Memoirs of Medievalists as a Source for History of Historians: "The Endured" by E. V. Gutnova

The author researches memoirs of professor-medievalist of the Lomonosov Moscow State University E. V. Gutnova (1914-1992) as a source for studying the department subject. The first part of the article reveals specific features of the text: its structural balance, orientation to the chronological statement, clear language; considerable time of the work, references to a large number of "home" sources of personal origin (letters and so forth); the developed portraits of many tens of persons with "female" remarks on appearance. (E. A. Kosminsky, N. A. Sidorova, S. D. Skazkin, D. M. Petruschevsky, O. L. Vainschtein, N. P. Graziansky, E. M. Gorodezky, E. M. Staerman, M. M. Smirin, V. V. Stoklizkaya-Tereschkovich, V. S. Sarokeeva, A. N. Chistozvonov, Yu. M. Saprikin, Z. V. Udalzova, R. M. Samarin, A. I. Danilov, A. R. Korsunsky, Ya. A. Levizky). The author specially analyzes chapter 17, which is devoted to department The Medieval History of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, and shows that two voices sound in it. They are Eugenia Gutnova - a student, and E. V. Gutnova - an employee of the department. Main conclusions of the article: "The Endured" is an important source for reconstruction of a portrait of one of the Soviet university intellectuals of the second half of the 20th century, especially self-positioning of the author and his professionally prestigious lifts. Main conclusion: the department as formal community in total set of its activity does not become the "memory place", equal to a family, science school; socially significant events in country scales. Memoirs can serve as a material on a department subject only in set with many other documents, when using all modern methods of criticism and analysis of the source.