Rumors as object of historical research

Rumors are an important part of any historical process, therefore, they attract due attention of multiple researchers. Consequently, it is important to determine the “ontological” status of rumors as an object of historical research. There is no consensus in historical science on what rumors are. At the same time researchers consider rumors as something obvious and objective. Such “natural attitude”, in reference to rumors, can lead to mistakes. In fact, objectively rumors do not exist. A rumor indeed is a certain message on a particular topic, which for whatever reason was singled out by the observer from the whole speech. A message becomes or does not become a rumor due to subjective evaluations of a particular person or a particular social group. Identification of the message as a rumor requires some prior knowledge of what to look for. People do not necessary consider discussed matters as rumors. One of the conditions and mechanisms helping to identify a message as a rumor is the cultural distance. In Russia, this distance is determined by the division of the country into “cultural elite” and “ignorant lower classes”. It is important to bear in mind that the “rumor” of historical sources may not be directly related to the rumor of scientific importance. In sources of official origin any “ridiculous” statement could become a rumor, confirming, in terms of the representative of the “elite”, “ignorance” of the people. Such understanding of the concept of rumors by the author of the source can create problems for researchers. The source can define a single message as a rumor, i. e. something transferred from person to person, although in fact it is a single message. A historian may also find this singular expression rather popular, which affects peoples’ behavior and the course of historical process as a whole.