The acquisition of the archival collections of personal funds of the Department of Manuscripts and Scientific Documentation began in 1988. Today the Department includes 23 personal funds (more than 36000 items), which contain biographical documents, materials about the professional and creative activity of the 20th century art critics and artists.


The fullest picture on the evolution of the national school of art studies of decorative-applied and folk art from the first decades of the existence of the Soviet State till the 1980s is presented in the archival materials of the fonds of Doctor of Art History Viktor Mikhailovich Vasilenko (1905 – 1991), of the family collections of Vasily Sergeyevich Voronov (1887 – 1940) and his wife Lidia Ivanovna Sviantkovskaya-Voronova (1887 – 1972), candidates of art history Irina Pavlovna Rabotnova (1914 – 1991), Lidia Nikolaevna Goncharova (1922 – 1998), Veronika Mikhailovna Vishnevskaya (1917 – 1988), Irina Aleksandrovna Krukova (1909 – 1974).

The archival materials, gathered by the founders during their participation in expeditions, devoted to studying folk art and collecting collections for museum funds (reports, field diaries with the author's sketches, photos) and materials on the history of folk arts and crafts are of particular interest.