Vìsnik Odesʹkogo Nacìonalʹnogo Unìversitetu: Bìblìotekoznavstvo, Bìblìografoznavstvo, Knigoznavstvo (Oct 2018)
EPISTLES FROM Y. L. VAINSHTEIN TO S. YA. BOROVYI: HISTORICAL SOURCE OF THE HISTORY OF LIFE OF THE SOVIET SCIENTISTS FROM THE 1940s TO THE 1970s.
Abstract
The article focuses on the epistolary of the famous Soviet historiographer, theorist of historical science, historian-medievist O. L. Vainshtein (1894–1980) to a Soviet historian, specialist in social and economic history of the 16th–19th centuries S. Ya. Borovyi (1903–1989). The epistles, which were published, cover 1944–1976, the period of their mature scientific activity, the presence of authority and leading positions among the academic corporation, the appearance of basic scientific works. These messages include the recognition of the author in friendship and respect for the addressee and his wife, reflect the close collegial environment of the scientist, and characterize the conditions of everyday life of the Soviet intellectual community. The presented materials reflect the main milestones of Vainshtein’s professional activity, the collision of his promotion, the conditions of his stay in the «exile» during the Soviet government’s political campaign to «fight against cosmopolitanism», news and news mongering about colleagues. The epistles allow us to recreate the essential details of the development of Soviet historical science, the university system of education and fragments of biographies of a number of scientists. The published messages reproduce the discussion questions of historians about certain problems of Soviet historiography, research in the field of medieval studies, critical remarks and objections of Vainshtein to colleagues, in particular V. V. Mavrodin, B. F. Porshnev, A. N. Chistovzonov and others. The epistles of O. L. Vainshtein are characterized by the conditions for the preparation and publication of his monographs «Russia and the Thirty Years’ War of 1618–1648» (1947), «Western European Medieval Historiography» (1964), «The History of Soviet Medieval Studies: 1917–1966» (1968), «Essays on the development of bourgeois philosophy and methodology of history in the XIX–XX centuries» (1979) and other scientific publications. The publication of epistles is accompanied by complete comments on their content and introduces a valuable historical source stored in the State Archives of the Odessa region.
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