Filling historical studies with personal memory and folk memory: new publications of the works by A.N. Minh

Abstract

The article is devoted to the publication of two manuscripts by local historian and public figure A.N. Minh from the State Archives of the Saratov Region. A small number of researchers previously knew them. Available to a wide range of readers, these books will expand the range of historical knowledge through sources related to personal memoirs and existed in the folklore tradition. It became possible thanks to the efforts of the folklorist and memoirist of the XIX early XX centuries and as a result of the good archaeographic and source study work of modern scientists from Saratov. Notes on the Crimean War adds new details to the tragic and heroic pages of Russias past. Robberies and Treasures of the Lower Volga Region give food for thought to historians, ethnographers, philologists, and everyone who works in the interdisciplinary field of studying the oral forms of collective memory. A large literature is devoted to the topics touched upon in the new Saratov publications, but the works by Minh cannot go unnoticed, they occupy a worthy place in it. Notes supplement knowledge about the Crimean War with new details, including its reflection in the public opinion, historical memory and cultural tradition. Robberies and Treasures expands the base for studying the Volga region at the expense of folklore, oral history and archeology materials. Published manuscripts characterize Minh as a scientist who expanded the space of historical knowledge with sources generated by personal experience and preserved in the collective memory.