Biographical investigations in the journal, History and Archives: the experience of “case study”

The article is an attempt to examine in the case study format the development of the genre and methodology of historical biography in the latest research conducted by Russian authors. The focus group comprises works on the above issue, published during 2021 in the journal “History and Archives”, which is rapidly gaining reputational weight in the professional historical community of modern Russia. The high heuristic potential of historical biography is stated, which does not decrease over time allowing to conduct various kinds of scientific research in all branches of the humanities. This is evidenced both by the fact that the biographical genre is in demand among Russian scholars, including its classic version and new modulations (including the intellectual biography, which has become increasingly popular in recent years, and the “conceptual memoirs” that are just being introduced), and the use of biography as an independent method that allows, at the microanalytical level, to deal, among other things, with issues of political and social history.