Abstract: The subject of the study is the personal history of the outstanding Russian composer S.V. Rachmaninov and other representatives of the national musical culture of the late XIX – early XX century in the historical space of the Southern coast of Crimea. The literature has repeatedly suggested that composers and musicians played a significant role in the formation of the "cultural landscape" of the Crimea of the late XIX – early XX century. However, as the authors of the article have seen studying the history of country resorts formed on the Southern Coast at the beginning of the XX century, there are still a lot of "white spots" on this "historical and cultural map". The elimination of these gaps makes it possible to fill in both the history of the Southern Coast of Crimea and biographical information about cultural actors. With the help of complex work with historical sources – documents from the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea, reference and bio-bibliographic literature, ego documents (memoirs, correspondence), including ones that have been poorly introduced into historiographical circulation, the history of S.V. Rachmaninov's stay on the Southern Coast of Crimea is reconstructed, his visits are placed in the context of the historical space in flux. The circumstances of S.V. Rachmaninov's stay on the Southern Coast of Crimea in the late XIX – early XX century have been clarified or re-established, and related historical monuments and places in Simeiz, Mishor and Yalta have been identified. The reconstructed pages of life and creative activity on the Southern Coast of Crimea by S.V. Rachmaninov, M.A. Stankevich (Golostenova), F.I. Chaliapin and their circle of colleagues, relatives, friends and acquaintances from among the creative intelligentsia, South Coast summerfolk, patrons and patrons of cultural life undoubtedly complement the picture of a rich cultural life in the historical space of the Southern Coast Crimea in the late XIX – early XX century, contributing to understanding Crimea as a important place of "historical memory" of Russia.

Abstract: The subject of the study is the history of the cultural landscape of the Southern coast of the Crimea of the XIX - beginning. XX century. and new methods of its study. This topic has been on the periphery of Russian historiography for a long time, but in recent years it has attracted the attention of both professional historians and local historians. Their joint efforts are aimed at localizing former estates and resorts, establishing the names of their owners and guests, reconstructing the visual appearance of cities and towns, studying the history of everyday life, identifying socio-economic, socio-cultural factors that influenced the course of the resort development of the YBK in the "imperial" era. This should serve to establish a more fair idea of the value of historical and cultural monuments, often "invisible" among modern buildings, to spread historical knowledge, to educate residents of the Crimea and its guests.
The novelty of the undertaken research lies in its historiographical and methodological perspective. The review of the authors' actual achievements in the reconstruction of the history of the cultural landscape of the Southern Coast of Crimea, in particular, the Magarach locality (starting from the turn of the 1830s, when a colony of enlightened noble winemakers was established there by decree of M.S.Vorontsov, and up to 1920), is accompanied by an analysis of the source and methodological arsenal, which made it possible to achieve success in liquidation "white spots". These are, first of all, methods of complex source studies that significantly increase the informational impact of sources of various types (written, visual, material) and types, as well as the armament with modern methods of historical research – digital cartography, work with GIS systems, databases of digitized visual data.

Abstract: The article reviews O. Figes' monograph "Crimea, The Last Crusade", dedicated to the Crimean War of 1853-56, published in Russia in 2021. The work of the English historian is considered primarily in the light of approaches to the study of historical memory developed in modern historical science. It is noted that, despite the rich tradition of studying the Crimean War in Russian and Western historiography, the topic of the formation of historical memory of the war of 1853-1856 and the existence of the image of this war in Russia and the countries of the anti-Russian coalition for more than a century and a half has been touched upon little in the literature. Meanwhile, the ongoing discussion in the world historical science on the topic of the "memorial turn" convinces of the importance of updating the memory of such important events of the past as the Crimean War. The emphasis on "places of memory", such as the city of Russian glory of Sevastopol, as can be seen from the public agenda, is also becoming an important means of foreign and domestic policy, a way of reflecting society on its past, present and future, an instrument for solving political and state tasks broadcast through the education system, literature, art, and the press. In this sense, the topic of memorialization of the Crimean War in various countries, raised by O. Figes, undoubtedly needs further development in the Russian historiorgraphy.

Abstract: The article analyzes the experience gained by the author in the course of working with three online databases of visual historical sources in the context of studying the transformation of the Southern Coast of Crimea in the late XIX - early XX centuries. They are: the electronic State Catalog of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation, as well as two crowdsourcing platforms - Pastview and Retromap.ru . The author examines the origin, format, structure of these aggregators of visual historical sources, the information potential of the content, advantages and disadvantages of usage, examples of how visual information found using these databases contributed to solving specific historical and source problems. Different aspects of working with online databases of visual sources are considered in the context of historiographical discussions about the "digital turn" in humanitarian knowledge, the "visual turn" in the structure of the source base of historical research, disputes about the multimodality of the content of historical knowledge. It is suggested that soon online databases of visual sources will become as familiar an information search tool for a historian as electronic catalogues of libraries and archives. The emphasis is placed on the methodology of a systematic approach, methods of complex source studies that allow reconstructing historical reality by analyzing and comparing information extracted from sources of different types (written, pictorial and material) and types.

Abstract: This article raises the virtually unstudied in Russian historiography topic on the development of resorts of the south coast of Crimea during 1914–1919, the World War I, and revolutionary events of 1917. The situation in the Russian tourism sector in the years of World War I is consonant with the current situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Russian people, who prefer vacationing abroad, descended on the Russian resorts, which were not ready for such turn of events. This caused a public discussion on the topic of improving the Russian health treatment facilities, the materials on which are barely introduced into the historical discourse. The theme of economic and sociocultural development of the south coast of Crimea in the early XX century, which until recently was farmed out to historians and art historians, remains relevant. In the course of working on this article in the libraries and archives, the author reveals and introduces into the scientific discourse various types of sources that can shed light on the transformation of the south coast of Crimea after the beginning of the World War I. The three most promising vectors for further development of the topic are outlined: work with verbatim reports of the Congress on the improvement of health treatment facilities (1915), advertising materials and documentation of the newly established resort towns Laspi and Foros, as well as the sources of historical memory (memoirs, correspondence, diaries), which reflect the everyday life in the resorts of the south coast of Crimea during the wartime and revolutionary period.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the history of the first of country-style resort appeared on the South Coast of Crimea at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries on the lands of country estates of New Mishor belonged to Shuvalov-Dolgorukov family. The phenomenon of country-style construction on the South Coast of Crimes, which starting point was the foundation of the Novyi Mishor, is viewed in the context of the processes of economic and sociocultural modernization of Russian society, formation of self-identification mechanisms of the emerging “middle class”, and new urban culture. Special attention is given to the period from 1917 to 1920, when the cultural figures left the capital and resided in the villages of Novyi Mishor. Based on examination the body of historical sources, many of which introduced to the scientific discourse for the first time, the author formed the database of villages and countryside residents of Novyi Mishor. A vast array of archival funds, reference literature, sources of personal provenance (memoirs, correspondence), and visual sources was attracted in the course of research. The novelty of consists in establishment of identities and social status of the residents of country resort of Novyi Mishor, determination of a range of sources for its further research, reconstruction of chronology of the development of this resort, details of everyday life and mentality traits of the residents, among which were the prominent figures of culture and art of Russia of that time – writers, actors, painters, scholars, and philanthropists.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the history of two recognized landmarks of the Southern Bank of Crimea – villas Seafront villas “Mechta” and “Kseniya” in the rural locality Simeiz near Yalta. The were erected in the early XX century, and since then are the center of attention for admirers of the relics, residents and guests of this resort town, and its urban development dominant. For the first time in historiography, based on the newly introduced archival sources form museum collections, as well as the sources of historical memory, is reconstructed the sequence of transfer of ownership of land parcels, on which both buildings are erected. The author also discovers the names of the people who commissioned construction of both villas, as well as their architects. The work describes the fate of buildings, their owners and descendants after arrival of the Soviet government and nationalization of private property on the Southern Bank of Crimea. The scientific novelty consists not only in the conducted documental reconstruction of the fate of two historical and cultural landmarks of the late XIX – early XX century, which description hat lots of gaps in the historical, art and local lore literature, but also in placing this reconstruction into the context of examination of Russia’s sociocultural modernization in the beginning of the XX century, formation of new social strata with characteristic to them new culture of leisure and aesthetization of life. The revealed by the author sources and information contribute to preservation of Russian cultural heritage, as well as can be applied by the historians in the area of social history, history of culture, history of leisure, and history of mentality.

Abstract: The article's research subject is the mentality of the representatives of the privileged social strata of imperial Russia living on the southern coast of Crimea during the years of the Civil War (1917-1921). On the basis of memoirs, little-known in historiographical circulation, as well as other sources, the author attempts to reconstruct the conditions of the daily life of the representatives of this social group during the indicated period and to describe the main features of their mentality. The author proposes a model that explains the mood and behavior of these figures with the help of "The Idle Class” concept, which was introduced at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries by the American sociologist T. Weblen. The narrative of "political history" is supplemented by research in the field of "local history" and "daily history", "micronarratives" based on the historical memory of event participants, affixed in sources of personal origin and designed to reveal how people of that era experienced their daily life. This has allowed the author to supplement and clarify the scientific knowledge about historical changes and to identify whether the changes at the macro and micro levels correlate with each other. The author uses the concept of "The Idle Class" to explain the fatal carelessness shown by representatives of the privileged social group of imperial Russia on the southern coast of Crimea even when the fire of the civil war had already been raging for several years in the country and when the Bolsheviks had governed over Crimea twice, even if not for long, by conducting searches, arrests and executions of class enemies. This, in turn, demonstrates that the interpretation of the revolution and the civil war in Russia in the 1917-early 1920s should be done in the broadest sense, as not only a socio-economic conflict, but also a socio-cultural and mental one.

Abstract: The article summarizes preliminary results related to the development and operation of historical thematic website “Simeiz. Guide to Old Dachas”. The website was created by the author and his colleagues in 2019 as a part of a workshop at the Department of Source Studies of the Lomonosov Moscow State University History Faculty. The workshop aimed at studying the history of the southern coast of Crimea in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The stages and preliminary results of this work are considered in the context of current discussions about the “digital turn” in history. The author analyses the reasons for creating the historical website, its structure, development stages, specific features of its content, database creation and crowdsourcing.  It is stated that the website development was the first important step of the whole research project, its “driver”. Moreover, besides a new form of historical knowledge dissemination, the work on the site provided for setting new source and analytical tasks that is to increase the information impact of sources and get new opportunities for processing the electronic database. These results may be of interest to historians who run similar historical projects.

Abstract: The article's topic is the history of the most famous monument of the southern coast of Crimea, its "business card" - the Swallow's Nest Castle. For the first time in Russian historiography, based on an analysis of a body of sources - primarily archival, but also published memoirs and visuals - the authors disprove the existing common errors in scientific and popular literature and resolve long-standing disputes: the sequence of land purchases on Cape Ai-Todor during the 19th - early 20th centuries, the construction of the summer house-castle "Swallow's Nest", the reconstruction in 1913 and the change in appearance, as well as the castle's history after its nationalization by the Soviet government and throughout the 20th century. The authors introduce into scientific circulation documents, which were discovered by them, from the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea, the Russian State Historical Archive, and the Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg. The information found is supported by data from numerous memoirs and visual sources. The novelty of the research undertaken by the authors lies primarily in their reconstruction of the true history of this important monument of Russian culture from the late 19th - early 20th century - the Swallow’s Nest Castle, which is also an important symbol of Russia's development of the southern coast of Crimea as a resort destination in popular culture. The author presents the resolution of long-standing disputes over the owners and builders of this monument and the sequence of their change.

Abstract: The article addresses new possibilities to study historical sources provided both by professional historians and amateurs posting their publications in thematic historically oriented groups on online social networks. An example taken is the “Old New Simeiz” group on the social network Facebook which brings together users interested in the history of the establishment and the development of a seaside resort in the village of Simeiz on the southern coast of Crimea over the past two centuries – a topic that has not yet been fully disclosed in historical literature. Data on a number of publications, the degree of audience’s interest to historical information of various types, dating and origin have been statistically processed. The author concludes the usefulness of this historically oriented group’s publications on social networks for the dissemination of historical knowledge. These posts bear retrospective information (publication, attribution, interpretation of unknown and little-known various historical sources) and current social information (social network users’ interests).

Abstract: This article meticulously examines the current situation of the development of historical science, as well as the dynamics of its changes pertinent to the methods of acquisition and validation of the historical knowledge. Special attention is given to the questions of the methodology of history, particularly associated with the “digital turn”, as well as the reassessment of the role of specialization and professional knowledge within the historical community. Under the new circumstances, the teaching the discipline “Quantitative Methods in Historical Research” should assume new importance, and the course itself – the new content. The author comes to a conclusion that the process of professional education of a contemporary historian fundamentally relates to the formation of methodological knowledge of the future specialists, familiarization with the structure and multifacetedness of the modern methodological space within which currently exists the historical community. The updated course “Quantitative Methods in Historical Research” is addressed to a student, who expects to solve the heuristic tasks namely in the context of information society, where dimension will become the key instrument of cognition.