Alexander Alexandrovich Polovtsov, Sr. (Russian:Александр Александрович Половцов; 12 June [O.S. 31 May] 1832 – 7 October [O.S. 24 September] 1909) was a Russian statesman, historian andpatron; he was also known as the founder of theImperial Russian Historical Society, which was founded in 1866 and dissolved in 1917.[1]
Alexander was born to a medium-rank noble family known since the mid-17th century. His father, Alexander Andreevich Polovtsov (23 May [O.S. 11 May] 1805 - 21 May [O.S. 9 May] 1892), had his family estate in theLugauyezd of theGovernorate of St. Petersburg and served as a government bureaucrat working for theGoverning Senate and later for the Ministry for the State Property. Alexander's mother, Agrafena Fedorovna (19 March [O.S. 7 March] 1811 — 23 July [O.S. 11 July] 1877), came from theTatischev noble family; the historianSergey Tatischev [ru] was Polovtsov's cousin.[1]
Polovtsov graduated from theImperial School of Jurisprudence and started his work in the 1st department of theGoverning Senate.[2]
On 15 February [O.S. 3 February] 1861, the 28-year-old Polovtsov married a 17-year-old girl named Nadezhda Mikhailovna Yunina (22 December [O.S. 10 December] 1843 - 22 July [O.S. 9 July] 1908), the only foster daughter of the first Chairman of theState Bank of the Russian Empire,Alexander von Stieglitz. According to popular belief, Nadezhda was an illegitimate daughter ofGrand DukeMikhail Pavlovich of Russia and an unknown lady-in-waiting.[1] The marriage brought Polovtsov not only one millionrubles ofdowry and eventually 16-17 million rubles as Stieglitz's inheritance but also the aid of EmperorAlexander II, who was helping his alleged cousin.[1] The couple went on to have four children together:
In 1871, Polovtsov became asenator, and from 1873 he was theSecretary of State and simultaneously the State-Secretary of the EmperorsAlexander II andAlexander III.[2] From 1892 until his death in 1909, he was a member of theState Council.[2]
Polovtsov was the initiator of the creation of the Russian Historical Society (created in 1865). He was the secretary of the society from 1866 to 1879 and the chairman of the society from 1879 until his death in 1909.[1] The society commissioned works of such historians asSergey Solovyov,Nikolay Kostomarov,Vasily Klyuchevsky who set the foundation for theHistory of Russia. Under Polovtsov, the society published 128 volumes ofSborniks of Russian Historical Society. Polovtsov also prepared the 25 volumes of theRussian Biographical Dictionary that played an important role as the source of the biographical data on Russian people. To correctly establish the notability, Polovtsov refused to include biographies of living people.[1] Polovtsov (together with his father-in-law Alexander von Stieglitz) founded theStieglitz Museum of Applied Arts.[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Половцов, Александр Александрович" .Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906.
