Monuments of medieval Russian historical literature in the bibliographical card catalog of N. Nikolsky

The research archives of Academician Nikolay Nikolʹsky, long time Professor at St. Petersburg Theological Academy, is an important source for Russian historiography. Of particular interest for today’s scholars is his bibliographical card catalog. It is the largest bibliographical reference for medieval Russian literature and could be used to locate new sources. However, use of this catalog is currently difficult because no description or index is presently available. Likewise, Nikolʹsky’s own original plan for systematically organizing the catalog are unclear. The author of this article considers the various categories in the catalog devoted to medieval Russian historical literature. By describing the structure and content of entries, the author is able to identify Nikolʹsky’s approach to systematizing these documents. Though work on organizing and studying these sections is yet incomplete, the author is able to draw conclusions about the value of this card catalog for the study of medieval Russian literature.