The article discusses the history of the formation and activity of one of the most interesting departmental archives of Russia of the 19th century: An Archive of the Ministry of Public Education. The author shows how during the 19th century, a badly organized securities storage was evolving into one of the country's best storages in the organization, description and use of the archives. The paper shows the role of some individual archivists in the organization of the work of archives, as well as their role in the organization and carrying out of the archival reform in 1918.