In 1759, in response to a proposal by academicians M. V. Lomonosov and Jacob von Stelin, and the counselor of the academic chancellery, 1.1. Taubert, the Academy of Sciences established a new membership class - the corresponding member. On 29 January of that year, the historian, economist, and geographer from Orenburg, P. I. Rychkov, became the first correspondent, and between 1759 and 1803, the Academy elected 30 scientific amateurs to corresponding membership. The correspondents lived for the most part in the provincial cities of Russia, including Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, Vologda, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Perm, Saratov, and Tver. Approximately 70% studied the natural sciences, while 30% focused on the humanities. The rank of corresponding member did not carry any pecuniary advantages-it simply honored and recognized contributions to science. Support and attention from the Academy of Sciences to scientific amateurs in diverse Russian cities promoted the realization of their scientific interests, and they enriched science with valuable discoveries and materials, cultivated interest in obtaining new knowledge, and broadened the contacts of the Academy throughout the nation. The activity of these 30 academic correspondents acquired such notoriety that the status of corresponding members became firmly institutionalized in the «Regulations of the Academy of Sciences» in 1803.