“The Notes of Different Years” of the Moscow Merchant Pyotr Porokhovshchikov: a Family Chronicler in a Historical Miscellanea of the Second Half of the 18th Century

Abstract

The article focuses on the family chronicler of the Moscow merchants Porokhovshchikovs,Abstract: The article focuses on the family chronicler of the Moscow merchants Porokhovshchikovs,discovered in the collection of A. A. Titov in the Manuscripts Departmentof the National Library of Russia. The handwritten Notes are located on the last pages of thehistorical miscellanea of the second half of the 18th century. Annual records were kept from1753 to 1803 first by Petr Isaevich, and then by his son Andrey Petrovich Porokhovshchikovs.The article reflects the history of the creation of The Notes, makes observations aboutthe tradition of keeping such chroniclers in the merchant environment of the second half ofthe 18th — early 19th centuries in general, and in the Porokhovshchikovs family in particular.The authors traced the reflection of the author’s “social circles” in the text of The Notes. Thearticle precedes the commented edition of the monument, which will be published in thenext issue of the journal.

Keywords

• autobiographical genre
• manuscript culture
• merchants
• family chroniclers
• memorandum books