The literary museum and the Korolenko family

Abstract

The article discusses the professional ties and personal friendship between V. Korolenko and V. Bonch-Bruevich, examining their correspondence dating back to 1892. Upon Korolenko’s death, Bonch-Bruevich, later to become director of the State Literary Museum, continues his correspondence with Korolenko’s daughter Sofia, discussing primarily, but not solely, the writer’s archive. Even though the family decided to entrust Korolenko’s archive to the Lenin Library, which boasted more appropriate preservation facilities than the Literary Museum, Bonch-Bruevich and Sofia Korolenko would exchange letters for many more years, enjoying each other’s trust and friendship. Bonch-Bruevich would support Korolenko’s family. After Bonch-Bruevich passed away, followed by Sofia two years later, the correspondence between the Literary Museum and the Korolenko Museum in Poltava continued until 1960; the letters were written by Evgeny Balabanovich, director of Chekhov Museum affiliated with the State Literary Museum, and his counterpart in Poltava, Lyubov Geishor, who ran the Korolenko Museum. The earliest letter quoted in the article dates from 1892, while the latest discovered epistle comes from 1960.