XVIII century

The article considers the first initiatives of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great in question of Censorship. The article gives an account of the state controlling of book printing, book delivery and book banning in the second half of 18th century. The great interest is the analysis of the public opinion in question of Catherine’s censorship reforms.

The article is devoted to the role of the imperial court in the «personnel reserve» formation for high governmental and military posts during the reign period of Catherine the Great. Comparative study of courtier’s and Page Corps graduates career development was held for this research by the means of two specially created prosopographical databases. The obtained results give us an opportunity to evaluate the impact of a court rank granting on the nobles career development and on receiving an appointment to the important governmental and military posts.

Based on the analysis of diplomatic correspondence of British ambassador in Russia at the court of Empress Anna Ioannovna highlights the process of preparation for the conclusion of the Russian-British commercial treaty in 1734. In foreign and Russian historiography, the treaty was actively discussed, but the plot related to its preparatory stage was poorly covered, or not touched at all.

The article discussesthe project aboutthemedals of Francesco Algarotti. In his «Essay on Russian History in Medals», Algarotti proposed to perpetuate important events in the history of Russia in medals, thus noting the periods of the reign of Peter I, Anna Ioannovna, Elizabeth Petrovna, Catherine II. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that Algarotti’s essay contributed to the creation of an objective image of Russia in the eyes of the enlightened part of Europeans and strengthened the prestige of Russia as a power.