DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2022.6.37220

Abstract: The subject of the study is the history of the cultural landscape of the Southern coast of the Crimea of the XIX - beginning. XX century. and new methods of its study. This topic has been on the periphery of Russian historiography for a long time, but in recent years it has attracted the attention of both professional historians and local historians. Their joint efforts are aimed at localizing former estates and resorts, establishing the names of their owners and guests, reconstructing the visual appearance of cities and towns, studying the history of everyday life, identifying socio-economic, socio-cultural factors that influenced the course of the resort development of the YBK in the "imperial" era. This should serve to establish a more fair idea of the value of historical and cultural monuments, often "invisible" among modern buildings, to spread historical knowledge, to educate residents of the Crimea and its guests. The novelty of the undertaken research lies in its historiographical and methodological perspective. The review of the authors' actual achievements in the reconstruction of the history of the cultural landscape of the Southern Coast of Crimea, in particular, the Magarach locality (starting from the turn of the 1830s, when a colony of enlightened noble winemakers was established there by decree of M.S.Vorontsov, and up to 1920), is accompanied by an analysis of the source and methodological arsenal, which made it possible to achieve success in liquidation "white spots". These are, first of all, methods of complex source studies that significantly increase the informational impact of sources of various types (written, visual, material) and types, as well as the armament with modern methods of historical research – digital cartography, work with GIS systems, databases of digitized visual data.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2022.3.38260

Abstract: The article reviews O. Figes' monograph "Crimea, The Last Crusade", dedicated to the Crimean War of 1853-56, published in Russia in 2021. The work of the English historian is considered primarily in the light of approaches to the study of historical memory developed in modern historical science. It is noted that, despite the rich tradition of studying the Crimean War in Russian and Western historiography, the topic of the formation of historical memory of the war of 1853-1856 and the existence of the image of this war in Russia and the countries of the anti-Russian coalition for more than a century and a half has been touched upon little in the literature. Meanwhile, the ongoing discussion in the world historical science on the topic of the "memorial turn" convinces of the importance of updating the memory of such important events of the past as the Crimean War. The emphasis on "places of memory", such as the city of Russian glory of Sevastopol, as can be seen from the public agenda, is also becoming an important means of foreign and domestic policy, a way of reflecting society on its past, present and future, an instrument for solving political and state tasks broadcast through the education system, literature, art, and the press. In this sense, the topic of memorialization of the Crimean War in various countries, raised by O. Figes, undoubtedly needs further development in the Russian historiorgraphy.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2022.2.37923

Abstract: The article analyzes the experience gained by the author in the course of working with three online databases of visual historical sources in the context of studying the transformation of the Southern Coast of Crimea in the late XIX - early XX centuries. They are: the electronic State Catalog of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation, as well as two crowdsourcing platforms - Pastview and Retromap.ru . The author examines the origin, format, structure of these aggregators of visual historical sources, the information potential of the content, advantages and disadvantages of usage, examples of how visual information found using these databases contributed to solving specific historical and source problems. Different aspects of working with online databases of visual sources are considered in the context of historiographical discussions about the "digital turn" in humanitarian knowledge, the "visual turn" in the structure of the source base of historical research, disputes about the multimodality of the content of historical knowledge. It is suggested that soon online databases of visual sources will become as familiar an information search tool for a historian as electronic catalogues of libraries and archives. The emphasis is placed on the methodology of a systematic approach, methods of complex source studies that allow reconstructing historical reality by analyzing and comparing information extracted from sources of different types (written, pictorial and material) and types.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2021.4.36056

Abstract: This article raises the virtually unstudied in Russian historiography topic on the development of resorts of the south coast of Crimea during 1914–1919, the World War I, and revolutionary events of 1917. The situation in the Russian tourism sector in the years of World War I is consonant with the current situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Russian people, who prefer vacationing abroad, descended on the Russian resorts, which were not ready for such turn of events. This caused a public discussion on the topic of improving the Russian health treatment facilities, the materials on which are barely introduced into the historical discourse. The theme of economic and sociocultural development of the south coast of Crimea in the early XX century, which until recently was farmed out to historians and art historians, remains relevant. In the course of working on this article in the libraries and archives, the author reveals and introduces into the scientific discourse various types of sources that can shed light on the transformation of the south coast of Crimea after the beginning of the World War I. The three most promising vectors for further development of the topic are outlined: work with verbatim reports of the Congress on the improvement of health treatment facilities (1915), advertising materials and documentation of the newly established resort towns Laspi and Foros, as well as the sources of historical memory (memoirs, correspondence, diaries), which reflect the everyday life in the resorts of the south coast of Crimea during the wartime and revolutionary period.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2020.6.34666

Abstract: The subject of this research is the history of life, professional and social activity of the Mikhailov spouses – county physicians and philanthropists in the Southern Coast of Crimea throughout several decades of the first half of the XX century. The circumstances of this history, reconstructed in historiography for the first time based on comprehensive examination of the newly introduced into the scientific discourse sources (archives, materials from the museum funds, periodicals, sources of personal origin),  are placed into the context of large-scale sociocultural shifts that took place in the region and nationwide at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries and the first half of the XX century. The scientific novelty consists in reconstruction of the important page in the history of development of county medicine and philanthropy in the Southern Coast of Crimea in the early XX century. Due to the fact that in accordance with the modern requirements of historiographical direction of “ego-history”, the dynamics of personal fate of the heroes is viewed against the background of social correlations, The new data is acquired on the history of development of the Southern Coast of Crimea in the early XX century by the representatives of different strata of the Russian society – nobility, merchantry, and intelligentsia, as well as on establishment of the special sociocultural environment in the region.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2020.3.33467

Abstract: The subject of this research is the history of two recognized landmarks of the Southern Bank of Crimea – villas Seafront villas “Mechta” and “Kseniya” in the rural locality Simeiz near Yalta. The were erected in the early XX century, and since then are the center of attention for admirers of the relics, residents and guests of this resort town, and its urban development dominant. For the first time in historiography, based on the newly introduced archival sources form museum collections, as well as the sources of historical memory, is reconstructed the sequence of transfer of ownership of land parcels, on which both buildings are erected. The author also discovers the names of the people who commissioned construction of both villas, as well as their architects. The work describes the fate of buildings, their owners and descendants after arrival of the Soviet government and nationalization of private property on the Southern Bank of Crimea. The scientific novelty consists not only in the conducted documental reconstruction of the fate of two historical and cultural landmarks of the late XIX – early XX century, which description hat lots of gaps in the historical, art and local lore literature, but also in placing this reconstruction into the context of examination of Russia’s sociocultural modernization in the beginning of the XX century, formation of new social strata with characteristic to them new culture of leisure and aesthetization of life. The revealed by the author sources and information contribute to preservation of Russian cultural heritage, as well as can be applied by the historians in the area of social history, history of culture, history of leisure, and history of mentality.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2020.2.30687

Abstract: The article's research subject is the mentality of the representatives of the privileged social strata of imperial Russia living on the southern coast of Crimea during the years of the Civil War (1917-1921). On the basis of memoirs, little-known in historiographical circulation, as well as other sources, the author attempts to reconstruct the conditions of the daily life of the representatives of this social group during the indicated period and to describe the main features of their mentality. The author proposes a model that explains the mood and behavior of these figures with the help of "The Idle Class” concept, which was introduced at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries by the American sociologist T. Weblen. The narrative of "political history" is supplemented by research in the field of "local history" and "daily history", "micronarratives" based on the historical memory of event participants, affixed in sources of personal origin and designed to reveal how people of that era experienced their daily life. This has allowed the author to supplement and clarify the scientific knowledge about historical changes and to identify whether the changes at the macro and micro levels correlate with each other. The author uses the concept of "The Idle Class" to explain the fatal carelessness shown by representatives of the privileged social group of imperial Russia on the southern coast of Crimea even when the fire of the civil war had already been raging for several years in the country and when the Bolsheviks had governed over Crimea twice, even if not for long, by conducting searches, arrests and executions of class enemies. This, in turn, demonstrates that the interpretation of the revolution and the civil war in Russia in the 1917-early 1920s should be done in the broadest sense, as not only a socio-economic conflict, but also a socio-cultural and mental one.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2020.1.32009

Abstract: The article summarizes preliminary results related to the development and operation of historical thematic website “Simeiz. Guide to Old Dachas”. The website was created by the author and his colleagues in 2019 as a part of a workshop at the Department of Source Studies of the Lomonosov Moscow State University History Faculty. The workshop aimed at studying the history of the southern coast of Crimea in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The stages and preliminary results of this work are considered in the context of current discussions about the “digital turn” in history. The author analyses the reasons for creating the historical website, its structure, development stages, specific features of its content, database creation and crowdsourcing.  It is stated that the website development was the first important step of the whole research project, its “driver”. Moreover, besides a new form of historical knowledge dissemination, the work on the site provided for setting new source and analytical tasks that is to increase the information impact of sources and get new opportunities for processing the electronic database. These results may be of interest to historians who run similar historical projects.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2019.6.31351

Abstract: The article's topic is the history of the most famous monument of the southern coast of Crimea, its "business card" - the Swallow's Nest Castle. For the first time in Russian historiography, based on an analysis of a body of sources - primarily archival, but also published memoirs and visuals - the authors disprove the existing common errors in scientific and popular literature and resolve long-standing disputes: the sequence of land purchases on Cape Ai-Todor during the 19th - early 20th centuries, the construction of the summer house-castle "Swallow's Nest", the reconstruction in 1913 and the change in appearance, as well as the castle's history after its nationalization by the Soviet government and throughout the 20th century. The authors introduce into scientific circulation documents, which were discovered by them, from the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea, the Russian State Historical Archive, and the Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg. The information found is supported by data from numerous memoirs and visual sources. The novelty of the research undertaken by the authors lies primarily in their reconstruction of the true history of this important monument of Russian culture from the late 19th - early 20th century - the Swallow’s Nest Castle, which is also an important symbol of Russia's development of the southern coast of Crimea as a resort destination in popular culture. The author presents the resolution of long-standing disputes over the owners and builders of this monument and the sequence of their change.

DOI: 10.7256/2585-7797.2019.1.29047

Abstract: The article addresses new possibilities to study historical sources provided both by professional historians and amateurs posting their publications in thematic historically oriented groups on online social networks. An example taken is the “Old New Simeiz” group on the social network Facebook which brings together users interested in the history of the establishment and the development of a seaside resort in the village of Simeiz on the southern coast of Crimea over the past two centuries – a topic that has not yet been fully disclosed in historical literature. Data on a number of publications, the degree of audience’s interest to historical information of various types, dating and origin have been statistically processed. The author concludes the usefulness of this historically oriented group’s publications on social networks for the dissemination of historical knowledge. These posts bear retrospective information (publication, attribution, interpretation of unknown and little-known various historical sources) and current social information (social network users’ interests).

DOI: 10.25136/2409-868X.2018.7.25598

Abstract: This article meticulously examines the current situation of the development of historical science, as well as the dynamics of its changes pertinent to the methods of acquisition and validation of the historical knowledge. Special attention is given to the questions of the methodology of history, particularly associated with the “digital turn”, as well as the reassessment of the role of specialization and professional knowledge within the historical community. Under the new circumstances, the teaching the discipline “Quantitative Methods in Historical Research” should assume new importance, and the course itself – the new content. The author comes to a conclusion that the process of professional education of a contemporary historian fundamentally relates to the formation of methodological knowledge of the future specialists, familiarization with the structure and multifacetedness of the modern methodological space within which currently exists the historical community. The updated course “Quantitative Methods in Historical Research” is addressed to a student, who expects to solve the heuristic tasks namely in the context of information society, where dimension will become the key instrument of cognition.