The development of dactyloscopy in XX century in Russia can be divided into six stages. The first stage – a period of appearance and development of dactyloscopy, interrupted by the revolution of 1917. The second stage – during the recovery period after the revolution of 1917. The third stage – a period from the thirties of the XX century, when there is a development of criminalistics as a science. The 4th stage – a period during the great Patriotic war. The 5th stage – restoration of the expert activity of 1940th – 1950th . The 6th stage – a period of automation, starting from the 60th. This article is about the first stage – the period of the emergence and development of dactyloscopy, which was interrupted by revolution of 1917. Since then, dactyloscopy received deserved recognition in Russia and began to be widely used in practice. The first stage became the beginning of theoretical development of a dactyloscopy expert.
