Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2018 number

The article presents characteristics of contemporaries’ memoirs about Yeniseisk and its inhabitants in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries. It examines not only works dedicated directly to Yeniseysk, but papers, where the town was mentioned. The author defines main types of memoiristics about the town: autobiographies, diaries, memoirs, travel notes; lists main authors of memoirs; determines their social and professional status. Memoires were written by citizens permanently or temporarily living in Yeniseysk or persons passing through it. They were representatives of different estates and various occupations: businessmen, officials, intellectuals and clergy. Many memoir works reflected specific features of Yeniseysk economic development. Practically all the memoirists touched upon the fateful role of the gold industry for the city, and its influencing various spheres of the town life. Often in the writings one can find statements about the negative role of the “gold rush” on the morality of the Yeniseysk citizens. A number of memoirs were local lore essays, where the author’s personal life had a secondary role. Their writers focused on the description of geographical features, living conditions, household and morals. The memoirists often touched upon the problems of town improvement, development of education and health care, cultural and social life of citizens. Many of the memoir writers gave a description and assessment of activities of Yeniseysk residents based on their own observations. The authors drew attention to the morals of local society and prospects for the development of the urban environment. Memoir works make it possible to observe different sides of everyday life of the town inhabitants. Studying memoirs will clarify and supplement many issues of the Siberian town history.