September 23: Birthday of Modest Korf, Pushkin's classmate, censor, and director of the Public Library
Modest Korff was born on September 23, 1800 in St. Petersburg. Statesman, historian, bibliographer, censor, and confidant Nicholas I, he rose from a lyceum student to a count and head of the Department of Laws of the State Council.
There are few virtues so beautiful, so in keeping with the purpose of human nature, and at the same time so difficult to achieve, as love for one's fatherland.
The Lyceum student who refused Pushkin's challenge
Korff came from Courland nobility. He was one of the first graduates of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and a classmate Pushkin — They were bound by mutual hostility. It is known that the poet tried to challenge Korff to a duel for beating his servant, but the baron refused.
The director of the lyceum, Vasily Malinovsky, spoke of him as follows:
He is talented, diligent, and successful, and loves order and neatness; he is very well-behaved, modest, and polite. He is so gentle and noble in his behavior that he never once misbehaved during his entire time at the Lyceum.
From translator to Speransky's successor
At 17, Korf joined the Ministry of Justice as a translator. At 20, attempting to adapt shorthand, he published the first book on Russian shorthand, "Graphodromia." At 23, he transferred to the Ministry of Finance.
From the age of 26 he worked in the commission Mikhail Speransky At the Second Section of His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery, he was responsible for codifying the laws of the Russian Empire over the past 180 years. He distinguished himself by accomplishing a tremendous amount of work.
At 31, on Speransky's recommendation, he received the post of manager of the Committee of Ministers. He taught law to Nicholas I's sons and quickly became his confidant—the emperor saw him as Speransky's successor. Nicholas I wrote to Corfu:
Your job is to remain faithful to his school; act in the spirit and rules of the deceased - and we will always remain friends.
In the 1840s, Korff was Secretary of State and a member of the State Council.
Modest Korf and censorship
In 1848, after the revolutions in Europe, Korff wrote a memo to Nicholas I about the harmful influence of the Russian press (the magazines Otechestvennye Zapiski and Sovremennik). As a result, a Secret Committee (named Buturlinsky after its first chairman) was established in Russia to oversee book printing. Korff became an honorary member and later headed it.
At the request of the royal family, he printed 25 copies of a brochure about the Senate Square uprising. It became available to the general public only after the surviving Decembrists were pardoned in 1857. It was published under the title "The Accession to the Throne of Emperor Nicholas I."
At a time when the majority of the troops were taking the oath in perfect order and the vast majority of the capital's population were tenderly declaring their vow of eternal fidelity to the Monarch, a crowd of people, malicious or deceived, deceiving or deceived, sought to desecrate these sacred moments by shedding native blood and committing a daring crime, alien to our Holy Rus'.
Director of the Public Library
In the 1850s, Korff served as director of the Imperial Public Library. He renovated it and made it more open, allowing serfs, commoners, townspeople, students, women, and foreigners to visit. The library halls were illuminated and heated, and information desks were opened.
The "Faust Cabinet" was set up for rare books, in the style of a medieval monastery cell. It still houses Russia's largest collection of Western European early printed books—incunabula. Korff considered the creation of the department of foreign books about Russia ("Rossica") to be his greatest achievement in this position. He collected approximately 30 publications for it.
In 1855, under Alexander II, he proposed closing the Secret Committee as "having become harmful." He joined new secret committees, including the one on peasant affairs.
Philologist Yakov Grot recalled:
He was a kind and loving boss to his subordinates. His office workflow was meticulously meticulous. Cases were resolved without interruption. He possessed a mastery of presenting the most complex matters; under his pen, conciseness and clarity of expression reached the highest level.
Last years
In 1861, Korff was appointed Chief Administrator of the Second Section of His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery—the office he joined at the beginning of his service. In 1864, he headed the State Council's Department of Laws. In 1872, he was elevated to the rank of count.
He was married to his cousin, the Baroness Olga Korf, had a son and three daughters. Modest Korff died in 1876 in St. Petersburg.