Abstract: The article focuses particular attention on the analysis of the diary of B. V. Nikolsky (1870-1919), writer, poet, legal scholar, and politician, from the aspect of reconstructing the author’s perception of the revolutionary shocks of 1917, which today seems particularly relevant in light of the “linguistic turn” and “memorial boom” of modern historiography. The value of B. V. Nikolsky’s diary lies in the fact that the ego-sources of the leaders of the right-wing monarchist direction practically did not survive: many prominent extreme right-wing politicians were shot (Nikolsky himself was shot in 1919), went missing, and the smaller part was able to emigrate, which led to the loss of personal materials. Thus, the evidence of the revolutionary events of 1917 through the prism of the perception of the far-right conservative, a confirmed monarchist, is valuable in the light of their uniqueness and relevance to the study of history through personality. The reconstruction of the personal perception of the events of 1917 was based on a textual analysis of the diary of B. V. Nikolsky, and the principle of historicism was applied in the study of the historical context of creating an ego source and a biography of the author. The examination of the diary led to the following conclusions: B. V. Nikolsky was an extraordinary person, full of contradictions: a comprehensively educated and versatile person, but at the same time with an extremely difficult character and excessive conceit; a convinced monarchist, but at the same time “thirsty” for the fall of the ruling dynasty; legal scholar, lawyer, conservative, band yet  “accepting” that the power of the Bolsheviks is much more positive than the power of the liberal Provisional Government. Diaries of B. V. Nikolsky are a unique ego-source, reflecting how deeply and contradictory he experienced the changes in 1917.

Abstract: The article allocates particular attention to the source study of the documental complex of the "Letters of the Chernosotentsy and other people" from the aspect of their informational value in the reconstruction of the perception by the letters' authors of the role, authority and significance of the Union, the publication of "the Russian Znamya" and their leaders in solving critically important to the writers issues, disputed conflict situations and daily struggles. The analysis of the information contained in these letters was conducted from the point of view of the communicative approach: messages are examined as consisting of three components: author, transmitted message, addressee, which has allowed to analyze them in the context of a certain dialogue between contemporaries and the Union, including the examination of the relation of the correspondents to the addressees. The source study analysis included a series of stages: classification of correspondence according to addressee, characteristics of the "types" of messages depending to who's name they were addressed, analysis of the informational value of the messages for the study of the perception of the Union by its contemporaries. The examination of the letters has allowed to make the following conclusions: in the first place, the correspondents, as a rule, deliberately chose a particular addressee for their messages. The Union of the Russian People was for them an organization whose heads and governing bodies were well-known to them. Secondly, the authors shared the main ideas of the Union, which they clearly demonstrated through their messages. The correspondents sought those powers’ protection that were close to their views. Thus, the analysis of the perception of the Union by the letters' authors offers information not only for the reconstruction of the image of the Union in the eyes of its contemporaries, but also provides the basis to analyze the social mood in general. Thirdly, the characteristic trait of the letters is the paternalism actively broadcast by the authors that points to the preservation of the behavioral stereotypes characteristic of patriarchal society, including such a component as the desire to delegate the worry of solving one's daily problems to the political power capable of protecting and solving the conflict "in fairness".