Maksimov Sergey

Maksimov Sergey (1831–1901) – ethnographer, folklorist, writer.

In 1850, after the Kostroma gymnasium, he enrolled to the Medical Faculty of the Moscow University. In 1852, he moved to St. Petersburg and transferred to the Medical and Surgery Academy.

In 1855, he made his first ethnographical travel through the Central Russia.

Later, he traveled to various regions of the country on the order of the Navy Ministry and compiled reports, wrote articles and fiction stories, which were published in numerous magazines: ‘Morskoy sbornik’ (Navy Collection), ‘Biblioteka dlya chteniya’ (Library for reading), ‘Syn Otechestva’ (Son of the Motherland), ‘Otechestvennye zapiski’ (Native Notes); later they were gathered in several books.

Among his works, there are especially important ones: on exile and hard labours at (‘Siberia and Katorga’, parts 1-3, St. Petersburg, 1871); on small peoples of the Far East (‘At the East’, St. Petersburg, 1864); on Russian religious beliefs and customs (‘Devilry, Unknown and Cross Power’, St. Petersburg, 1903); on the old Believers, and Russian Sectarianism (‘Stories from the History of Old Believers’, St. Petersburg, 1861); and stories on various sects and religious folk groups published in 1862‒1863 in magazines: “The Irgyz Hermits’, ‘Lenkoran’, ‘The Sect of Common’, ‘Molokans’, ‘Dukhobors’, ‘Pryguns’, ‘Skoptsy’, ‘Khlysts’, ‘Subbotniks’, ‘The Divine Providence’.

In 1900, he was elected for Honourary Academician of the Ac. of Sc.

He died on June 3, 1901; and buried at the Literatorskie Mostri of the Volkov Cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Compositions

A Year in the North, in 2 vol. Vol. 1: White Sea and Its Coasts. St. Petersburg, D. Е. Kozhanchikov Publishing House, 1859. (in Rus.)
A Year in the North, in 2 vol. Vol. 2: Travel along Northern Rivers. St. Petersburg, D. Е. Kozhanchikov Publishing House, 1859. (in Rus.)
Stories from the History of Old Believers, on the Dissenters’ Manuscripts. St. Petersburg, D. Е. Kozhanchikov Publishing House, 1861. (in Rus.)
Siberia and Katorga. Vol. 1: Miserable. 1862. St. Petersburg, Navy Ministry, 1862. (in Rus.)
At the East: Travel to Amur (1860-1861): Travel Notes and Memories. St. Petersburg, 1864. (in Rus.)
The Far End of the Christened World: the Russian Mountains and the Caucasian Mountaineers. St. Petersburg, 1865-1866. (in Rus.)
Wandering Rus’ of Christ. St. Petersburg, 1877. (in Rus.)
Flying Words. St. Petersburg, А. S. Suvorin Publishing House, 1890. (in Rus.)
Works, in 20 vol. Vol. 20: Peasants’ Life. Primordial Forest. Towns of the Lake District and others. St. Petersburg, Prosveshchenie Publishing House, 1896. (in Rus.)
Devilry: Answers to the Questionnaire of the Program No 192-202 and 204 / Introd. Prince V. N. Tenishev; Ethnographical Bureau of Prince V. N. Tenishev. St. Petersburg, Ministry of Domestic Affairs, 1899. (in Rus.)
Devilry, Unknown and Cross Power. St. Petersburg, 1903. (in Rus.)

Bibliography

Bibliographical Index of Works by S. V. Maksimov / Comp. А. G. Fomin // Maksimov S. V. Works, in 20 vol. Vol. 20, St. Petersburg, Prosveshchenie Publishing House, 1896, pp.363-378. (in Rus.)

About him

Pypin А. N. The History of Russian Ethnography, in 4 vol. St. Petersburg, М. М. Stasiulevich Typography, 1891. Т. 2. С. 55‒60;70‒73. (in Rus.)
Maksimov Sergey Vasilievich // Encyclopedic Lexicon by Brockhaus and Ephrone, in 86 vol. St. Petersburg, 1890‒1907. (in Rus.)
Martynova А. N. Describer of the Life of the Land of Russians: a Cultural-Historical Essay on the Writer, Ethnographer S. V. Maksimov. Moscow, Molodaya gvardiya Publishing House, 1987. (in Rus.)

M. Sh.