Alexander Massov

Alexander Yakovlevich Massov was born on 7 March 1950 in Leningrad to a family of an engineer and a secondary school history teacher. He received his higher education at the Faculty of History of Leningrad State University (now Saint Petersburg State University), graduating with honours in 1972.^[1] From 1972 to 1975, he completed postgraduate studies at Leningrad State University, defending his Candidate of Sciences thesis on the topic Colonial Expansion of Australia in New Guinea in 1884–1941.^[2] In 1995, he defended his Doctor of Sciences thesis at Saint Petersburg State University on the topic Formation and Development of Russian-Australian Relations (1807–1901).^[3]

Since 1976, Massov has worked at Saint Petersburg State Marine Technical University (until 1990 known as Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute), where he advanced from assistant to professor and department head. He was among the first in Russian historical science to study contacts and connections between Russia and Australia and their impact on the development of Australian society in the 19th and early 20th centuries. From 2008 to 2024, he was also a professor in the Master's program Pacific Studies at Saint Petersburg State University. In addition, Massov is a member of the editorial board of the journal News of Saint Petersburg State University of Technology and Design (Series 2. Art criticism. Philological sciences).^[4]

Massov's research interests include:

• History of Australia–Russia relations during the colonial period of Australian history
• Study of the Russian diaspora in Australia
• Historical and historical-geographical aspects of voyages by ships of the Imperial Russian Navy in South Pacific
• Research and social activities of Russian scientist Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay in Australia and Oceania

He is the author of more than 370 scientific and educational-methodological works published in Russia and Australia, including 2 individual monographs and co-authorship in 11 collective monographs. In the 1990s, he was part of the editorial team preparing a six-volume collection of works by Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay.^[5] Massov also served as one of the compilers of collections of documentary materials about visits to Australia by Russian sailors and travellers and as publisher of archival documents about the activities of Russian consuls in Australia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A significant number of documents discovered and subsequently published in these collections were introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time.

In 2021, he participated in the establishment of the All-Russian Association of Researchers of the South Pacific Region and assumed the position of Chair of its Scientific and Expert Council.^[6]

His scholarly work has contributed significantly to international understanding of Russian-Australian relations, with his publications being cited by researchers in Australia, Russia, and other countries studying Pacific region history and diplomatic relations. Reviews of Massov's work, in particular, note his role in publishing previously unknown archival materials and diplomatic documents that shed light on 19th-century Russian engagement with Australia and the broader Pacific region.

Massov's works have been widely discussed in both Russian and international scholarship. His co-edited documentary collection A New Rival State? Australia in Tsarist Diplomatic Communications (2018) received attention in leading journals. In Australian Slavonic and East European Studies (ASEES), Natalia Batova described it as "a vivid portrayal of Russian consuls in Australia and their diplomatic activities".^[7] Writing in The Slavonic and East European Review, historian T. G. Otte characterised the volume as "a very useful and expertly edited collection of diplomatic sources" valuable for the study of Russian imperial policy in the Pacific.^[8] A detailed review by Natalia Skorobogatykh in Vostok (Oriens) likewise highlighted the book's contribution to understanding Russia's diplomatic engagement with Australia.^[9]

The collective monograph From St Petersburg to Port Jackson. Russian Travellers' Tales of Australia, 1807–1912 (2016), co-edited with Kevin Windle and Elena Govor, was noted in several international reviews. J. L. Black in Canadian Slavonic Papers praised it as "a valuable and engaging source on cross-cultural encounters".^[10] The book was also reviewed in the New Zealand Slavonic Journal^[11] and in The Russian Review by Theophilus C. Prousis, who highlighted its contribution to Russian-Australian studies.^[12] In the general literary sphere, historian Sheila Fitzpatrick selected it for Australian Book Review's "Books of the Year", calling it "a treasure trove for anyone with a weakness for ship's captains' and spunky young Russian ladies' impressions of our native land".^[13]

Earlier, the international volume Encounters under the Southern Cross: Two Centuries of Russian-Australian Relations, 1807–2007 (2007), edited by Massov, John McNair, and Thomas Poole, was reviewed in Klio^[14] and Australian Slavonic and East European Studies journals. David N. Wells in ASEES noted its broad scope and scholarly significance for the bicentenary of Russian–Australian contacts.^[15]

His Russian-language collections, such as Russian Consular Service in Australia, 1857–1917 (2014), also attracted multiple academic reviews in Vostok (Oriens),^[16] Russia and the Pacific,^[17] IKBFU's Vestnik^[18] and other journals, which stressed the importance of the archival materials first introduced into scholarly use. In a separate review in Vostok (Oriens), N. S. Skorobogatykh emphasised Massov's engaging style and the combination of rigorous analysis with vivid detail in reconstructing Russian naval visits to Melbourne, calling his works "consistently captivating".^[19]

Massov's works on the activities of Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay have also received high praise. In particular, Massov's article on the legacy of Miklouho-Maclay, "The Unknown Autograph of N. N. Miklouho-Maclay", was noted in Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia, where it was described as "extremely interesting and pioneering", with Massov's conclusions on Maclay's scientific views characterised as innovative within international scholarship.^[20]

• Gentshke, V. L.; Sabennikova, I. V.; Lovtsov, A. S. (2018). Researchers of Russian Diaspora. Issue 1. Biobibliographic Dictionary (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow, Berlin: Direct-Media. pp. 196–199. ISBN 978-5-4475-2765-5.^[21]

• Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation