Moscow Public Museum Library

In 1890 Moscow, "the Public Library" (Публичная библиотека) and "the Rumyantsev Library" (Румянцевская библиотека) both refer to reading rooms of the same combined institution, the Moscow Public Museum and Rumyantsev Museum (founded 1862 by merging the transplanted Rumyantsev collection with a new public museum) -- the two names were used loosely and sometimes interchangeably for its library holdings and reading rooms. Chekhov's letter distinguishes them as if they were separate destinations for his research assistants; this entity tracks the "Public Library" name specifically as used in this letter, distinct from but historically overlapping with. The institution's library later became, after further Soviet-era reorganization, the State Library named for V. I. Lenin -- an anachronistic later name not used by Chekhov.