Sergey Borisovich Orlov,
Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Professor, Biysk Technological Institute (Branch) of the Polzunov Altai State Technical University, Biysk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Olga Nikolaevna Shelegina,
Doctor 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.
Family Legacy: S.P. Gorchakov’s Diary “A Trip to Biysk” (1959)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2021-2-7
The publication introduces for the first time the diary of the Soviet teacher Serafim Pavlovich Gorchakov, who lived in the town of Aramil, the Sverdlovsk region. It was written during the trip and his stay in the city of Biysk, the Altai Krai (June 1959), visiting his daughter Liya Serafimovna Orlova. All original materials used (documents/photographs of the 1930–1950s) are kept in the family archive of S.B. Orlov – the grandson of S.P. Gorchakov. Diary entries contain observations about everyday life, leisure activities by the Orlov family. The text of the narration about the author’s pastime, description of nature and weather are accompanied by pencil sketches. From the manuscript you can also extract information about the staff of the new research institute (later the Research and Production Association “Altai”), the construction process of the microdistrict “AB”. The document makes it possible to identify the position of a happy Soviet person who knows how to find interest in everyday life, who is able to convey his positive attitude towards the world around him. The text of the diary is preceded by a brief history of the Gorchakov family reconstructed by S.B. Orlov. In the modern situation of anthropological transition the publication seems to be important for drawing attention to the high spiritual value of the family heritage in the preservation of traditions, the stability of society, the possibility of using ego-documents in research, local history and museum activities.
Publishing: 28/04/2021
The article has been received by the editor on 01/03/2021
How to cite: Orlov S.B., Shelegina O.N. Family Legacy: S.P. Gorchakov’s Diary “A Trip to Biysk” (1959) // Historical Courier, 2021, No. 2 (16), pp. 93–103. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2021/ISTKURIER-2021-2-07.pdf
Links: Issue 2 2021
Keywords: family heritage; S.P. Gorchakov; Aramil; Biysk; the history of everyday life; the life of a Soviet person