L.V. Koshman, E.K. Sisoeva Miniature research of the meshanin (townsfolk) and merchant environment of Kineshma: on the book by N. Voshinnikova, “Family histories and the two eras”

Abstract: In her book, “Family histories and the two eras”, N. Voshinnikova (М.: Новый Хроногроф, 2012. Серия «От первого лица») highlights the life of several generations of two families of a county town of Kineshma, basing her research on family archive materials. This article evaluates the book from the perspective of significance of its sources for mundane life research. The introduction of documents of this sort allows to present the everyday lives of the townsfolk as a social and cultural phenomenon more fully. It is important that the archive used by the writer belongs to the meshan environment of Kineshma. The pool of narrative sources that come from the townsfolk is limited, and each newly-discovered source allows for significant breakthroughs in social and cultural aspects of Russian town history. The archive documents not only allow us to draw a picture of the lives of the book’s author’s relatives, but also uncover alternative views on the numerous issues of native history on the brink of the two eras – the pre- Revolution era and the Soviet era (1880’s to 1950’s).

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