Letters from the friends and relatives of S.V. Kovalevskaya to the Saratov Governor A.I. Kosich (1891)

Abstract

The article analyzes the content of the letters from the friends and relatives of S.V. Kovalevskaya (F.V. Korvin-Krukovsky, S.I. Lamansky, Yu.V. Lermontova) to Saratov Governor A.I. Kosich (1891), kept in the State Archives of the Saratov Region. The materials from the archival correspondence add numerous details to the picture of the everyday reality for Sofya Kovalevskaya’s family and circle. The archival materials introduced into the scientific circulation for the first time are of interest in terms of their content, historical context, and the public and cultural figures mentioned.
In the center of the published epistolary sources are focused on the reaction of the friends and relatives of S.V. Kovalevskaya on her death and the question of the arrangement for her daughter’s future. Based on the materials of the correspondence, the authors of the article make an attempt to clarify the characteristics of the public sentiments in Sofya Kovalevskaya’s circle. Particular attention is paid to the role of A.I. Kosich in an attempt to attract the attention of the Russian public and the power elites to the task of returning the famous Russian woman mathematician to Russia, and after her death – to perpetuating her memory. Materials of the published correspondence allow accentuating the subject of patriotic moods in Sofya Kovalevskaya’s circle, as well as the commitment to the traditions of the Russian national consciousness and the interest in the ideas connected with the role of Orthodox-Slavic identity in the civilizational and historical choice of Russia.