Valery Pavlovich Makarikhin (13 October 1946, Abrashkino village, Puchezh District, Ivanovo Oblast — 20 February 2003, Nizhny Novgorod) was a historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, and specialist in historiography, source studies, and the history of the Volga Region. He worked at the Lobachevsky University; he founded the Department of Historiography and Source Studies — the third such department in Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg.[1][2]

Biography and academic career

He came from a working-class family. In 1973 he graduated from the Lobachevsky University; among his teachers were A. G. Kuzmin and E. V. Kuznetsov.[3] After graduating he remained at the Department of Russian History of the Feudal and Capitalist Periods — first as an assistant, then as a senior lecturer and associate professor.[3]

In 1981 he defended his candidate's dissertation "Nizhny Novgorod Chronicle Writing of the 13th–15th Centuries as a Historical and Cultural Phenomenon" at Gorky State University. He defended his doctoral dissertation, "Provincial Scientific Archival Commissions and Their Role in the Development of Social and Historical Thought in Russia in the Late 19th — Early 20th Centuries," in 1991 at the Moscow State Pedagogical University; he was awarded the title of professor in 1992.[3][2] From 1990 he headed the Department of Historiography and Source Studies of Lobachevsky University, which he himself had created, and from 2002 he moved to the Department of the History of Religion and Culture at the same faculty.[2]

Academic works and public activity

His research interests covered the history of chronicle writing, the social thought of the Russian provinces, historical biography, and the local history of the Nizhny Novgorod Volga region. His published works include the monograph "Provincial Scientific Archival Commissions of Russia" (Gorky, 1991), the book "Nizhny Novgorod Chronicle Writing as a Historical and Cultural Phenomenon" (Gorky, 1982), "A Course of Lectures on Russian Historiography: The Pre-Soviet Period" (Nizhny Novgorod, 2001), and the historical novella "The Wild Field." His articles appeared in "Istoriya SSSR" ("History of the USSR"), the "Bulletin of Moscow State University," and the proceedings of a Russian-French symposium.[3][2]

From 1982 to 1987 he headed the presidium of the Soviet District Council of the All-Russian Society for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments (VOOPIK); from 1994 he was chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Russian Historical Society and editor-in-chief of the "Nizhny Novgorod Almanac" collection.[3] He was an academician of the Academy of Sciences of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, and for many years cooperated with the Nizhny Novgorod Archival Service.[1]

Makarikhin initiated the establishment of Citizen Minin Memorial Day, organized the academic conference "Minin Readings," devoted to the Nizhny Novgorod Militia, and prepared a number of popular-science publications on this subject.[1]

Teaching legacy

At the Faculty of History of Lobachevsky University, Makarikhin was one of the most popular lecturers: historians from other universities, writers, and representatives of public movements were regular visitors to the department. His students included D. Yu. Krivtsov, A. A. Kuznetsov, N. N. Gribov, A. V. Morokhin, and D. A. Nikolaev.[1] In his last years he worked on the Residents of Nizhny Novgorod"); during his lifetime only an excerpt was published, in one of the local-history journals, and the full text appeared posthumously.[1]

He died on 20 February 2003 in his 57th year. A civil memorial service was held on 22 February at Lobachevsky University (23 Gagarin Avenue, Building 2).[2]

Sources

  1. opentextnn.ru — Memories of V.P. Makarikhin — OTKRYTY TEKST (archived)
  2. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — An outstanding Nizhny Novgorod historian and local historian, professor at Nizhny Novgorod University, Valery Makarikhin, has passed away (archived)
  3. opentextnn.ru — Makarikhin Valery Pavlovich — OTKRYTY TEKST (archived)
  4. checko.ru — RUSSIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY — Nizhny Novgorod — INN 5257012906 — Chairman Makarikhin V. P.