Alexander Alexandrovich Polovtsov was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n statesman, historian and Maecenas, the founder of the Russian Historian Society.

Alexander was born to a medium noble family. His father had his family estate in the Luga

Luga

Luga is a town and the administrative center of Luzhsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Luga River south of St. Petersburg. Population:...

 uyezd

Uyezd

Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...

 of Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 gubernia and served as a government bureaucrat working for the Governing Senate

Governing Senate

The Governing Senate was a legislative, judicial, and executive body of Russian Monarchs, instituted by Peter the Great to replace the Boyar Duma and lasted until the very end of the Russian Empire. It was chaired by the Ober-Procurator...

 and later for the Ministry for the State Property. Alexander's mother came from a noble family of Tatischevs; historian Sergey Tatischev was Polovtsov's cousin.

Polovtsov has graduated from the Imperial School of Jurisprudence

Imperial School of Jurisprudence

The Imperial School of Jurisprudence was, along with the Page Corps, the most prestigious school for noble boys in Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire....

 and started his work in the 1st department of the Governing Senate

Governing Senate

The Governing Senate was a legislative, judicial, and executive body of Russian Monarchs, instituted by Peter the Great to replace the Boyar Duma and lasted until the very end of the Russian Empire. It was chaired by the Ober-Procurator...

. In 1861 Polovtsov marry Nadezhda Mikhaylovna Yunina (1843–1908), the only foster daughter of the first Chairman of the State Bank of the Russian Empire

State Bank of the Russian Empire

The State Bank of the Russian Empire was the main bank of the Russian Empire from 1860 to 1917. This bank is considered to be the predecessor of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.- History :...

, Alexander von Stieglitz

Alexander von Stieglitz

Baron Alexander von Stieglitz was a Russian philanthropist and financier. He was the first governor of the State Bank of the Russian Empire, the predecessor organization to today's Central Bank of the Russian Federation.-Early life and education:...

. According to popular believes Nadezhda was an illegitimate daughter of Grand Duke

Grand Duke

The title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...

 Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia and an unknown lady-in-waiting K . The marriage brought Polovtsov not only one million ruble

Ruble

The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...

s of dowry and eventually 16-17 millions of rubles as Stieglitz's inheritance but also the help of the Emperor Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...

 who was helping his alleged niece.

Since 1871 Polovtsov became a senator, since 1873 he was the Secretary of State and simultaneously the Stats-Secretary of the Emperor Alexander III of Russia

Alexander III of Russia

Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...

. Since 1892 until his death in 1909 he was a member of the State Council

State Council of Imperial Russia

The State Council was the supreme state advisory body to the Tsar in Imperial Russia.-18th century:Early Tsars' Councils were small and dealt primarily with the external politics....

.

Polovtsov was the initiator of the creation of the Russian Historical Society (created in 1865). He was the Secretary of the society in 1866-1879 and the Chairman of the society from 1879 until his death in 1909. The society commissioned works of such historians as Sergey Solovyov

Sergey Solovyov

Sergey Mikhaylovich Solovyov was one of the greatest Russian historians whose influence on the next generation of Russian historians was paramount. His son Vladimir Solovyov was one of the most influential Russian philosophers...

, Nikolay Kostomarov

Nikolay Kostomarov

Nikolay Ivanovich Kostomarov , of mixed Russian and Ukrainian origin, is one of the most distinguished Russian and Ukrainian historians, a Professor of History at the Kiev University and later at the St...

, Vasily Klyuchevsky

Vasily Klyuchevsky

Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky dominated Russian historiography at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He is still regarded as one of three most reputable Russian historians, alongside Nikolay Karamzin and Sergey Solovyov.-Early life:...

 who set the foundation for the History of Russia

History of Russia

The history of Russia begins with that of the Eastern Slavs and the Finno-Ugric peoples. The state of Garðaríki , which was centered in Novgorod and included the entire areas inhabited by Ilmen Slavs, Veps and Votes, was established by the Varangian chieftain Rurik in 862...

. Under Polovtsov the society published 128 volumes of Sborniks of Russian Historical Society. Polovtsov also prepared the 25 volumes of the Russian Biographical Dictionary

Russian Biographical Dictionary

The Russian Biographical Dictionary is a Russian-language biographical dictionary published by the Russian Historian Society edited by a collective with Alexander Polovtsov as the editor-in-chief...

 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 . Polovtsov (together with his father-in-law Alexander von Stieglitz founded the Stieglitz Museum of Applied Arts

Stieglitz Museum of Applied Arts

The Stieglitz Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts ranks among the most significant museums in Saint Petersburg, Russia.The project had its beginnings in 1878 when Baron Alexander von Stieglitz , a millionaire philanthropist, donated funds to build a museum for the benefit of students of the...

.