The role of S. S. Uvarov, the president of the Academy of Sciences, and later the Minister of Public Education, in the process of creating and at the initial stage of the work of the St. Petersburg Archeographic Commission is characterized in this article. The concept of “Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality” by Sergey Semenovich Uvarov had a significant impact on the structure of the commission and its activities. In many ways, the Archaeographic expedition of P. M. Stroev and the publication of the results of its work, and then the regular Commission for the publication of Russian sources, are the result of Uvarov's patronage. On the one hand, Uvarov directly interfered in the organizational and scientific activities of the Commission. On the other hand, this intervention guaranteed the constant, systematic and regulated publication of sources on Russian history.

The article examines the formation of the departments of national history at Moscow and St. Petersburg Universities. Two factors influenced this process: the internal development of the history of Russia as a scientific discipline and the triad “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, nationality” proposed by the Minister of Public Education S. S. Uvarov. The initial stage of the formation of the national history departments was closely connected with the views and activities of two the most famous historians of this era – M. P. Pogodin and N. G. Ustryalov. Important results of their scientific and pedagogical work were the introduction of a large number of sources into science, the identification of significant problems of Russian history and its features, as well as the desire to teach students independent scientific research.