On the activities of the Naval Historical club in 1927-1930s

Abstract

The essay is devoted to the activities of the organization founded by a group of navy officers, who aimed to keep the navy knowledge and the history of Russian navy in emigration, in Paris in 1927. The club was named after admiral Kolchak and worked until the beginning of World War II. More than 100 navy officers worked in the club as volunteers. Due to their work and to the support of numerous navy emigrants, the Navy Archive was opened where they collected documents of the Russian Navy history of the late XIX – early XX centuries. They also established the Navy Museum and collected a lot of archive materials on the navy officers’ lives after 1917. The participants of the club wrote some analytical works devoted to the relations between the Navy and the State and to social and political events in Russia in the early XX century. The club was trying to centralize the process of collecting and improving professional knowledge of navy emigrants and published a lot on the problem of navy experience during World War I and Civil War. They tried to be in touch with other emigrant organizations in order not to be isolated in professional environment. The Navy Historical Club became one of the most active navy organizations and made a lot to maintain the navy officers’ knowledge at the decent level.