LETTERS OF S. B. VESELOVSKIY AND O. A. VESELOVSKAYA TO A. I. ANDREEV (1938-1943)

Private letters written by historians are in demand in the study of a number of issues on the history of historical science. Like other sources of personal origin, they are often used to analyze various conditions of professional activity of scholars, the specifi cs of their relationship with a wide range of people (including those who are not directly related to the academic fi eld), the process of creating research papers, and the circulation of scientifi c ideas. From the point of view of studying the intellectual atmosphere of scientifi c activity, “works and days” of researchers and a number of other problems related to everyday life and scientifi c daily life, the sources of personal origin of their relatives also attract attention. This publication includes letters of S. B. Veselovskiy and his wife to A. I. Andreev written in 1938-1943. These sources allow us to clarify important issues related to the reconstruction of the Soviet period of S. B. Veselovsky’s intellectual biography. They contain his refl ection on the progress of a number of studies on the history of land ownership, the era of Ivan the Terrible and auxiliary historical disciplines, information about his social circle. The informational potential of the letters is also associated with the study of scientifi c and everyday life of the researchers from Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences, who were evacuated during the Great Patriotic War.