Bogdashina I. V.

Women’s Social Memory of Daily Life through Diaries (1951–1969) of a Female Dweller of Stalingrad (Volgograd) P. 46-55.

UDC 930-055.2(470.45-25)«1951/1969»

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2020.68.3.005

 

The State Archive of the Volgograd Region stores diaries of a surgeon Zinaida Sergeyevna Sedelnikova. The diaries are part of the collection of documents of healthcare workers and are a rare archival source that can shed light on the history of everyday life as viewed by women living far from the capital. The author of the diaries treated them with meticulous care and completed 179 notebooks, her first diary was written in 1933, her last diary was completed in 2004. Our research investigates diary entries written in 1951–1969 (notebooks 35–85) and describing events witnessed by the author in the city of Volgograd (Stalingrad). The analyzed diary entries focus on everyday life, they describe the environment in which the author lived and treat some daily routines: provision of food and non-food products, accommodation, family relationships, and leisure activities. The diaries do not only contain the authors’ memories, they also include numerous photographs, newspaper clippings and calendar sheets, telegrams, letters, theatre booklets, tickets for events, pieces of fabric, dried flowers. This unique and rare document enables us to clearly visualize everyday life and daily routines through the eyes of a woman living far from the capital.

 

archival source; provincial life in Soviet Russia; diary; female social memory; Z. S. Sedelnikova; everyday life

 

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