Department of «Rossica» in Imperial Public Library (National Library of Russia)

The idea of creating a special branch in which all foreign books relating to Russia would be concentrated appeared at the very beginning of the functioning of the Imperial Public Library during the period of the director’s office in it, A. N. Olenin. However, it found its real embodiment only in 1850 at the suggestion of M. A. Korf, when the «Rossica» department was created. The history of the creation of this department, the preparation of its catalogs is reproduced. There is a special atmosphere among the staff of the Library in relation to the created department. An evaluation of the activities of this unique department by foreign specialists is given. An uneasy history of the existence of the «Rossica» department during the Soviet era is revealed. The importance of the electronic catalog created in 2004 to disclose the content of this collection, which currently contains more than 150 000 documents, is underlined.