The article examines the challenges of shaping and expanding a documentary collection in the context of preserving the memory of Rostov historian A.P. Pronstein. The diversity of sources generated by commemorative practices reflects the need to capture the multidimensional space in which his work unfolded. The study also identifies symbolic fields that contribute to the emergence of materials beyond deliberate memory politics surrounding the scholar. Special attention is given to the commemorative practices of the scholarly community as an evolutionary process that reveals anthropological trends in the development of modern historiographical knowledge.