The Italian Path of the Slavophile S. P. Koloshin, Correspondent of F. M. Dostoevsky: Archival Materials

The article presents the results of an archival search for information regarding Sergey P. Koloshin, a publicist and the publisher of the Zritel obschestvennoy zhizni, literatury i sporta (Spectator of public life, literature and sports) magazine, who went bankrupt in 1863. In the 1860s, he lived in Italy, attempted to collaborate with the Epokha (Epoch) magazine, corresponded with the brothers M. M. and F. M. Dostoevskys, and died on November 27, 1868 in Florence. The discovered documents allow to clarify the time and circumstances of his death. The Russian Empire’s Foreign Policy Archive contains a file regarding the assignment of the transportation the body of the deceased to Milan for burial in the columbarium to Mikhail Orlov, the Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas in Florence, who already performed the rite of blessing S. Koloshin. The latter was also entrusted with fulfilling the last will of the deceased, completing his settlements on this Earth, including those with the owner of his rented residence. Her receipt for money received indicates the address of Koloshin’s residence in Milan, which is significant in connection with the search for his archive, which probably includes the letters of Dostoevsky. The article also introduces the encrypted telegrams of the Russian mission to Turin into scientific circulation for the first time. These telegrams are signed by the name Koloshin (Kolochine), and the authors suggest that they belong either to Sergey’s brother, Dmitry Pavlovich, junior secretary of the Russian mission in Brussels, or to Ivan Petrovich Koloshin, Resident Master of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, cousin of S. P. Koloshin. He could have also provided the documents from the personal archive of S. P. Koloshin, which likely included letters from Dostoevsky.