The process of self-identification of the community of Moscow historians was nearing completion by the early 20th century. The image of Sergei Mikhailovich Soloviev, long-term professor of the Department of Russian History, author of the History of Russia from Earliest Times, rector of the university, heir to T.N. Granovsky's traditions, played an important role in the collective memory of the representatives of the Moscow school of historians. The formation of commemorative traditions about Soloviev was associated with his colleagues' attempt, initiated by professor of the Department of World History V.I. Guerrier, at solemnly and publicly celebrating the publication of the 25th volume of the History of Russia from Earliest Times at Moscow University in 1876. Despite the resistance of the Minister of Public Education D.A. Tolstoy, who banned the official celebrations in honor of Soloviev at Moscow University, his admirers held them privately. The hero of the day was presented with a valuable gift and congratulatory addresses from various academic institutions. One of the consequences of this event was the appearance of the first biographers of Soloviev at Moscow University, V.I. Guerrier and at that time docent of the Moscow Theological Academy V.O. Klyuchevsky. The texts of Soloviev's disciples formed the so-called implicit knowledge about him, the “legend” about the teacher in the community of Moscow historians. Klyuchevsky did his best to make the image of Soloviev significant for the students of history at Moscow University at the turn of the century. He even tried to explain the foundation of his own school with its characteristic emphasis on archival studies of the reforms in the 18th-century Russia as following Soloviev's precept. However, among the university students of history the latter did not become as popular as T.N. Granovsky, whose memory persisted even in the early 20th century. This was largely due to the fact that a strong tradition of commemoration of Klyuchevsky, heir to Soloviev at the department, emerged immediately after his death in 1911.

The emergence of seminars at the Faculty of History and Philology at Moscow University was a response to discussions of higher education reform in the era of the Great Reforms, when the education of students at universities was found too passive. At this time, ideologues of higher education reform demanded that monologue lectures be supplemented with written students’ papers, which should develop their research skills and serve as a basis for communication with their professors. After 1862, when over a hundred young scholars were sent abroad for several years under the program of Minister of Public Instruction A.V. Golovnin, a new generation of researchers and teachers was introduced to practical studies at German universities. Those who had been abroad started to actively use the term seminar to refer to a new kind of practical training. By the mid-1860s, seminars appeared at Moscow University as teaching units for philologists to train grammar school teachers of classical languages, and as a type of practical classes for historians, the purpose of which was to write research papers. Philologist P.M. Leontiev was one of the originators of philological seminars at Moscow University. He developed such forms of classes at the faculty as were practiced by S.P. Shevyrev in the 1850s, while V.I. Guerrier established the seminar as a new form of research activity for historians. It was important for him that students who chose to major in history should write papers on this discipline. While students received scholarships for their work in the philological seminars, participation in historical seminars was their personal initiative. Further development of the new form of classes was associated with attempts to divide the Faculty of History and Philology into two specializations. Officially, historians’ seminars became part of the faculty’s curriculum only after implementation of the charter of 1884.