TO THE HISTORY OF THE UKRAINIAN NOBILITY OF THE FIRST QUARTER OF 19 CENTURY: KATERYNA YU. GALAGAN’S LETTER TO HER GRANDCHILDREN PETRO AND PAVLO (1812)

Abstract

The publication of the epistolary of the Ukrainian noble families helps to understand correlation between mental stereotypes and individual strategies in the activities of this state. The Galagan family archive allows to analyse both epistolary complexes and individual letters. The aim of the article is to publish Kateryna Yu. Galagan’s letter, before marriage — Daragan, niece of Oleksii Hryhorovych and Kyryl Hryhorovych Rozumovskyi, to grandchildren Petro and Pavlo, descendants, by paternal line, of Pryluky colonel Hnat I. Galagan. The content of the letter illustrates the situation of the family’s everyday life, when K. Yu. Galagan blamed her grandchildren for, in her opinion, inappropriate behaviour during their stay in St. Petersburg. Such a private, casual situation helps to examine collective through the individual one. The letter illustrates the patterns of life of the noble community in the early 19th century. It highlights the conflict between two generations of Ukrainian nobility. The older generation still retained a more moderate tradition of Cossack officers, and the younger inherited from the imperial nobility a habit of aristocratic luxury. This conflict is revealed in the letter through the worldview of Kateryna Yu. Galagan, a person of strict temperament. Due to this, the history of family life is psychologically motivated. The oral language of the author of the text is reproduced in writing by another person (scribe). This enables historical and linguistic researches. High informative letter makes it a valuable resource in the field of the history of everyday life, historical anthropology, historical biography.

Keywords

• family epistolary
• ukrainian nobility
• galagan
• private life