From professor D. P. Grigoriev’s archive. The 250th anniversary of the mining museum

The article continues the series on the history of geology and is devoted to the Natural Science Museum of the St. Petersburg Mining University, namely its mineral collection. From the letters found by the author in the archive of Professor D. P. Grigoriev’s archive, kept in the Russian Mineralogical Society we can learn, interesting information about the circumstances of the acquisition of certain collections and exhibits, and about people worthy to remain in the history of mineralogy. At the same time, wide connections of D. P. Grigoriev with industrial and academic organisations and his active work on the creation and dissemination of the doctrine of mineral ontogeny, which eventually became a section of the university course of mineralogy, were revealed. The letters were accompanied by photographs from the same archive. The aim of the article was to cover the history of Russian mineralogy as fully as possible, including the role of organisations and individuals, and to reconstruct details of their biographies. Some of the problems discussed in the letters are still relevant today. The reader's attention should be attracted by the names of statesmen Prince G. Orbeliani, Prime Minister of India J. Nehru, Emperor of Ethiopia H. Selassie, mineralogists A. E. Fersman, G. N. Vertushkov, Yu. S. Kobyashev, name of the Ural historical deposits Gumeshevka and Vatikha, enterprise «Russian precious stones» mentioned in one context. The article is timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Mining Museum.