The author, being a former student of the Department of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, and now is teacher, professor, remembers those who created and maintained such traditions of the Department as depth of knowledge and coherence of ideas, methodological clarity and dialogue, holistic view of the issue and using problem solving in teaching, and also the joint work of professors and students in the way of perceiving the truth. According to the author the 50th anniversary of the Department of Psychology is an occasion to both recall the path members of the Department went over the years, including several epochs, and to outline the prospects for further development. Considerable attention is paid to the personality of G.M. Andreeva, who is a gifted teacher, a brilliant scholar, and one of the founders of social psychology in the Russia. Particular attention is drawn to Galina Andreeva collecting the brightest staff of the Chair of Social Psychology, whose key feature was involvement in both the scientific and also collective life of the Department, which contributed to the development of the new important branch of psychology. The author also singles out the figure of the wonderful teacher L.A. Petrovskaya who encouraged the students to cherish their individuality as she believed it to be the main tool of the professional psychologist. With much gratitude the author recalls tips for organizing the teaching process received from A.U. Kharash.

The paper characterizes the current state and the importance of the Department, and outlines the prospects for further development. In particular, the author speaks of the need for developing student personal involvement in professional activities, and also of creating favourable conditions at the Deaprtment for a student successful transition from training to real life.

On a par with the analysis of the Russian history of psychology development the paper characterizes academic research and teaching profession of one of the greatest contemporary historians of psychology Antonina Nikolaevna Zhdan, Distinguished Professor of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education. The paper shows her contribution to the international and national history of psychology, historical and scientific research of the Department of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the history of psychology teaching at the Department of General Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University. We give an account of the origin of the historical and psychological research in the Russian empire and Soviet times: Psychological Institute (1914) of Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Department of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University (established in 1966). The role of A.N. Zhdan in finalizing the encyclopedias devoted to the 250th anniversary of Lomonosov Moscow State University is distinguished. We mention Antonina N. Zhdan’s teacher, Peter Ya. Galperin, who was the first to develop a training course on the history of psychology that serves as a basis for creating and then publishing a university course curriculum and a manual. The paper highlights the constructive role of academic research and teaching profession of A.N. Zhdan to develop the first Russian university fundamental textbook on the history of psychology which she positioned from the perspective of L.S. Vygotsky’s cultural historical psychology, A.N. Leontiev’s theory of activity and P. Ya. Galperin’s concept of orienting activity. 

We analyze the work of A.N. Zhdan on various aspects of the history of psychology and the establishing theoretical principles of its research and development. The significance of A.N. Zhdan’s works for developing methodology of psychology is emphasized. It is particularly stressed that this line of research characterizes the academic school of the history of international and Russian psychology with her active participation.