Cхід (Sep 2019)
The Family Archives as a Source for Estate’s Daily Life Reconstruction on Left-bank Ukraine in 19th Century
Abstract
The issue of documents’ study from a family archive for estate’s daily life reconstruction on Left-bank Ukraine within 19th century is considered in the paper for the first time. A base for the scientific exploration was Galagan’s family archive that represented a regional community, particularly Ukrainian nobility with the origins from kozaks’ high-ranking officers. The collection is characterized by the high level of documents preservation, various typological groups’ existence that are created by Galagan’s family as well as by the persons connected with the family during the imperial stage of Ukrainian history. The fact permits to consider a country estate in the light of multi-level daily practices of Ukrainian nobility within the elaborate system of social and cultural connections. The aim of the issue was to determine the significance of informational and meaningful potential of Galagan’s archive for analysis and reconstruction of estate’s daily life as a center of Ukrainian nobility’s economic and cultural practices within the determined time and space limits. The author demonstrates that several meaningful existential layers of estate’s daily life as well as the nobility in general have been reconstructed according to Galagan’s archive materials. Among the recreated notions are estate’s setting; family relationships, connections with peasants and hired workers; the way of housekeeping under historical circumstances; general awareness of social and political events outside an estate; reconstruction of close family relationships; intellectual and spiritual decoration of Ukrainian nobility’s country estates. Each of the presented layers is recreated on the ground of texts analysis from one typological group as well as by information comparison from various typological sources. The documents consideration has highlighted a fact of private and public spheres’ intersection on the base of estate’s daily life. The results of presented study can be used in historical exploration of various social groups’ daily routine in Ukraine, family biography’s reconstruction within the context of social history, country estate consideration as an original historical and cultural phenomenon under the realities of 19th century. The issue is based on an original author’s conception.
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