The diary of prince A. S. Menshikov as a historical source

The article is concerned with the study of the diary belonging to the prince A. S. Menshikov. For the first time in the life of historiography an attempt to describe the diary as a historical source is undertaken. The diary is a historical source that contains information on the political history of the era of Alexander I and Nicholas I, the life of the court elite, the life of bureaucracy and aristocracy of the first half of the XIX century. The article contains a general description of the source and information on its introduction to historical science. The author tries to identify the place of the diary among similar documents of that time and to establish its addressee. The study also surmises the reason for keeping this diary. The author came to a conclusion that there is a need for further work with the diary of Prince Menshikov and its indispensable future publication.