The project “Faculty of Social Sciences” is aimed at motivating secondary school students for deeper training in the humanities and admission to specialized educational institutions. An agreement between gymnasiums (Gymnasium No. 67, Gymnasium No. 70 and Gymnasium No. 85 of the Petrogradsky District) and St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences as the first experience of its kind in the interaction between an academic institution and secondary schools opens up the opportunity to conduct practical classes in the archive (based on unique documents collections of academician N.P. Likhachev), to acquaint high school students with various areas of historical science and teach the basics of working with documents, to form heuristic skills in the analysis of written sources.

For the high school students who came to the signing ceremony of the Agreement, an introductory practical lesson was organized: a tour of the building of the St. Petersburg Institute of Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences – the House of Academician N.P. Likhachev. On the history of the collections and the archive of Acad. Likhachev was told by the leading archivist of the Scientific and Historical Archive of St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences Natalya Alexandrovna Ageeva. In addition, young guests were able to see how documents are restored, what technologies are used for this: this knowledge was shared by senior artist-restorer Elena Sergeevna Pakhalova and junior researcher Yulia Pavlovna Baskakova. According to the guys themselves, it was a complete surprise for them that the restoration organically combines both the most modern technologies and oldschool, time-tested and, of course, reliable.

And in the reading hall of the Archive of SPbIH of the RAS, the lesson was conducted by senior researcher Nikita Viktorovich Bashnin, who introduced the children to the peculiarities of research work in the study of manuscripts. He shared some professional secrets with them, explaining where to start the analysis of a historical source and how important details are for scientific study.

As expected, in the future, within the framework of the program, the details of which are currently being developed, the staff of the institute will give lectures and conduct practical classes with students on historical subjects, as well as supervise their independent research activities.