Personnel Policy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russian Empire on the Eve of and during the Great Reforms (1852–1868)

The paper is devoted to the personnel policy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russian Empire under three ministers: D. G. Bibikov (1852-1855), S. S. Lanskoj (1855-1861) and P. A. Valuev (1861-1868). During this period, the Ministry of Internal Affairs played a key role in the preparation and implementation of the Great Reforms. The aim of this work is to reveal how the "reform team" was formed in the Ministry and how it transformed over time. In order to achieve this goal both official ministerial documents and ego-documents were investigated. The main conclusion drawn from the study is the continuity of the personnel policy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the period under review. According to the results study, he leadership of the Ministry managed to cope with the tasks assigned to it by the emperor by recruiting both young well-educated officials and experienced managers from other governmental institutions, in particular, from the Ministry of State Properties.