Gatsissky, Alexander Serafimovich Dakhnovich-Gatsissky (1838 — 1893) — secretary of the Nizhny Novgorod statistical committee, chairman of the provincial learned archival commission, renowned for putting the local archives in order even before the commission's opening.

Life and Work

The father of Alexander Serafimovich — a physician — moved with his family to Nizhny Novgorod from Ryazan in 1847. Alexander finished the Nizhny Novgorod gymnasium and the law faculty of Kazan University. He then entered service as a junior official for special assignments under the Nizhny Novgorod governor, and in 1862 became editor of the unofficial section of the "Provincial Gazette" — at the time the only Nizhny Novgorod newspaper. Gatsissky's literary debut came in 1859: the St. Petersburg journal "Iskra" published his sketch "From an Officer's Notes" along with two other fictional pieces; the sketch was a success in Nizhny Novgorod and circulated in hand-copied form.[1] From 1865 he moved into service at the Statistical Committee. V.G. Korolenko, who knew him well, wrote that the rooms of his house were all but buried under all manner of papers, which no one but him could ever make sense of.

At the same time Gatsissky was occupied with dozens of undertakings, being a member of every sort of society and committee. For example, for the 50th anniversary of the death of I.P. Kulibin, Gatsissky, following an idea of Khramtsovsky and with the help of patrons, organized a trade school so that young men of Nizhny Novgorod could follow in the footsteps of the great self-taught mechanic. Gatsissky was known for his goodwill toward people and for extraordinary capacity for work. He was elected both a justice of the peace and chairman of the provincial zemstvo board. Yet he did not always get along with his superiors — in 1875-77 he was even considered a dangerous liberal. His house was searched and he left the service, though only for a time. In 1872 Gatsissky initiated the founding of the "Society for the Spread of Literacy" in Nizhny Novgorod province — an organization built on private initiative and almost never mentioned in later studies of the region's history.[2]

List of Works

  • He edited the "Nizhny Novgorod Miscellany", containing all manner of articles and studies on the history of the region (10 volumes were published in total). The "Nizhny Novgorod Miscellany", edited by Gatsissky, was not merely a collection of articles but a compilation and synthesis of statistical materials on the various districts of Nizhny Novgorod province.[2]
  • The "Guide and Directory to Nizhny Novgorod." This was not simple reading matter for travelers but a serious study. Gatsissky wanted to publish the first part of this "Nizhegorodka" — a historical introduction — as a textbook for schoolchildren, but the censor would not allow it.
  • A study of the Nizhny Novgorod theater, and he began a series of essays on our outstanding fellow countrymen.
  • He published (with translation and notes) the "Nizhny Novgorod Chronicle." A chronicle compiled in our city at the end of the 17th century, it is regarded by scholars as interesting and unique, though its value as a historical source has been questioned.
  • He founded and headed the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Learned Archival Commission (NGUAK), which set about collecting and publishing all manner of documents on the history of the region. Its collections (in the Ivanovskaya Tower of the kremlin) became the core of today's State Archive of the Nizhny Novgorod Region.
  • He prepared the building and exhibition for the city's first history museum (1890, in the House of Peter I).

Researchers of Gatsissky's work note that he achieved a remarkable amount for a mere provincial official, and that his creative energy stands out all the more against the background of civil servants of his time, even though the results of his labors might at first glance seem unremarkable.

A Dissenting View

Gatsissky can be described as an adherent of the Slavic theory of the origin of Nizhny Novgorod. The founder of archival work in our region consistently denied the Erzya (Mordvin) roots of the cities and population of the province. Given that Gatsissky, over a considerable span of time, held what was effectively a monopoly on access to the historical documents on this subject, and that this activity of his evidently received financial backing, one can only speculate how such a strongly one-sided attitude toward the heritage of the The Peoples of Nizhny Novgorod may have shaped the outcome of his work — the selection of documents for the purpose of building a regional archive.

Typologically, Gatsissky can be compared to pro-aristocratic French historians who overstated the role of the Germanic Franks in the founding and history of France at the expense of the Gallo-Roman theory of the origin of the French people, or to pro-German historian-publicists in Bohemia, who argued that in the history of the formation and development of the "Bohemian region of the Austrian Empire" the dominant role was played by the Germans of Germany and Austria.

An Unforeseen Situation with the Funeral Rite

Among Gatsissky's ancestors were French, Swedes, Germans) and Poles. After Alexander Serafimovich's death, an unforeseen situation arose over his funeral rite:


The surname Gatsissky traces back to the estate of Gattsishchi, granted by the Polish king Sigismund III to Alexander Serafimovich's ancestor, Grigory Dakhnovich, for his service at the siege of Smolensk; from that time the Dakhnovich branch of the family came to be known as the Gatsisskys.[1]

Alexander Serafimovich's father, Serafim Petrovich Gatsissky (b. 1803), received his physician's degree from Vilnius University and in his youth was a member of the Filaret Society; in Nizhny Novgorod he ended his service in the post of assistant medical inspector.[1]

Alexander Serafimovich's mother — Henriette von Peters — was the daughter of a French émigré who concealed his real name and settled in Reval; thus in Gatsissky's veins mingled Polish, French and German blood, which he himself wryly described as "growing on soil made of a mixture of the French and the Nizhny Novgorodian."[1]

« "Colleagues from the archival commission inquired at the Catholic church — it turned out he was not on the parish roll there. A similar answer came from the Protestant (Lutheran) pastor. Only after much trouble and worry, with the permission of the Nizhny Novgorod bishop, was A.S. Gatsissky — who had done so much for our region — given a funeral service at the Church of the Intercession, and then buried in the Lutheran cemetery (the Evangelical-Lutheran cemetery near what is now Kulibin Park). As it later turned out, Alexander Serafimovich had been a Herrnhuter. That is what the religious sect known as the "Bohemian Brethren" had been called since the 18th century — a group that advocated apostolic purity of life, preaching strictness of morals and brotherly unity. The sect took its name from the Saxon estate of Herrnhut, where Count Zinzendorf had sheltered the brethren."
Yu.G. Galai, "A Keeper of the Testaments of Grey Antiquity," in the book "The Nizhny Novgorod Chronicle" (Nizhny Novgorod, "Nizhegorodskaya Yarmarka", 2001, p. 19)
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See Also

Sources

  1. cyberleninka.ru — In 1872 Gatsissky initiated the founding of the "Society for the Spread of Literacy" in Nizhny Novgorod province — an organization built on private initiative
  1. ru.wikisource.org — The surname Gatsissky traces back to the estate of Gattsishchi, granted by the Polish king Sigismund III to Alexander Serafimovich's ancestor, Grigory Dakhnovich, for his service at (archive)