The museum’s collection contains a letter from Dmitry Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky to his brother Valery from 1915: ‘Dear Valya, I am sending you a paper I received from the Geographical Society about the publication of the second volume of Dad’s notes. Rafa has told me a lot about his conversations with you regarding the loan, unfortunately I am not leaving yet and it is difficult for me to write, because I have pain in one of my eyes. I will use the loan and I will be very grateful to you. We are doing some alterations in the house, in terms of saving coal, namely gas heaters for baths, which we have already signed the agreement, so for this, and partly for firewood, we will have to use it. I wish you all the best, loving you very much, D. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky.’

Dmitry was the eldest son of the scientist and geographer Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky. In the letter, he mentions the preparation for the publication of the second volume of his father’s memoirs, ‘Journey to the Tian Shan’. In total, Pyotr Petrovich managed to write four volumes of memoirs in his declining years. The first, ‘Childhood and Youth’, was also being prepared for publication at that time and was printed by the autumn of 1917. The third and fourth volumes were published back in 1911 — they were timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the abolition of serfdom in Russia. In these two volumes, Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky tells in detail about his work in the Commissions for the preparation of peasant reform.

The second volume was printed in part at the end of 1917, but the process had to be stopped due to the spelling reform adopted a year later. Unfortunately, the work was never completed. The volume ‘Journey to the Tyan Shan’ was published only in 1946.

Dmitry Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky (1852-1917) was a public figure and statesman. He graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University, and after the University worked as a statistician and economist in the Ministry of Agriculture. At the same time, he was an active member of the Geographical Society and headed its Statistics Department: he participated in organizing the first population census of the Russian Empire and preparing industrial and agricultural exhibitions.

He is also known as the author of articles on statistics and economics of agriculture in Russia and a deputy of the City Duma of St. Petersburg. As a deputy, he headed the commission for the construction of the Okhtinsky Bridge across the Neva River in St. Petersburg. Dmitry Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky died suddenly in Petrograd in 1917. His brother Valery (1871-1969) was a statesman, a lawyer, a specialist in land law. He prepared his father’s memoirs for publication, providing them with extensive notes.