Free Aesthetics Society (1906–1917). Chronicle materials. I

Abstract

The history of the Moscow Free Aesthetics Society (1906–1917), based on insufficiently and unevenly studied sources, remains on the periphery of research interest. The main purpose of the present publication is to fill this gap. The introduction to the chronicle of the Free Aesthetics Society briefly presents the nature of its activities and its members, including I.I. Troyanovsky, V.Ya. Bryusov, B.N. Bugaev (Andrei Bely), N.R. Kochetov, V.V. Perepletchikov, V.I. Girschan, A.P. Botkin et al. The classification of used sources is made: the society's own reports (handwritten and printed), including financial; agendas and minutes of the Committee proceedings and general meetings; a register of guests at meetings in 1910–1912, preserved in the Manuscript department of the RSL; correspondence of participants; “Literary and Artistic Circle Proceedings”, published since 1913, as well as newspaper reports. The chronicle takes into account all dated official events of the Free Aesthetics Society: first of all, literary and musical evenings, but also the organizational meetings of the Society and its Committee, excluding particular meetings of society members. For the identified meetings, the date, status (general, closed, etc.), venue, topic, start time, conditions of guests admission, other information, including the number of participants and financial results, are given. These are followed with an outline of the main sources: the agenda (if known), a report, etc. After that, documents related to the preparation of the event, its implementation and consequences are listed. Thus, the chronicle describes the main aspects of the Free Aesthetics Society activities, and various sources, many of which have not been published before, are introduced into scientific circulation.

Keywords

• free aesthetics society
• chronicle
• archival sources
• newspaper reports