mineral Coal,’ the paper reconstructs how the discourse surrounding coal’s usefulness served to legitimize extraordinary authority, established Lvov’s expertise, and aimed to institutionalize the coal commission. A tension existed between discursive legitimation and practical outcomes, as experimental tests of the Borovichi deposits revealed limitations, such as cost, suitability, and competitiveness, despite their perceived value and potential to replace English coal. Yet, even when experiments failed, the administrative and symbolic importance persisted, exemplifying how natural resources can spur institutional change before becoming commercially essential. The article concludes that early Russian coal efforts were shaped by cameralist ideas, Enlightenment progress, expert authority, and the resource’s symbolic significance for state prosperity and public welfare.