Komleva Evgeniya V.,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Journey of Marfa N. Kandinskaya from Kyakhta to Moscow in 1851
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2019-3-7
The article analyzes the manuscript diary of the Selenginsk merchant Marfa Nikitichna Kandinskaya (b. Sabashnikova). The diarist’s social background makes the document under investigation unique, while the text itself is indicative of the level of education and range of interests of women from the merchant circle, reflecting their world view. Written in 1851 during a journey from Kyakhta to Moscow, the diary contains information about the cities of Siberia, the Urals and Central Russia, through which the voyagers traveled. The strongest impression on M.N. Kandinskaya was produced by Moscow, where life was in many ways strikingly different from the East Siberian realities familiar to the author. M.N. Kandinskaya mentions some prominent contemporaries, for example, the Bestuzhev brothers, exiled Decembrists who lived in Selenginsk, characterizes the entertainment available to citizens in the middle of the 19th century. One of the most important topics for a religiously-minded author of a diary is the description of Orthodox churches and monasteries seen along the way. A characteristic feature of the source under investigation is its emotionality: Marfa Kandinskaya does not only worries about her children left in Kyakhta and relations with her husband, but also uses well-turned, sometimes poignant, epithets addressing to the way of life and local customs inherent in a particular city. The pages of the diary also reflect the regional identity of the author, who is worried about her distant small homeland and appreciates meetings with Siberians. All of the above emphasizes the value of the surviving source, which, despite the brevity of the records it contains, has high information capacity for analyzing the development of the pre-reform city and culture of the urban population of Russia.
Publishing: 30/06/2019
How to cite: Komleva E.V. Journey of Marfa N. Kandinskaya from Kyakhta to Moscow in 1851 // Historical Courier, 2019, # 3 (5). Article 7. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-3-07.pdf
Links: Issue 3 2019
Keywords: Siberian merchants; women; ego documents; Marfa Kandinskaya; a Russian city of the middle of the 19th century