En
Ru
Birthday anniversary of Stepan D. Yakhontov, historian, archaeographer, pedagogue, archivist and museum specialist
“In my current state I have the only consolation: I have never ingratiated myself. I don’t know if it is a vice or a virtue, but it makes my memories calm.”
S. D. Yakhontov
December 31 (19), 1853, in the village of Uhor, Pronsky County, Ryazan Province, was born Stepan Dmitrievich Yakhontov. He was the first-born in the family of a clerk of the local church, Dmitry Ivanovich Yakhontov and his wife Agrippina Nikolaevna.
In fact, three "incarnations" of Stepan’s future activities in areas such as pedagogy, museum and archival work originated from his early age.
In 1863, Stepan Yakhontov entered the Skopinsky religious school.
From 1870, Stepan continued his education at the Ryazan Theological Seminary and graduated from it in 1876. The same year he passed the examination to enter the Moscow Theological Academy (in Sergiev Posad). Yakhontov chose the Department of History. Among his teachers were such luminaries of Russian historical thought as Vasily Klyuchevsky, Eugene Golubinsky, Nikolai Subbotin. It was Klyuchevsky who influenced Yakhontov the most. In his second year under the supervision of Klyuchevsky, Yakhontov wrote a semester essay on "The peasants in Russia in the 14th and 15th centuries."
In the third year, Stepan wrote his thesis under the supervision of Professor N. Subbotin on the activities of Bishop Pitirim from Nizhny Novgorod against schism. Working on his thesis, Yakhontov used the documentation of the Holy Synod, of the Secret Investigation Office, of the Preobrazhensky Office; he studied the divisive cases of the 18th century and polemical literature on the split, studied the manuscripts of Pitirim from Nizhny Novgorod.
In August 1880, by order of the Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod K. P. Pobedonostsev, Stepan Yakhontov was appointed teacher of Latin to the Yekaterinoslav Theological Seminary. At the same time, he taught civil history in Yekaterinoslav diocesan women school.
September 3 (16), 1915, at the request of the governor addressed to the chief superintendent of Empress Maria institutions under His Imperial Majesty Office, Yakhontov received the post of Director of Ryazan Mariinsky women school.
Stepan Dmitrievich was not a teacher-formalist. Impression of his every lesson remained for a long time. He was in the true sense a teacher-innovator. The fame of Yakhontov stretched across the city, to be his student was considered a special honor.
Over the years of his fruitful activity, Stepan Dmitrievich was awarded many honorary awards. He was a Knight of the Orders of St. Stanislaus 2nd and 3rd degrees, St. Anne 2nd and 3rd degrees, St. Vladimir, 4th degree, medals.
In October 1884, Yakhontov was elected a member of the Ryazan Scientific Archive Commission (RUAK), and in 1894 he was given a particular position, which had not previously existed - editor of RUAK "Works." In 1905, Stepan Dmitrievich was elected chairman of RUAK and served in that position until 1918.
Yakhontov was also a member of the Imperial Moscow Archaeological Commission and Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society, a life member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and an active member of the Military Historical Society, a member of the St. Petersburg Archaeological Institute and an active member of Simbirsk, Tauris and Vitebsk Scientific Archival Commissions. He was also a member of a number of local community organizations and societies: Regional Statistic Committee, Brotherhood of St. Basil - Bishop of Ryazan, Ryazan Diocesan Missionary Council, Board of Studies of the Ryazan workhouse. From 1893, Yakhontov was a trustee of the Uhorsk parochial school in the Pronsk County; for his dedicated service in this capacity, in 1911 the Holy Synod awarded him a letter.
The events of the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907 left their mark on the fate of Yahontov. He joins the Octobrist Party. Being a talented speaker, he is advised to run for members of the 1st State Duma. However, he broke with the "Union of October 17."
In Soviet times, the work of Stepan Dmitrievich was also related to the museums and archives. During 1918-1923, he was the curator of collections at the Ryazan Provincial History and Art Museum; in 1923-1928 – its director; from 1928 - the custodian of Old Russian Art Department.
Stepan Dmitrievich did much to preserve the national documentary heritage in the position of the chief commissioner of the Ryazan province on the arrangement and organization of archives (1919-1920) and as the head of the Ryazan province archival bureau (1920-1928).
In 1929, the country was covered by a wave of so-called “ethnographers’ affair." It affected Yakhontov too. In December 1929, his house was searched. Stepan Dmitrievich was taken to the preliminary confinement. For 76-year-old historian the imprisonment was a difficult challenge, but it gave him something to think about in order to understand what happened to the people and the country. Later, on the basis of his prison diaries, Yakhontov wrote a volume of memoirs.
In early June 1930, researchers of the Ryazan antiquity - Stepan Yakhontov and Ivan Prokhodtsov - appeared at the trial of the "Ryazan ethnographers." The latter was returned a verdict of non guilty, while Yakhontov was banned for 3 years to work in the Central Archival Agency.
In the last years of his life, Stepan Dmitrievich wrote memoirs, kept diaries; among the latest notes were those about the attack of the Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union. He was a patriot of his homeland and to the end remained faithful to it.
Stepan Dmitrievich died January 6, 1942. He was buried in the Skorbyashchensky cemetery of Ryazan, where his relatives erected a monument.
Lit.: Гольцева Г. К. Первые Яхонтовские чтения // Отечественные архивы. 2001. № 2. С. 115-116; Мельник А. Свидетельство, сохранённое Рязанским архивом // Отечество: краеведческий альманах. М., 1990. С. 66-76; Сафронова Е. В. С. Д. Яхонтов как историк Рязанского края // Исторический источник: человек и пространство: тез. докл. и сообщ. науч. конф. М., 3-5 февр. 1997 г. / ИАИ РГГУ. РАН. М., 1997. С. 268-288; Толстов В. А. Деятельность С. Д. Яхонтова по вовлечению учащихся в краеведческий поиск // Первые Яхонтовские чтения. Материалы научно-практической конференции, Рязань, 21-22 декабря 2000 г. Рязань, 2001. С. 80-86; Толстов В. А. Кружки А. И. Черепнина и С. Д. Яхонтова в составе Рязанской ученой архивной комиссии // История дореволюционной России : мысль, события, люди: сб. науч. тр. каф. древней и средневековой истории Отечества. Рязань, 2003. Вып. 2. С. 126-138; Толстов В. А. Кружок С. Д. Яхонтова по изучению церковных древностей Рязанской губернии // Вторые Яхонтовские чтения. Материалы научно-практической конференции, Рязань, 23 – 25 октября 2002 г. Рязань, 2003. С. 99-105; Толстов В. А. С. Д. Яхонтов — историограф наследия В. О. Ключевского // Четвёртые Яхонтовские чтения. Материалы научно–практической конференции. Рязань, 25-27 октября 2006 г. Рязань, 2008. С. 125-148; Толстов В. А. С. Д. Яхонтов: воспитание историей / Рязанская старина. Вып. 19 // Рязанские ведомости. 2000. 7 мая. № 104. С. 3; Толстов В. А. Тюремная эпопея С. Д. Яхонтова: «Наступило время, когда личность человека — ничто…» / Рязанская старина. Вып. 13 // Рязанские ведомости. 1999. 24 сентября. № 205-206. С. 4; Чекурин Л. В. Историческое краеведение // Историография и источниковедение. М., 1991. С. 111-114; Яхонтов С. Д. // Рус. археологич. лит. : библиогр. указ. 1900-1917 / сост. Т. Н. Заднепровская. СПб., 2003. С. 434.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
The material provided by the Gorky Regional Universal Scientific Library of Ryazan