Legend as source of people's historical memory: case study of Olonets province

The article deals with the problem of people's historical memory on the example of the accounts about Peter the First. The accounts were collected in Olonets Province before 1917. The main purpose of the author is to show how historical legends accumulate perceptions of heroic events of the Russian past. The author focuses on the outstanding leaders of Russian history and their achievements, which later served as value development patterns for people. In the context of this problem, the article looks at the oral folklore as a new historical source, which enables us to see history through the eyes of contemporaries and understand people’s perception of the world, system of values, and specific features of their mentality. The work confirmed the theory of “saving illusion”, introduced by V V. Trepavlov.