Yeletsky gorodnichy Egor Alexandrovich Kholodovich and the study of antiquities in the province in the middle of the XIX century

For the first time, the biography and scientific contribution of E. A. Kholodovich to the study of the ancient history of Yelets in the Oryol province are being investigated. In the period 1835–1849 he served as a mayor, became interested in local history. In the Oryol Provincial Gazette for 1840, his note "On the antiquities of the city of Yelets" appears. The note consisted of a preface and six small sections, each of which corresponded to the description of the ancient object: 1) The Icon of the Kazan Mother of God; 2) The Image of the Appearance of the Mother of God to Tamerlane; 3) The Holy Gospel; 4) A chapel and a stone pillar with icons; 5) Talim Prison; 6) Six cast-iron cannons; 7) An underground passage. This information will be widely used by local historians in the future, starting from the middle of the XIX century, but without mentioning the original author. The article is based on archival materials that made it possible to restore the basic biographical information, the circumstances of service in Yelets and the probable motivation in the local history studies of E. A. Kholodovich. The intellectual environment of the communication with experts in the history of the city is being investigated, attempts are being made to establish the sources of information the author received. The results of the research allow us to say that the only known scientific publication by E. A. Kholodovich for the provincial newspaper is based on the unreleased information from the statistical description of Yelets in the 1820s. Their content corresponds to old-time records typical of the time of the formation of historical science in the province at the end of the XVIII – first half of the XIX centuries. The topic of antiquities is considered through the prism of a detailed description of the remains of the fortress, underground passages, customs, the history of monasteries and temples, and brief historical legends. The material clearly demonstrates the positive impact of the state policy on the conduct of provincial statistical descriptions on the formation of local history research in the province.

Yelets gorodnichy, statistical description, Yelets local historians, the antiquities of Yelets, the formation of science, M. A. Stakhovich, N. A. Ridinger, I. I. Uklein, Yelets county, Oryol province