At the close of 2005 the Russian State Archives of Early Acts organized an exposition in Moscow's Exhibition Hall of Federal State Archives ("From the Rhine to Kamchatka") devoted to Gerard Frederick Miller (1705 - 1783) on the occasion of the birth tricentennial of this eminent Russian historian and archeographer. Taking part in arranging this memorial exhibition were the Moscow-based state museums, such as the History Museum, the A.S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Peoples of the East, the Tretyakov Art Gallery as well as other scientific and cultural centers.
Pages. 78
Leipzig, Germany. An etching by F. de Vitte. Late 18th century.
Gerard Frederick (Friedrich) Miller was born in Hcrford (Westphalia, Germany) into the family of a grammar school rector. He completed a course at the universities of Rinteln and Leipzig. In 1725, at the age of 20. he came to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he took part in establishing the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and became its professor. The opening exhibits feature this early period of G. Miller's life and activity. They include 17th-18th centuries lithographs with views of the places where the historian spent his youth, the catalog of the library of his father (Miller, Senior) which Miller, Jr., drew up in 1723 - 1724; and a map of the district of Low Saxony (a late 17th-century engraving by Frederick de Vitte of Miller's native town).
And so this bright young man came to St. Petersburg at the invitation of Professor Johann Kohl. "... May I assure you that I feel just as fine in St. Petersburg as in Germany... The library here is superb." For two years Miller taught Latin, rhetoric and composition, history and geography in a classical grammar school (gymnasium) that has just been set up. Then on the instructions of Lauren tins Blumentrost, the first President of the Academy of Sciences (1725 - 1733), he began editing The St. Petersburg Vedomosti published in German as of 1727 (Die Nachrichten von St. Pete ...
Read more