This article is a reconstruction of archival policies pursued by Russian universities in the nineteenth century and their effects. By comparing ‘old’ and ‘new’ archive inventories, archivists’ records and ministerial instructions, Elena Vishlenkova detects sets of documents that were destroyed in the ministerial and university archives. Furthermore, the author explains the logic of keeping certain types of documents and assigning them specific addresses within the archives. The study explains the contradictions that exist in the source evidence as well as in researchers’ conclusions, and presents hitherto unknown aspects of the university culture in the Russian Empire Russian Universities, the Russian Empire, paperwork, cultural practice, autonomy, identity, corporation, solidarity, profession