The article, based on the use of sources of personal origin, examines the changes that took place at the Historical Faculty of the Gorky Ural State University (USU) during the period of «perestroika» and the first years of the formation of the new Russian statehood. The connection between the political and economic processes that took place in the country at the turn of the 1980s-1990s and the ongoing transformations is shown. It is concluded that these two periods are united by the desire of the faculty leadership to adapt to new conditions, but the pace and methods of reform were different. The changes that took place in the organizational structure, educational process, personnel, scientific activity, and daily life of teachers are characterized. An attempt is being made to look at the ongoing transformations not only «from above», but also «from below» on the part of students and ordinary teachers. The role of the personalities who have made the greatest contribution to the reform of the Faculty of History is shown.