Evgeniya Vladislavovna Komleva,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia; Russian National Library, St. Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
“I Set Out to Make a Spiritual Testament”: The Last Will of Merchant M.K. Sidorov (the Second Half of the 19th Century)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2024-3-21
The article is devoted to the characterization of the spiritual testament of the famous Arkhangelsk, Krasnoyarsk and Oranienbaum merchant, researcher of the Russian North Mikhail Konstantinovich Sidorov (1823–1887). Unlike most similar texts of the pre-reform period, the source under investigation testifies not so much to the material well-being of the author, but rather reveals his multifaceted activities in the study and economic development of the northern territories of Russia, emphasizes his patriotism and active public position. The main problems of the testament include: M.K. Sidorov’s concern for increasing the population in the North, the dissemination of practically oriented education (nautical and craft schools) among local residents, the involvement of indigenous northern peoples in the unified economic and socio-cultural space of the empire, the development of the transport network of the region, his efforts to promote information about the natural resources of the North. In addition, the text of the will contains information about M.K. Sidorov’s family members, his business partners, creditors and friends, to some extent reflects the relationship of the owner of capital with employees, testifies to the relationship between representatives of different genders in Siberia in the middle of the 19th century, emphasizes the religious component of the author’s worldview. A draft version of the spiritual testament of M.K. Sidorov, deposited in his personal fond in the St. Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is published.
Publishing: 28/06/2024
The article has been received by the editor on 03/05/2024
How to cite: Komleva E.V. “I Set Out to Make a Spiritual Testament”: The Last Will of Merchant M.K. Sidorov (the Second Half of the 19th Century) // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 3 (35), pp. 268–285. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-1-21.pdf]
The work was supported by the RSF within the framework of scientific research “The Emergence and Development of the Autobiographical Tradition in the Russian Written Culture of the late 16th – early 20th Century in the Context of Studying Changes in the Consciousness of a Person of the New Age”, project No. 22-78-10135, https://rscf.ru/project/22-78-10135/
Links: Issue 3 2024
Keywords: merchants; Mikhail Konstantinovich Sidorov; autobiographical texts; spiritual testament; development of the Russian North; entrepreneurial activity; family