Bantysh-Kamenskii, Dmitrii

Born Nov. 5 (16), 1788, in Moscow; died Jan. 25 (Feb. 6), 1850, in St. Petersburg. Russian historian. Served in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs. Studied Russian archives under the guidance of his father, N. N. Bantysh-Kamenskii, a student of ancient texts.

Bantysh-Kamenskii was governor of Tobol’sk Province from 1825 to 1828 and of Vilnius Province in 1836. His chief works— History of Little Russia (1822), Dictionary of Memorable People of the Russian Land (vols. 1–8,1836–47), and Biographies of Russian Generalissimos and General-Field Marshals (1840–41)—are overloaded with events and facts of little importance and characterized by uncritical analysis of archival documents and haphazard selection of “memorable people.” However, many articles in the Dictionary and in Biographies contain reference material that has not lost its value.