Siberians in the capital: impressions of the inheritors of the Krasnoyarsk merchant Aleksandr P. Larionov of St. Petersburg of the early 1870s

The article discusses private letters from the unique manuscript collection of the Larionovs, merchants from Krasnoyarsk, dated by early 1870s. On the basis of these sources the way of life of the orphaned son of the merchant has been reconstructed. He passed through all the difficulties connected with obtaining secondary and higher education, which allowed him to change the social status and to start the career of a civil servant. The correspondence under investigation also allows to highlight to some extent the perception of the realities of the post-reform period by the Siberians, to reconstruct the details of everyday life of ordinary citizens in St. Petersburg. Reading the letters, one can notice admiration for St. Petersburg as a store of knowledge and a center of education, for the possibilities of science, respect for St. Petersburg University. One of the authors, Georgy Larionov, paid attention to the abundance of libraries, exhibitions, high-class institutions; he also did not remain indifferent to the famous Alexandrinsky Theatre. With a special reverence he mentioned the outstanding scientists and professors he was able to see, the lawyer P.G. Redkin and the linguist I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay. According to the time Georgy considered the development of education as one of the priority tasks Russian society faced. In contrast to the son, Anfisa Larionova drew attention to other details of everyday life she had never experienced before; in particular, she was struck by the Petersburg horse railroad, whose opening she connected with the achievements of the scientific thought. At the same time, despite the new impressions and the eventful life, the Larionovs constantly complained about the high prices, weather and a constant feeling of nostalgia for Siberia, which could be decreased neither by visiting theatres and exhibitions nor by new acquaintances. Living in the capital, the Larionovs closely followed all news related to Siberia, visited residents of Krasnoyarsk arriving to St. Petersburg and officials that returned from service in Siberia. The letters indicate the special meaning Siberian natives gave to communication with their countrymen, underline the importance to them of the recognition of belonging to one community. These are texts written by indigenous Siberians who could not imagine themselves without homeland and considered the years in St. Petersburg only as a temporary period, a necessary stage of their lives. The analysis of the investigated sources has shown that by the early 1870s the idea of belonging to one community had already firmly established in the minds of even those Siberians who had not experienced the strong influence of the regionalism ideas, under the influence of a common past and a common cultural environment.

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