Governor’s wife and assistant: A.M. Artsimovich in Siberia (1854-1858)

The paper examines the problem of the significance and possibility of studying the biographies of the wives of high-ranking officials of the Russian Empire. The wives of high-ranking officials, including figures of the Siberian administration, did not officially work, but played an important role in public life and management practices. Sometimes they did not abandon traditions, but adopted the norms of the new era. A review of the research literature allowed the author to note that, despite the impressive number of works by domestic and foreign historians on gender issues, the issue has not been sufficiently studied. The use of memoir-epistolary sources created by the wife of the Tobolsk governor V.A. Artsimovich, her relatives and acquaintances, made it possible to fill this gap using the example of one of these ladies. For the first time, letters from A.M. Artsimovich and V.A. Artsimovich to her are being introduced into scientific circulation from the funds of V.A. Artsimovich in the State Archives of the Russian Federation and the Manuscript Department of the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The main stages of the biography of Anna Mikhailovna Artsimovich (nee Zhemchuzhnikova) are reconstructed, the daily life of the governor’s family, its complexities and specifics in Siberian conditions are characterized. The main directions and features of the activities of the governor’s wife and assistant, participation as a trustee in the management of the Mariinsky Girls’ School are shown. The significance of the Siberian years for the development of the personality of an extraordinary woman was revealed. The evolution of her views, her transformation into a like-minded person and ideological ally of the famous statesman of the era of the Great Reforms is covered. An important result of the study was the filling of the gap in characterizing the role in public life of the wives of prominent figures in the Siberian administration.