Birthday anniversary of Ivan V. Bagashev, the writer and historian

“My favorite idea is to embalm the main stages of life of Nerchinsky Zavod. I even dream to return to live on the coasts of my dear Argun sometime later. On the whole, I aim to become a chronicler of our region as much as possible…”

I.V.Bagashev

July 16 (28), 1843 in the village of Nerchinsky Zavod, was born Ivan Vasilievich Bagashev, a writer, ethnographer, the first professional journalist of the Baikal region and the first digester of the materials on Daura.

Ivan’s father was from the middle class, engaged in trade, and his mother - a native of Tobolsk, the daughter of an exiled Bersenev. The family had 11 children, Ivan was the youngest. Children were given home education: reading, writing, counting. At the age of ten Ivan Bagashev began working in his father's shop. After a disease he had as a child, the boy was hard of hearing.

Ivan read a lot, wanted to learn to be an artist - the ability to draw was great. After the end of home education he continued to study on his own. His father subscribed to such magazines as "Illustration", "Age", "Contemporary", "Annals of the Fatherland"… Ivan was especially fascinated by the "Russian history" of N. M. Karamzin. He began his literary activity as the editor of a handwritten magazine "Nerchinsko-Zavodskoy Observer" - on May 21 (June 2), 1866 a single copy of the domestic edition was first issued. The epigraph of the leading article was Bagashev’s favorite words - "Cognize yourself."

Ivan Bagashev was familiar with the Decembrist A. N. Lutsky, was friends with many political exiles, soldiers the Decembrists, talked with the members of Petrashevsky Circle, with Polish rebels, poet M. I. Mikhailov.

In the 1870s he was a member of the editorial circle of the newspaper "Siberia" (Irkutsk), the author of several articles and a variety of correspondence about life in the Baikal region in other Siberian and metropolitan editions. In 1872, he published the first historical and economic review of Nerchinsky Zavod, completed with an excellent wood-block illustration - view of the plant. In "Letters from Argun" (1876) for the first time in the Siberian journalism, he highlighted the causes of prolonged stagnation in the development of the region. Referring to the statistics and the latest studies of Siberian scientists, the author argued against the monopoly of the treasury, for the development of the initiative of the population.

After the closure of the newspaper "Siberia" (1887), Ivan moved to Nerchinsk, where he headed the publishing house of the gold-miner M. D. Butin, participated in the organizing of a public library and museum, of a circle of lovers of literature and art, presided over the "Tea Club" - the first circle of bibliophiles in Siberia. At the end of 1880, in the newspaper "Zabaykalsk Regional Gazette" were published Ivan Bagashev’s articles "What do they write about the Trans-Baikal region" - the first local publications on local historical bibliography.

Bagashev’s attempts to publish a newspaper in Nercinsk failed; he moved to Kyakhta, where, in 1897, began publishing a weekly newspaper, "Baikal". The paper had been published until 1906, and was closed "for harmful ideas." Bagashev returned to Nerchinsk, taking with him 25 pounds of papers – an archive, which contained important information on the history and culture of the old Trans-Baikal. For over four years, he had been engaged in its systematization. In early 1912, the archive was sold to Krasnoyarsk, to the famous library of industrialist and philanthropist G. V. Yudin, but later was devastated and mostly lost.

Ivan Bagashev was the first to systematically collect materials about Daura, published interesting papers and reviews, saved a lot of rare letters, notes and manuscripts. Part of Bagashev’s archive is held by the Baikal local history museum n. a. A. K. Kuznetsov as part of the documentary collection "Socio-economic development of the Trans-Baikal region in the 18th - early 20th century." The collection contains manuscripts of Bagashev, his correspondence with Yudin, handwritten poems by famous Russian poets, including I Ya. Kozlov, unpublished works of the Trans Baikal authors: I. M. Nemchinov, S. Karpov, V. P. Kropachev, A. P. Sofonov.

Ivan Bagashev died in Irkutsk on January 26 (February 8), 1919 in extreme poverty and oblivion. His grave is unknown. The house in Nerchinsky Zavod remained intact, on its wall there is now a memorial tablet.

Lit.: Куренная И. Г. Автограф Багашева // Забайкальский рабочий. 1985. 9 апреля; Летописец Даурии // Петряев Е. Д. Люди и судьбы. Чита, 1957. С. 52-95; Литератор и краевед : к 150-летию со дня рождения И. В. Багашева // Вперёд. 1993. 28 августа; Манцев. Ю. П. Память о журналисте // Советское Приаргунье. 1990. 12 июня; Петряев Е. «Президент» Нерчинского «Чайного клуба» // Нерчинская звезда. 1983. 26 июля; Рупосов Н. Неизвестные письма Багашева // Забайкальский рабочий. 1991. 2 июля; Чащин А. Редактор рукописного журнала // Советское Приаргунье. 1973. 7 июня; Чижов И. И. В. Багашев и «Байкал» // Советское Приаргунье. 1984. 7 июня.

Works: Нерчинский завод: очерк // Всемирная иллюстрация. 1872. № 17, 18; Письма из Приаргунья // Сборник газеты «Сибирь». СПб., 1876. С. 237-268; К истории Забайкалья // Забайкальская новь. 1912. № 1380, 1386, 1404, 1414, 1415; По Шилке и Амуру // Сибирь. 1873. № 3, 37, 41, 44; 1877. № 41, 42, 44.

The material provided by the Pushkin Regional Universal Scientific Library of Trans-Baikal