Between Medicine and Revolution: towards the biography of Elena Nikolaevna Oshanina

Abstract

Biographical research has been an integral part of historical science since its inception. However, as a rule, the most significant historical figures have always fallen into the sphere of interests of scientists. In post-Soviet historiography, biographies of people who are difficult to classify as outstanding figures began to appear more and more often. Despite this, through the analysis of their biographies, it is possible to trace how the inheritance of cultural traditions formed in different historical periods took place, the ways of assimilation of social, gender and other ideas, their transfers and influence on people's behavior in specific historical circumstances. The purpose of the article is to restore the biography of Elena Nikolaevna Oshanina (1874–1943), a physician by profession and a Socialist Revolutionary by party affiliation, based on unpublished archival documents from the central, local and personal archives, to identify her place in the revolutionary and women's social movement of the early twentieth century. A particular example of the biography makes it possible to understand how the process of formation of diverse and often layered identities of women of the late XIX – early XX centuries took place. As a result, it can be concluded that Elena Nikolaevna Oshanina's self-realization was in the field between two identities – professional and revolutionary, which were layered on top of each other, but both were very important for the heroine of this biography.