Stepan Yosypovych Petrov - the head of Rare and Valuable Books Department of the State Public Library of Ukrainian SSR (1949-1961)

The article is dedicated to famous Ukrainian bibliologist, bibliographer and library expert S. Y. Petrov during the time of his work in the State Public Library of Ukrainian SSR (currently V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine) and, in particular, his work as the head of the Rare and Valuable Books Department. The overall situation in the State Public Library of the Ukrainian SSR when S. Y. Petrov started working there is covered. It includes the issues of the building restoration, fonds recovery from evacuation, their inspection and placement, arranging of reader services, etc. Circumstantially the role of Yu. A. Mezhenko in the State Public Library’s reversion to normal functioning is reviewed. Based on the librarian reports deposited in the Archives of V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, the after-war history of the Department of Old Printed Books and S. Y. Petrov’s place in it are characterized in detail. It has been noted that S. Y. Petrov himself was the initiator of the Department of Old Printed Books reformation into the Department of Rare and Valuable Books, which provided for a wider composition of fonds.