Russian State Archive Research Articles

“Red Gold” by Upton Sinclair and Piotr Pavlenko: Unwritten Soviet-American Novel

On April 16, 1938 Upton Sinclair sent a letter to the editors of the Soviet magazine International Literature, in which he shared the idea of a new novel Red Gold and asked to find him a co-author among Soviet writers. In his letter U. Sinclair gave a detailed synopsis of the novel: the plot was to be based on the story of a young American engineer who in the mid-1920s goes to Siberia to provide Soviet gold mining with the American technology. There on the banks of the river Lena he meets a Russian Bolshevik girl and they fall in love. As an American “bourgeois specialist” he used to believe that capitalism is the most effective social and economic system; his belief, however, was shaken in the course of ideological disputes with his girl-friend, and the Great Depression of the 1930s increased his doubts. Soviet partners proposed Piotr Pavlenko as co-author, and the writers began to exchange letters, discussing their future work and various details of the planned novel. The project was supervised by the Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers’ Union; its functionaries reported to party and government organs (the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the Peopleʼs Commissariat of Foreign Affairs). Letters signed by Pavlenko were read, edited and approved at several levels of Soviet bureaucracy, from the Writersʼ Union to the Press Department of the Central Party Committee. Thus, Upton Sinclair, in fact, negotiated and argued not just with his co-author, but with a hierarchial administrative body with a strict chain of command. Due to the obvious discrepancy between his own and Soviet attitudes, Sinclair soon decided to abandon the idea of a “collective novel”. The study is based on the materials from the funds of the Russian State Archive of Arts and Literature (RGALI).

ПРОФЕССОР С. П. ПОПОВ: НЕИЗВЕСТНЫЕ СТРАНИЦЫ БИОГРАФИИ

Aspects of scientific, organizational and pedagogical activity in the Crimea of the pupil, colleague and friend of academician V. I. Vernadsky, a major mineralogist, geochemist, Professor Sergei Platonovich Popov (1872–1964), have been restored. The main source for reconstructing the historical daily life of the professor in the conditions of the Crimean province were his letters to Academician V. I. Vernadsky. The analysis of the texts made it possible to identify the lines of intellectual tension «province – center» and show the wide range of S. P. Popov’s communication in the 20-30s. The corpus of documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Economics, and the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea are being introduced into scientific circulation, which made it possible to reveal stories about Popov’s work in Simferopol. The activity of the geologist at the head of the Crimean Research Institute, which he saw as a continuation of the work of the Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces of the Crimea established by V. I. Vernadsky, is revealed. The scientist’s activity is shown on the background of socio-economic transformations taking place in the country and in its separate region.

The activities of the USSR State security agencies to ensure public safety in Lithuania during the interwar period

Importance. The events taking place in the territory of Lithuania in the interwar period are still controversial among politicians and historians today. Many “blank spots” of that time in this territory were closed for research for a long time, which gave rise to speculation and falsifications. The article examines the activities of state security agencies to ensure public security in the territory of Lithuania in the period from 1921 to 22.06.1941 using historical examples. The purpose of the study is to show the historical events taking place in Lithuania and the activities of the state security agencies to ensure public security in the interwar period in the republic.Materials and methods. The research is based on declassified archival documents of the State Archives of the Russian Federation and the Russian State Archives of Contemporary History. The materials of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR – the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (1934–1960), the 4th Special Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (1931–1959) and on political repression and rehabilitation of the illegally repressed were studied.Results and Discussion. As a result of the October Revolution of 1917, Lithuania gained its independence. Starting from 1919, nationalist organizations were created in Lithuania, the task of which was to voluntarily assist the police in the fight against the Communists and to assist intelligence agencies in espionage against the USSR. With the entry of Lithuania into the USSR, the activities of nationalists intensified. Before the attack on the USSR, the state security agencies launched a preventive blow against the nationalist underground and their accomplices, which reduced their activity in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War.Conclusion. The liquidation of the leaders of the nationalist underground and their accomplices allowed the USSR state security agencies to prevent the destabilization of public order in Lithuania on the eve of the German attack on the Soviet Union.

The Artists’ Association branches of Revolutionary Russia: experience of interaction with regions

Importance. The activities of the Artists’ Association branches of Revolutionary Russia (1922–1932) are considered. During this period, the organization had a significant and sometimes decisive place in the artistic life of the country. The subject of the study relates to the culture of the country as a whole and touches on local history issues. The purpose of the work is to assess the influence of the central organization on the local branches development and analyze their importance in the Association work.Materials and Methods. The research is based on materials from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the State Archive of the Yaroslavl Region and published memoirs of participants in the events. In the course of the work, the biographical method is used, as well as historical-genetic and historical-comparative methods traditional for historical science.Results and Discussion. It is noted that the Association participants paid great attention to the creation of representative offices at the local level. The presence of artistic traditions in a particular region played an important role in the development of local branches of the AARR. At the same time, established traditions are not the determining factor. The presence of a bright creative personality in it, who set a certain pace of work, could be of significant importance in the development of a particular branch.Conclusion. It is revealed that some of the regional branches ceased their activities even before the liquidation of the AARR. Despite this, the work of branches of the Artists’ Association of Revolutionary Russia contributed to the accessibility of art for the local population, attracting regional residents to artistic life and preserving cultural monuments. Museums and creative studios are created, and active exhibitions and lectures are carried out.

Censorship of Agitprop in the Upper Volga press in the 1920s

Importance. The censorship of periodicals in the Upper Volga region during the New Economic Policy years is considered. The research of Soviet propaganda remains relevant in the context of studying the history of the USSR, political communication and mass media. Even in modern Russia, there is a request for the development of a cultural level using the mass media, in the implementation of which the experience of a century ago can help. The purpose of the research is to examine the mechanism for implementing the censorship policy of the Soviet state in the Upper Volga region using the example of the work of agitprop.Materials and Methods. Methods of system analysis, principles of historicism and scientific objectivity are used. The archival materials stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History are used.Results and Discussion. The country needed urgent and fairly profound cultural changes, and this had to be done not only by methods of combating illiteracy, but also by propaganda, including in the periodical press. Newspapers are a cheap and easy way to disseminate information, but in an illiterate country it is not very easy to use. The party’s propaganda department had to deal with this phenomenon.Conclusion. Conclusions about the significant intervention of the Agitprop department in regional periodicals in order to form an ideologically correct understanding of the world and the political situation in the country are formulated.

Изменение количества удельных поселений в Шенкурском уезде Архангельской губернии в 1797–1863 годах

On the basis of office documents from the funds of the Russian State Historical Archive and the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, the change in the number of villages in the appanage group of volosts (Prikaz) and volosts of the Shenkursk uyezd of the Arkhangelsk province is investigated. It was revealed that 201 names of settlements disappeared in the uyezd in 1797-1863, including 61 between the V – VIII revisions, the remaining majority – between the VIII–X revisions. The reduction of settlements was a rather complicated phenomenon. It included the desolation of villages, mainly until the early 1930s, and the establishment of a small number of new settlements. However, most of the village names disappeared during the merger of several villages (from two to four) into one settlement, usually into a village. The opposite trend was also observed – division of villages into two settlements, which led to the emergence of new villages. Thus, the reduction in the number of appanage settlements very often entailed not their desolation, but the disappearance of only names. The characteristics of the reduction of appanage settlements in the Arkhangelsk province differed significantly from those in other provinces of Russia.

Common roots of Riza Fakhretdin and the Service Tatars Baishevs in the context of Genetic Genealogy

The publication presents a comparative analysis of the results of genetic studies and information from the funds of the “Local Order” (f. 1209) and “Landrat Books and Census Records” (f. 350) of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts concerning the genealogy of the famous scientist-educator, historian, theologian and public figure Rizaetdin Fakhretdin. As a result of the study, the plausibility of the family legends of R. Fakhretdin about the origin of his ancestors from the Shirdan village of Sviyazhsk district, was proven, their common origin with the famous service Service Tatar family of the Baishevs was shown. For citation: Vladimirov O.O. Common roots of Riza Fakhretdin and the Service Tatars Baishevs in the context of Genetic Genealogy. From History and Culture of Peoples of the Middle Volga Region. 2024, vol.14, no.3, pp.146–153. https://doi.org/10.22378/2410-0765.2024-14-3.146-153 (In Russian)

New document on voivodes of cities assigned by the Kazan Palace Office, September 1656

The article introduces into scientific circulation, investigates, and publishes a document on the history of local government of the Moscow State in the mid-17th century and the administrative activities of the Military Records Office and the Kazan Palace Office – list of voevodes and officemen of cities assigned by the Kazan Palace Office, September 1656. The document studied in the article was deposited in the fund of the Military Records Office of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). The article gives an archaeographic description of the published document, and substantiates the proposed dating of the document. The article describes the information potential of the document. The article is addressed to specialists in the history of public administration, and the source studies of office documents. For citation: Belousov M.R. New document on voivodes of cities assigned by the Kazan Palace Office, September 1656. From History and Culture of Peoples of the Middle Volga Region. 2024, vol.14, no.3, pp.154–160. https://doi.org/10.22378/2410-0765.2024-14-3.154-160 (In Russian)

Book review: Karimov T.T. Tatar land volosts. Volume 1. Bulyarsky volost (Kazan, 2023)

This review is devoted to the analysis of the new work of the historian Tagir Karimov “Tatar land volosts. Volume 1. Bulyarsky volost”. T.T. Karimov is engaged in research into the history of Tatar land volosts, the first monographic experience on this topic was the publication of a book devoted to a detailed analysis of the settlements that were part of the Bulyarsky volost. The author introduced into scientific circulation a huge number of archival sources from the National Archive of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. Information on the population of the settlements in question is especially valuable. At the same time, the researcher quite thoroughly studied the estate structure of the villages of Bulyarsky volost and other settlements, one way or another, associated with this land volost. The work of T.T. Karimov may be of interest to historians, demographers, genealogists, local historians and ethnographers. For citation: Aminov R.R. Book review: Karimov T.T. Tatar land volosts. Volume 1. Bulyarsky volost (Kazan, 2023). From History and Culture of Peoples of the Middle Volga Region. 2024, vol.14, no.3, pp.166–171. https://doi.org/10.22378/2410-0765.2024-14-3.166-171 (In Russian)

Сибирское и Бухарское ханства в материалах казахско-русских переговоров 1595 года

Research objectives: To consider, on the basis of documentary materials of the Kazakh-Russian embassies in the 1590s, what place in bilateral relations took the issues related to Siberian and Bukhara khanate. Research materials: Materials of research: Archival and published materials of mutual Kazakh and Russian embassies, which were deposited in the Russian State Archive of the Russian Federation in the fund № 122, “Kirghiz-Kaisat affairs”, were used for the study. Results and novelty of the research: The study of the content of the documents of the Kazakh-Russian embassies quite clearly shows the priorities of each party and explains what place in the bilateral relations occupied the Bukhara Khanate headed by Abdallah II and the Siberian state headed by Kuchum. For the Kazakh khan, Tavakkul, who initiated ambassadorial contacts with the Russian kingdom, the main goal was to obtain military assistance from the tsar to fight against Bukhara. At the same time, the issue of “liberation” of the khan’s nephew, Uraz-Muhammed, was not the main one as it is often considered in historiography. For the Russian government, the pressing issue in the eastern direction of foreign policy remained the opposition to Kuchum, in which connection Moscow linked assistance to the Kazakh khanate against Bukhara with reciprocal assistance by the Kazakhs against the Siberian ruler.

Служилые тарханы Западного Приуралья в XVI–XVII вв.

Research objectives: To analyze the evolution of the status of the institution of serving tarkhans of the Western Cis-Urals during the period of this territory’s entry into the Moscow state (second half of the 16th–17th centuries). Research materials: The empirical basis of the study is unpublished documents of the 17th century from the “Ufa Prikaznaya Izba” collection of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, act materials from the Kazan Khanate period introduced into scientific circulation, as well as the works of scientists who touched upon the problem of the functioning of the institution of serving tarkhans in the Turkic-Tatar states and the Moscow principality in their works. Results and scientific novelty: The data revealing the legal status of the serving tarkhans in the eastern uluses of the Kazan Khanate were studied and summarized, and the evolution of the position of representatives of this stratum of service people of the Moscow state on the territory of the Ufa district in the 17th century was shown. Based on the studied materials, it was concluded that the tarkhans were an integral part of the Tatar service class who had significant patrimonial estates in the border regions of the Kazan Khanate. After the Urals became part of the Muscovite kingdom, the Russian administration maintained the previous rights of the tarkhans, including in the area of land ownership. Significant changes in the status of the tarkhans were noted in the second half of the 17th century, when a group of “new” tarkhans began to form from among the yasak population (Bashkirs) who did not have tax immunity, which contributed to the rapprochement of the tarkhans with representatives of the Bashkir class.

Research of lithuanian metric in Ukraine

The article discusses research conducted by Ukrainian historians on the Lithuanian Metrica or Metrica of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This powerful complex comprises 663 storage units in the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents (Moscow), as well as several original copies in the Central Archives of Historical Records (Warsaw). The act material in these books enables the study of political, military, economic, social, legal, and other facets of the history of Central and Eastern European countries. The chronological scope spans from the late 1970s of the XX century and until today. The article commences with a scholarly analysis of M. Kovalskyi’s works. Additionally, it provides an overview of monographs, articles, and dissertations referencing the materials from the Lithuanian Metrica. Specifically, it discusses the scholarly contributions of H. Boriak, P. Kulakovskyi, Yu. Sviatets, H. Vynohradov, S. Abrosymova, V. Atamanenko, O. Diachok, O. Rusyna, L. Demchenko, V. Polishchuk, D. Vashchuk, A. Blanutsa, L. Zherebtsova.

Ukrainian Song Folklore in Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s Records: History of Publication, Analysis of Motifs and Plots

The subject of this study analysis concerns the history of publication of notes those Oleksandr Dovzhenko has recorded from his mother in December 1943 in Moscow. These are 32 song texts of Ukrainian folk Christmas carols, shchedrivky, spring rite carols and lyrical songs. The records are contained in a separate notebook, which has 30 sheets. The name of the collection is The Mother’s Songs. It is kept in the Russian State Archives of Literature and Art in Moscow (RSALA, fund 2081, inventory 1, unit of issue 330). The published work is aimed at the description of the editorial approaches to these song texts in various periods to these song texts, indicating the list of publications of each of them. Records of Christmas carols and shchedrivky from the collection of O. Dovzhenko contain motifs and plots typical for Volhynia, Podillia and Slobozhanshchyna. Most often, these are songs for the owners and their children, for a young man, a girl, less often these are the motifs with biblical characters, formed under the influence of folk tradition. Almost all ritual songs of the winter cycle have variants in Zorian Dolenha-Khodakovskyi’s collection of recordings [11]. The motifs of the lyrical songs from O. Dovzhenko’s recordings are typical for the song tradition of Podillia, Volhynia, the Over Dnipro Lands and Slobozhanshchyna. These are plots about watering horses near a well, embroidering a shirt for a Cossack, a widow and her unloved children for a potential husband, waking up / not waking up a Cossack, a request to a mother to show her daughter. They are circulated throughout Ukraine.

Attitude of the Kremlin towards “heresy” shown by J. Paleckis in 1946–1950

The aim of this article is, referring to the documents from Russian State Archive of Social Political History and other sources, to reveal how the leaders of the Central Committee of the All-Soviet Union Communist party (bolsheviks) and officers from the Central Committee apparatus valued manifestations of national communism demonstrated by J. Paleckis and his conflicts concerning the issues of sovietization of Lithuania with A. Sniečkus. The other purpose of this paper is to find out whether J. Paleckis, emphasizing specific conditions in Lithuania and wishing to mitigate the course of sovietization, received any support from the leaders in the Kremlin; why A. Sniečkus, who used to criticize J. Paleckis, did not try to remove him from the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist Party or dismiss him from the position of the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. This article presents efforts made by J. Paleckis in order to find allies in Moscow, establish patron-client type relationship with Andrei Zhdanov, a secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Soviet Union Communist party (bolsheviks). The analysis of the sources allows us to draw some conclusions. It could be maintained that the secretaries of the Central Committee of the All-Soviet Union Communist party (bolsheviks) and leaders of divisions of the Central Committee apparatus closely watched the conflict displayed between J. Paleckis and A. Sniečkus and the majority of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist party (bolsheviks) led by the latter. These communists were anxious for unhealthy working climate in the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist party (bolsheviks). J. Paleckis‘s political conflicts were caused by manifestation of his national communism ideology, tendency to take care of local interests and his intersection with strict Marxist classic position taken by A. Sniečkus and by majority of other members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist party (bolsheviks). It could be stated that political “heresy” of J. Paleckis, who was involved into a risky political games behind the scenes in order to make efforts and mitigate the course of sovietization policy, and his proposals to write into the agenda some elements of national communism seemed to the leaders of the Central Committee of the All-Soviet Union Communist party (bolsheviks) not just unnecessary but even hazardous. J. Paleckis’s attitude did not comply with provisions and interests of the authorities in the Kremlin, therefore, his efforts were not supported and were valued only negatively. On the other hand, the line of sovietization of Lithuania, to which A. Sniečkus adhered and his methods of governing the party, substantially coincided with the principal position of the authorities of the USSR, as well as with the general line of the Communist party, and, therefore, a prospect of losing the post of the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist party was negligible. J. Paleckis‘s efforts to compete with A. Sniečkus strengthened the authority of the latter. The first secretary of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist party deliberately avoided taking considerable sanctions against J. Paleckis, he did not seek to dismiss J. Paleckis from the position occupied. This would have not been beneficial to A. Sniečkus, because a potential strike from Moscow could be directed against J. Paleckis, a “nationalist” and “heretic”. If J. Paleckis had been removed from the political arena, nobody would have covered A. Sniečkus against potential Moscow repressions. Continuous stress caused by confrontation with J. Paleckis allowed A. Sniečkus to manifest himself as a flawless implementer of political line of the Centre and, because of this, to enhance his position as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist party.

Collectivisation in Lithuania 1947–1952: Decisions and Control by the CC of the All-Union CP

Referring to documents from the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History and other sources, the article aims to reveal little-known aspects of the collectivisation policy of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Central Committee and the Communist Party of Lithuania (Bolsheviks) Central Committee in Lithuania, showing the issues that have received constant attention and control from the ACP(B) CC, the decisions taken and the cooperation with the CPL(B) CC.

ГАЗЕТА «КРАСНЫЙ ФЛОТ» В ГЕРОИЧЕСКОЙ ОБОРОНЕ СЕВАСТОПОЛЯ (1941–1942 ГГ.)

The article considers the coverage in the newspaper ‘Krasny flot’ of the heroic defense of Sevastopol 1941–1942 and the work of the newspaper’s correspondents in Sevastopol during the defense of the city. The article is based on the analysis of archival documents of the Russian State Archive of the Navy, the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Central Naval Archive – a branch of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (the Archive of the Navy, Gatchina town), a part of these documents is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The memoirs of the war correspondents themselves, who directly participated in the heroic defense of Sevastopol in 1941–1942, and materials published in the newspaper «Krasny flot» in 1941–1942, were also used.

Vyazma’s Merchant Savva Timofeev Son Altukhov: the Problem of Determining the Personality and Motivation of the Temple-Builder of the 18th Century

The article deals with the little-studied problem of merchant temple building in a provincial Russian city of the 18th century using the example of Vyazma. The author applied anthropological, systemic and critical approaches. In the 18th century, donations for the construction of churches became a characteristic feature of the daily life of the merchant elite. The focus of the study is the history of the Vyazma merchant-temple builder S.T. Altukhov. The example of this merchant shows what problems a historian may encounter in the process of research. A critical approach to the publications of the 19th century made it possible to make a more plausible assumption about the date of construction of the Vyazma temple, for which the merchant Altukhov donated his capital. Establishing the identity of the merchant, determining the approximate date of his birth, the composition of the merchant family were studied on the basis of a comprehensive study of the materials of the first and second revisions, as well as parish registers. The problem of motivation for the temple-building activity of the merchant S.T. Altukhova is considered on the basis of the study of archival documents from the fund of the Chief Magistrate. When working on the article, the funds of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the State Archive of the Smolensk Region were used. This article develops the topic of articles about the Vyazma merchant-temple builders of the 18th century, published by the author earlier.

MILITARY UNITS FROM KAZAKHSTAN AT THE FIRST STAGE OF MILITARY UNITS FROM KAZAKHSTAN AT THE FIRST STAGE OF THE AXIS AGGRESSION AGAINST THE USSR (22 June 1941 – 18 November 1942))

The purpose of the article is to analyse the formation of rifle and cavalry divisions, brigades, regiments and battalions in the territory of Soviet Kazakhstan in 1941-1942, as well as their role in the first period of the Axis aggression against the USSR. The topicality of the research was determined by the necessity to study the history of military formations from Kazakh Soviet Republic from the day of issuing orders of the Supreme Command of the USSR; the execution of those orders by the leadership of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic; the organisation of interaction with the command of Stalingrad, Ural, South Ural, Central Asian military districts; as well as the combat path of military units from Kazakhstan in the first year and a half of the War. The study of the said theme was worked out by both Soviet-system authors and those working in the conditions of modern national states – Kazakhstan and Russia. Collective works of researchers dedicated to World War II East Front events; Kazakhstani President’s Archive historical documents; as well as those from the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History; and combat documents of military units from Soviet Kazakhstan stored in the Russian Federation’s Defence Ministry Central Archive, are used in the work. The peculiarities of the work held for formation of military units and formations are given; the trends of staffing the division military units by senior, junior commanding personnel, and also by privates, are outlined. The combat path of Kazakhstani divisions and brigades in the first period of the War is traced; numerous pages of heroism of soldiers and commanders on the battlefields are outlined. The conclusion, that military formations from Kazakhstan significantly contributted to repelling Hitler’s troops near Moscow and Leningrad; as well as to defence of Stalingrad; just the same as the fact that they created the conditions for a fundamental turning point in the War in favour of the USSR, is made.

Academician of medicine Z.V. Ermolyeva and the Department of Microbiology of the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Training: the main directions of scientific research in the early 1970s

The very difficult geopolitical situation of recent years has once again confirmed the need for our state to focus on its internal and self-sufficient development in its development. The story of the coronavirus pandemic that swept the whole world has shown a fairly high level of domestic virology, and microbiology in general. But, undoubtedly, we are still far from the Soviet level of science development today. In this regard, it seems advisable to pay attention to the generalization of the Soviet experience in the development of biomedical sciences. We have made an attempt to analyze the development of Soviet microbiology through an analysis of the scientific and organizational activities of the domestic scientist, Academician of Medicine Zinaida Vissarionovna Ermolyeva, carried out by her at the Department of Microbiology of the Central Institute of Advanced Medical Training in the first half of the 1970s. The source base of the publication was unpublished documents of the federal archives (the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation and the Russian State Archive of Economics), most of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The article examines the scientific activity of Z.V. Ermolyeva herself, as well as those research areas that were developed by teachers and research staff of the department headed by her.

MANUMISSION OF HOUSE SERFS: LEGISLATIVE NORMS AND EVERYDAY PRACTICES IN THE 18th CENTURY RUSSIA URBAN ENVIRONMENT

From the late 15th century until Peter the Great’s tax reform, there were kabala bondmen (kholopy), who had lost their freedom by debt and service bondages (kabalas), along with the “full” bondmen that existed from ancient times. The latter were inherited, while the former had to be set free aft er the death of their owner, having formalized a manumission record in the Kholopiy prikaz. The 1649 Sobornoe Ulozhenie clearly distinguished between these two categories of bondmen. From the beginning of the Great Northern War, Peter I ordered to enroll in the army house serfs (dvorovye) fit for military service and set free aft er the death of their owners. Lord’s men could also enroll in military service at will. After the extension of the per capita tax to the “boyar men” it was forbidden to enroll them in service, and the manumission of house serfs with manumission letters was resumed. Unlike legislative norms, the practical side of this widespread social phenomenon has not been adequately studied. The manumission records of house serfs in 1717–1780, preserved in the fonds of the Office of Justice in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents, as well as their petitions and the minutes of the Office of Justice allow us to elucidate the circumstances and procedure of manumission of house serfs, collisions that arose in this process, as well as the prospects of their further life. Manumission letters written at home were signed and sealed with the owner’s personal seal and certified by witnesses. In this case, they had to be registered in the serfdom institutions and then submitted to a Hofgericht (nadvorny court) or provincial chancellery to decide on the fate of the manumitted serf. Peter the Great’s tax reform contributed to the erasure of the distinction between old and kabala bondmen. The term kholop (bondman) was soon replaced by the term dvorovyi (house serf), and any house serf could be manumitted. Most of those manumitted again voluntarily signed up “forever” to the old or new master. The Manifesto of 17 March 1775 oriented the manumitted serfs to enter the petty bourgeoisie or merchant state and reflected the actual need to get rid of archaic forms of personal dependence.