The telegrams of different people to Anna Dostoevskaya expressing condolences on the death of Fedor Dostoevsky (from the manuscript collection of Vladimir Dahl Russian State Literary Museum)

The article presents the total of the telegrams of condolences on the death of F. M. Dostoevsky, addressed to Anna Dostoevskaya. Twelve telegrams received by the widow in the period from January 27 until February 20, 1881 (by the Old Style) are stuck into the notebook kept in the manuscript collection of Vladimir Dahl Russian State Literary Museum (State Literary Museum). The funerals of F. M. Dostoevsky became an important public event. The telegrams convey spiritual and emotional state the Russian society was going through due to the death of the writer. Their geographical coverage is enormous: Moscow, Tver, Kronstadt, Kazan, Saratov, Kharkov, Odessa, Staraya Russa, Rome, Belgrade. Among the addressers there were people of different ages and social status: Grand Dukes Sergei and Pavel, a legendary general M. G. Chernyaev, a teacher from Kharkov Kh. D. Alchevskaya, young students, professors, literary figures and provincial intelligentsia (Odessa Slavophile Society, Kazan Society of agricultural colonies and handicrafts shelters, Old Russian Urban Society etc.). Many telegrams mention the participation of the addressers in the funeral and prayer services and other commemorative events on occasion of Dostoevsky’s death. The commentaries contain a brief profile of the telegram senders and other people mentioned in the texts.