The Sitnikovs – Relatives of M. M. Bakhtin: Unknown Pages in the Family History

Introduction. The relevance of the study stems from the need to create an objective and reliable scholarly biography of M. M. Bakhtin, which requires including information about his family. The purpose of the article is to present previously unknown facts about the Bakhtin family and their relatives the Sitnikovs, and to identify the individuals who made up their immediate circle. Materials and Methods. The study material consists of unpublished sources from Russian archives, both state (State Archives of the Russian Federation, Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library) and personal (L. S. Melikhova’s archive), printed reference sources, and published transcripts of conversations between M. M. Bakhtin and V. D. Duvakin. The study was carried out within the framework of “historical personology” using historical-biographical, comparative-contrastive and hermeneutic methods. Results and Discussion. The article examines the connections between two related families representing the Oryol merchant class – the Bakhtins and the Sitnikovs – and identifies the figures who made up their “inner circle” (honorary citizens of Oryol the Avilovs, nobles the Tsurikovs, and others). It reveals unknown facts in the biography of M. M. Bakhtin’s halfuncle T.A. Sitnikov, who occupied a prominent position in the Oryol municipal government before the 1917 Revolution and presents for the first time information about his brother, P. A. Sitnikov. It traces the life story of M. M. Bakhtin’s sister E. T. Sitnikova (a first cousin on his mother’s side and a second cousin on his father’s side), who remained a faithful custodian of the memory of her departed relatives until the end of her days. It presents excerpts from her letters to M. M. Bakhtin, dated 1969–1974. It reveals the reasons that prompted her will to destroy all the documents and materials on the history of the two families which she carefully had preserved. The authors conclude that, despite all the tragic cataclysms that the Sitnikovs experienced after the 1917 Revolution, members of the family strove to maintain ties with surviving close and distant relatives and honor the memory of those who had passed away. Conclusion. The article contributes to research into the family history of the Bakhtins and the Sitnikovs, and deepens our understanding of their circle. Previously unknown archival materials, first introduced into scholarly circulation, significantly expand the source base for Bakhtin studies. The materials presented in the article may be useful to Bakhtin scholars, as well as researchers of the history of the city of Oryol and the Oryol merchant class.