G.N. Potanin and the newspaper the siberian life: sides of cooperation

The article isdevoted to G.N. Potanin's long-term and fruitful cooperation with the newspaper The Siberian Life - major private daily edition in Siberia inthe late 19th - the early 20th century, published in Tomsk in 1894-1919. G.N. Potanin was the newspaper man of the edition since 1902 andtill its suppression. Those years Grigory Nikolaevich also co-operated with other Siberian and capital periodicals. However his most significantarticles - which can be divided into 1) social and political 2) biographical, milestone and memorial 3) cultural and educational4) scientific - were published in The Siberian Life in particular. In The Siberian life publications by G.N. Potanin were signed both under afull name «G. Potanin» and pseudonyms such as «Gr.P-n», «G.P-n», «G.P.», «P.» etc.In 1903-1904 G.N. Potanin conducted the Sunday illustrated supplement to The Siberian Life. However because of disagreements witheditor-publisher P.I. Makushin he had to stop cooperation with The Siberian Life for a while. But after an editorial post was taken byI.A. Malinovsky and M.N. Sobolev in November 1905 and the Siberian Association of Printing became the publisher, G.N. Potanin wasreinstated in The Siberian Life. It is also documentary confirmed that he became one of the members of the editorial committee of the SiberianAssociation of Printing since 1917. At the same time there is a basis for a belief that he had been elected as a member of editorial committeeeven earlier - in 1912, in particularly.One of directing marks of cooperation of Grigory Nikolaevich with The Siberian Life was the publication of his Memories in 1913-1917. It is known, that Potanin's financial situation was not stable. His primary income was the pension for his scientific work (25 rubles permonth), therefore fees for articles printed in The Siberian Life provided him such necessary additional earnings. Generally speaking, theeditorial staff and authors of The Siberian Life appreciated G.N. Potanin. The apogee of the recognition of his achievements in The SiberianLife was granting a monthly lifelong pension (300 rubles) to Grigory Nikolaevich in November, 1919 from the Siberian Association of Printingon the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the newspaper. Only three employees of the edition, besides him, were honored to receive it.Thus, G.N. Potanin not only participated in the establishment of the social and political direction of the newspaper, but also represented himselfas a «spiritual mentor» of the Siberians, using The Siberian Life for this purpose. The impact of the newspaper on the society was goingfar beyond Siberia. In a great measure, it was the result of the cooperation with such outstanding personalities such as Grigory NikolaevichPotanin.

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