3 November] 1869 – 19 August 1930), who published in the West under his German baptismal name, Wilhelm Barthold,[1] was a Russian orientalist who specialized in the history of Islam and the Turkic peoples (Turkology).

[2] In 1900, after defending his thesis "Turkestan in the Age of the Mongol Invasion" (Parts 1 and 2, St. Petersburg, 1898-1900), Bartold received the degree of Doctor of Oriental History.

In 1904 he made archaeological excavations in the vicinity of Samarkand; in 1910 he was elected corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, in 1913 - Ordinary Academician in the category "Literature and History of Asian peoples".

In February 1917 Bartold joined the academic Commission for the Exploration of the Tribal Composition of the Population of Russia and Neighbouring Countries (chaired by Academician Sergey Oldenburg).

In Baku he met with scientists, teachers, local administration, visited museums, mosques, the Shah's palace, fortress and cemeteries.

His good knowledge of the work of libraries allowed him not only to give lectures on the history of archival work for the students of the Archival Courses at the Petrograd Archaeological Institute (1918), but also to make articles and reviews on the state of libraries and their manuscript departments, to make suggestions on the collection of materials, their disclosure through catalogues etc.

In January 1927 he was invited by Nikolai Marr to the Leningrad Public Library as a consultant on the works of the Eastern Department with payment from scientific credits, and from 1 February 1928 he was enrolled as a non-staff employee.

Barthold's collected works were reprinted in 9 volumes between 1963 and 1977, and while Soviet editors added footnotes deploring his 'bourgeois' attitudes, his prestige was such that the text was left uncensored, despite not conforming to a Marxist interpretation of history.