Abstract: This article is dedicated to parish libraries of the XVIII-XIX centuries. The author examines the library acquisition and functionality throughout the centuries. The subject of this research is the library of the Church of Praise of the Mother of God in Orel-Gorodok (in the XIX century – the village of Orlinskoe, currently the town of Orel, Perm Krai). Located in the administrative center of the vast Stroganov’s estates, in the XVII – early XVIII centuries the church was under the patronage of the prominent family, which is reflected in numerous book contributions. Later on, the clergy of parish and parishioners took charge of the church. Among them are the clergy dynasties of Gorbunov, Korovin, Smyshlyaev, etc., as well as peasants. The library collection was constantly changing; 12 out of 62 books were removed from during the XVII – XVIII centuries. By the end of the XIX century (based on handwriting of the note), the collection of the church library contained no fewer than 33 books: No. 33 is the highest number identified on the books that previously belonged to this church. It is worth noting that 33 (53%) were attributed to liturgical publications, 25 (40%) –  educational books, 3 (5%) – Holy Scripture, and 1 (2%) – legislative normative texts. Despite the fact that the oldest books were removed from the church library, the early printed books were preserved in its collection up to the end of the XX century.

Abstract: The presented article continues the author's research in the field of source study of notes in Old Cyrillic books. The subject of this study are the notes that mention a representative of the Stroganov family. The subject is the change in the social status of this family. Initially not possessing a privileged position, during the 17th - 19th centuries the Stroganovs entered the socio-economic, cultural and political elite of the country. The task set before the author was to trace these changes through notes in Old Cyrillic books. In addition, on the example of the Stroganovs, it became possible to trace the changes in attitude of the Russian elite towards publications in the old printed Cyrillic alphabet. The article is based on the materials of the database of notes (identified on the basis of the catalogs of the Old Cyrillic alphabet prepared by the archaeographers of Lomonosov Moscow State University), which the author has been conducting since 2008. For the sake of the conclusions' clarity, the author also used catalogs prepared on the basis of the funds of the State Historical Museum, the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, the Russian State Library, and the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences. As a result, the author was able to trace the changes in the social status of the Stroganov family, which once again shows the systematic nature of the information contained in book notes and the possibility of utilizing them for the reconstruction of various subjects of social history. On the example of the Stroganovs it was possible to demonstrate that the Russian elite played an important role in the distribution of old printed publications of the 16th - 17th centuries. In the 18th century and in the 19th centuries, representatives of the nobility were not involved in the contribution of books to churches and monasteries. The article contains two annexes: a list of 80 books on the basis of which notes were found, and a genealogical list comprising 32 representatives of the family (11 generations) that lived in the 16th - 19th centuries.

Abstract: As a socio-cultural phenomenon, Old Believers have been attracting attention of many religious activists, politicians, economists, historians, etc. However, the main contribution of the representatives of this  ethno-confessional tradition to the general Russian culture has not been defined yet. According to the author, this historiographical gap can be covered by analyzing various discourses about studying Old Believers. Based on the author, there has been four approaches to studying Old Believers: political, ethnographical, philosophical and scientific. At the turn of the 17th - 18th centuries Symeon of Polotsk, Dimitry of Rostov and others formed the political discourse. The main feature of the political approach is that it first it had a negative nature but then started to attain positive attitudes to Old Believers. With the development of the liberal movement in the 19th century, Old Believers were often perceived as the bearers of true RUssian culture on the one hand (which brought them close to Slavophiles) and fighters against the unfair state government on the other hand (this is the way Old Believers were viewed by Westerners and revolutionists). When the academic community started to study traditions of Old Believers in the 19th century, the ethnographical discourse was formed and later the philosophical discourse developed. Archeographical expiditions played an important role therein. Moreover, in the 20th century Old Believers started to actively participate in the research process themselves. At the present time the academic historiography cannot be imagined without Old Believers and their tradition. In this research Bogdanov provides examples of the influence of Old Believers on the origin or these or those cultural works and development of the scientific and philosophical thought. Appearing at different times, discourses influenced one another and all four discourses exist today, too. According to the author of the article, analysis of various discourses about studying Old Believers will allow to better understand their contribution to the development of Russian culture.

Abstract: The study continues the author's research in the field of the Old Believers' booklore. The widespread interest in this topic is founded primarily by the fact that the Old Believers' culture in many ways grew out of a careful treatment of the ancient book. The general reasons for the topic's development are formulated in the works of N. Y. Bubnov, N. S. Guryanova, I. V. Pozdeeva, N. N. Pokrovsky and others. At the same time, many studies are of a descriptive nature. The suggested by O. N. Bakhtina and E. E. Dutchak approach ("social archaeology") has allowed to tie the questions of the use of one or other monuments by the social environment in which they existed. In the presented article, based on the principles of this approach, the author attempts to trace the changes in the reading circle of the Old Believers in the 18th - 21st centuries. In contrast with the previous article, which was based on an analysis of the content of Old Believers' libraries in the second half of the 20th - 21st centuries, this new work is based on the polemical texts of the Old Believers. To these one can rather conditionally call upon not only the works written as a reaction to the leading discussion, but also the texts of the Old Believers on the history of their agreements. As a rule, the latter were written also as part of a polemical discussion with their opponents. On the basis of the polemical works of the 20th century, created primarily in South Vyatka and Verkhokamye, on the information of field diaries, the author traces the fates of Old Believer scribes and reconstructs their collection of reading. The article shows the transformation of the relationship of different generations of tradition-bearers towards polemical monuments composed by their fellow believers and their perceptions of the information contained in them.

Abstract: The article is focused on Old Ritualist booklore – one of the key topics in the historiography of Old Ritualism (the works of N. Y. Bubnov, N. S. Guryanov, I. V. Pozdeev, N. N. Pokrovsky and others). But despite these authors’ stated complex approaches, the study of the Old Ritualists’ book monuments and the destinies of the carriers of this tradition was often examined separately. Through “social archaeography” (an approach developed by O. N. Bakhtin and E. E. Dutchak), the named topic is brought to a new research level and the study of booklore in the context of the social sphere of its existence became a reality and not just a declaration. The author used works in old printed Cyrillic. The basis of this study consists of published catalogues, as well as field diaries from the expeditions in 1970–2010s to Verhkamye and South Vyatka. The derived information was subjected to quantitative and also descriptive methods of analysis. As a result, the author was able to trace the destinies of Old Ritualistic scribes, the history of particular book monuments, as well as whole bodies of writings, and to clearly demonstrate the process of the gradual displacement of old-typed book forms with newer editions. The last, according to the author, is related not so much to the fall of traditional booklore, as much as to the adaptation of local Old Ritualist communities to modern realities.

Abstract: This article discusses the archeological expeditions to South Vyatka (Urzhumsky, Malmyzhsky and Kil’mezensky areas of Kirovskaya Oblast’) organized by Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1999–2015. Diverse ethno-confessional population of these regions aroused constant attention from representatives of various humanity disciplines: historians, archaeographers, philologists, ethnographers, religious studies scholars. Old Believers’ population is represented primarily by three branches of Bezpopovtsy Sect (Filippians, Fedoseevtsy and Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church). Archeographers of Leningrad, Yekaterinburg, Kirov and Moscow studied this sect extensively. This article covers the steps and methodology of research on traditional culture of this region. The author analyzes the practice of implementing written and oral sources into scientific research by LMSU scholars, which was highly acclaimed by their colleagues from various scientific centers in Russia. This article is dedicated to the works and papers of Moscow archeographical expedition which has already produced three edited volumes of primary sources and a dozen academic articles. Experience, gained during complex archeographical studies conducted in the last fifteen years, can be used while researching different ethno-confessional groups in other regions.