The History of the Russian State

The author of the famous "Letters of a Russian Traveler", "Poor Lisa", the historical novella "Marfa Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod", the publisher of the "Moscow Magazine" and "Herald of Europe", N.M. Karamzin became seriously interested in history at the beginning of the 19th century. In a letter to his brother Vasily Mikhailovich on June 6, 1803, Karamzin wrote: "I would like to undertake the most important work: Russian history, in order to leave a worthy monument to my Fatherland".
On October 31, 1803, Emperor Alexander I granted Karamzin the title of historiographer with an annual pension of two thousand rubles, promoted him to court councilor, and provided access to state archives. From that time until the last days of his life, Karamzin worked on the "History".
Alongside the state archive and the University, Academic, and Synodal libraries, Karamzin also consulted private collections of Russian antiquities: those of Musin-Pushkin, Rumyantsev, Turgenev, and Muravyov. His own library, which contained ancient manuscripts, also became a valuable assistant in his work.