“To whom he did not do!”: Alexander Pavlovich Ivanov in the сircle of Dostoevskys

The building of the former Konstantinovsky Boundary Institute, preserved on Old Basmannaya Street, is a memorable Moscow location associated with the name of Dostoevsky. The writer often stayed and lived here, thanks to his close relationship with the family of his sister Vera Mikhailovna Ivanova. They were formed not only because of his sister, but primarily owing to her husband Alexander Pavlovich Ivanov, a doctor and teacher at the Surveying Institute. A. P. Ivanov was distinguished by high moral qualities, incredible kindness, generosity, excellent education, dedication to medical and pedagogical service. These qualities of the writer's brother-in-law are acknowledged not only in the letters of Dostoevsky, whom A. P. Ivanov helped during difficult periods of his life, but also in the famous memoirs of A. M. and A. G. Dostoevsky’s, N. Von Focht, and M. A. Ivanova. The article presents the data from A. P. Ivanov’s record of service formulary list for 1847, 1848, 1854, 1867 and 1868, allowing to trace his career growth and professional duties. The living image of a motivated student of the medical faculty of Moscow University, A. P. Ivanov, is drawn by the forgotten memoirs of his classmate M. V. Tolstoy, published in 1881. The significance of the “long-term and useful service” of the doctor and teacher of the Boundary Institute for students and the entire staff of the educational institution is reflected in the little-known memoirs about him by A. L. Apukhtin, the director of this educational institution, which were used in this study.