“SREDNIE VEKA”: BECOMING A JOURNAL

This article studies the early period in the history of the journal «Srednie Veka» – from the publication of the first issue (1942) to its final design as a yearbook in the mid-1960s. According to the plan of its founders, «Srednie Veka» was to become a periodical publishing the researches on the history of the Middle Ages. However, the first issues of the collected papers appeared irregularly; it became an annual from the fourth issue only. The editors of the «Srednie Veka» strived to obtain the journal status, which in the Soviet period ensured the inclusion into the academic publication plan, regular publication, and more issues per year. The authors of this article have used the archival materials, analysis of the issues of the «Srednie Veka» and their content to uncover the editorial board’s attempts to turn the collection of scholarly papers into a periodical. The article highlights the difficulties that the editors had to face when preparing the issues, and the role of the editor-in-chief and the chief of medieval department in the development of the editorial policy. Although «Srednie Veka» did not acquire the journal status in the Soviet period, the editorial staff managed to increase the number of annual issues and their size. Thanks to the efforts of Evgenii A. Kosminskii, Nina A. Sidorova, Sergei D. Skazkin, the editorial board and the medieval department «Srednie Veka» became the leading academic publication of the Soviet medievalists.

Soviet Medieval Studies, «Srednie Veka» journal, Evgenii A. Kosminskii, Nina A. Sidorova, Sergei D. Skazkin, historiography