Nikolay Alekseevich Starukhin,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of History 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.
Letters of the Old Believer Writer A.G. Murachev to N.D. Zolnikova from the Lower Yenisei
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2025-3-6
N.D. Zolnikova (1949−2018) is one of the significant figures of the Novosibirsk archeographic school of Academician N.N. Pokrovsky. In recent years, against the background of a growing interest in the life and scientific work of N.N. Pokrovsky, it is understandable to turn to sources of personal origin related to his immediate environment. And if the epistolary legacy of the academician, which is currently available to researchers, has already largely become the property of the scientific community, then the sources of personal origin related to the scientific and organizational activities of N.D. Zolnikova have not yet attracted due attention. First of all, this concerns sources reflecting one of the main areas of the scientist’s work: field archaeography. The article publishes five letters from N.D. Zolnikova, a prominent representative of the “peasant theology” of the 20th−21st centuries, the original Siberian writer and polemicist A.G. Murachev (1916 (1921) − 2008). The letters cover the period from September 1988 to August 2004. The messages are of a business nature, but they are noticeably distinguished by the presence of personal, and even private information. The letters of A.G. Murachev, saturated with vivid images and colorful comparisons, perfectly convey the situation that had developed at the time of their writing in the Old Believer settlements grouped around the hermitage center located in the lower reaches of the Yenisei. According to the published sources, one can also feel the wonderful atmosphere of creative live communication that distinguished the Novosibirsk Scientific Center. The messages also show how the relationship between N.D. Zolnikova and the Lower Yenisei mentor was built. The result of these relations, as is well known, was the introduction of a significant layer of peasant writings into scientific circulation.
Publishing: 28/06/2025
The article has been received by the editor on 04/06/2025
How to cite: Starukhin N.A. Letters of the Old Believer Writer A.G. Murachev to N.D. Zolnikova from the Lower Yenisei // Historical Courier, 2025, No. 3 (41), pp. 84−100. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2025/ISTKURIER-2025-3-06.pdf]
The article was made on the topic of the state assignment “The Past in the Manuscript Sources of the 16th−20th Centuries: Preservation and Development of Traditions” (FWZM-2024-0006).
Links: Issue 3 2025
Keywords: Old Believers; Chasovennye; epistolary sources; archeography; N.D. Zolnikova