Social and Political Views of the First Female Historians of the Russian Empire

Abstract

The article analyzes the social and political views of the first female historians of the Russian Empire, who integrated into the previously all-male academic corporation in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries. The authors focus on the socio-political views of women historians of the first generations who received education and began to actively work before 1917. Based on documents from women’s liberal organizations and auto-documentary sources belonging to women scientists, the authors reconstruct a generalized social portrait of the first women historians of the Russian Empire from the point of view of their political preferences, forms of political participation available to them, opinions about the historical events and contemporary political processes being analyzed. The article demonstrates the diversity and variability of the political views of representatives of the intelligentsia, formed under the influence of family, mentors and colleagues. The palette of identified political beliefs is diverse: women historians of the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries. tended to different views — from conservative-monarchist to liberal and even social-revolutionary. The authors come to the conclusion that the majority of women historians who openly declared their political views tried to avoid personal and obvious participation in political events, but at the same time were associated with contemporary parties, groups or other political organizations. The political self-determination of women scientists was often associated with involvement in the women’s movement; doing science implied a desire to raise their educational level and expand professional rights.

Keywords:

women historians, politics, social history of science, political parties, Russian Empire