Professor Valk, the distinguished dean of Leningrad historians, died on February 5 of 1975 at the age of eighty-seven. To review his career is to recall the splendid historical training provided by the University of St. Petersburg on the eve of World War I and to retrace the course of Soviet historical study, many of its principal aims, priorities, methods, and achievements. Professor Valk’s scholarly legacy includes over two hundred printed works; generations of students who benefited from his erudition, prodigious memory, and generous spirit; and a lasting contribution to the development of Soviet archival science and source study.