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ХРОНИКА ЖИЗНИ НЕСОСТОЯВШЕЙСЯ КОРПОРАЦИИ: ЛИТЕРАТУРНЫЕ СЪЕЗДЫ В РОССИИ НАЧАЛА XX В
Associations around literature arose among the first public institutions of the Russian Empire. They were a prominent part of the social and ideological life of Russian society. They symbolized the growing interest in the literary process on the part of the public. Writers made up the "advance squad" of the emerging public. The literary process and the mindset of individual writers who were the rulers of the thoughts of Russian society in the 19-th century have become the topic of many studies. The relationship between literature and its addressee – the educated public, also became the subject of attention of specialists. Meanwhile, the subsequent stage of the institutional history of Russian literature, associated with its professionalization, the emergence of professional writers, publishers, critics, whose creations were in growing demand by the reading public, has been studied noticeably weaker. The history of literary communities at the beginning of the 20th century remains a significant gap in historical research. The authors interpret the literature as a public institution that gathered around itself the public and formed it. The history of the first writers' congresses is of significant interest in the context of this research methodology. It is not written. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the last century, three congresses of press figures were organized, including the "informal" and politicized congress of 1905. Literary congresses were a way of articulating representatives of the literary profession: journalists, writers, publicists, etc. their needs. Thee mobilized them around the professional agenda, developed a language with which writers participated in social and political life and described it. The movement from the political component to the professional one was the vector of the development of the self-organization of the community of writers at the beginning of the century. The search for a model of professional organization was the focus of the literary community. The article is written on the materials of four archives – the Manuscript Department of the Institute of Russian Literature, the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg), as well as the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) and the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GA RF) (Moscow). A significant part of the documents of literary institutions is introduced into scientific circulation for the first time