Mikhail Semevsky

Mikhail Ivanovich Semevsky (Russian: Михаил Иванович Семевский; 1837–92) was a Russian Imperial amateur historian who focused on the era of palace revolutions, and the history of the 18th century Russia.

Mikhail Semevsky in 1879

Of noble birth, Semevsky received a military education in St. Petersburg and did not retire from civil service until 1882.^[1] He assembled the memoirs of no less than 850 individuals, many written on his own request.^[1] Semevsky published them through Herzen's Free Russian Press in London, before establishing the Russkaya Starina monthly in 1870.

His younger brother, Vasily Semevsky (1849-1916), was a historian of Narodnik bend. The Russkaya Starina was published under Vasily's auspices until 1877, although the printing press was effectively run by Mikhail, until his death in 1892.