Victoria Victorovna Germizeeva,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Omsk State Technical University, Omsk, Russia, e‑mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Keeping the Past for the Sake of the Future: Review of the Monograph by D.I. Petin “The History of the Batyushkin’s Family in Omsk”
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-5-20
The article is an analytical review of the monograph “The History of the Batyushkin’s Family in Omsk” by Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor Dmitry Igorevich Petin, presented to the academic community in January 2022. The book, written in a local history format, is dedicated to the century-and-a-half family saga of the Batyushkin family, shich was influential in pre-revolutionary Omsk. The monograph, using a particular example, also touches upon everyday life, reflecting the numerous transformations of socio-economic and socio-political institutions caused by the turning events of Russian history. The relevance of the research is associated with the high interest of modern historiography in local developments, in which, along with local history stories, there is access to large-scale academic problems. The purpose of our publication is to show the research and practical significance of the work, to highlight and comment on the controversial aspects in the author’s interpretation of events. We emphasize that the reviewed publication compares favorably with the developments of historiography on the topic, thanks to the complex of sources used and methodology. The principles of consistency and determinism, problematic and comparative historical methods allow us to analyze the book novelty, to consider it a phenomenon of scientific life, having its own prehistory and content while at the same time being a part of the general system of knowledge on Siberian local lore. The specifics of the topic and the genre of the publication determined the form of our narrative. Along with the key advantages of the monograph, the review reflects our critical judgments, which are seen as possible steps to improve upon the scientific problem in the future. These comments do not reduce the appreciation of the work addressed to a wide range of readers. The author of the review concludes that D.I. Petin has prepared an original and qualitative study, replete with factual material, including the one on the socio-economic history of Omsk of the 19th – early 20th centuries. The review is addressed to a wide range of readers, including, first of all, researchers of historical science, historiography, socio-economic history, local history and practical genealogy.
Publishing: 28/10/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 24/04/2023
How to cite: Germizeeva V.V. Keeping the Past for the Sake of the Future: Review of the Monograph by D.I. Petin “The History of the Batyushkin’s Family in Omsk” // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 5 (31), pp. 276–286. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-5-20.pdf]
Links: Issue 5 2023
Keywords: history of entrepreneurship; former people; Civil War; A.V. Kolchak; local history; Batyushkin’s Family; Omsk