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The Tyumen ethnographer, folklorist Peter Alexeyevich Gorodtsov was born
Peter Alexeyevich Gorodtsov, a collector and researcher of Russian folk poetry, the author of works on ethnography of Russians in the Tyumen district of the early XX century, was born on January 10, 1865, in the Solotscha village of Ryazan province in the family of a deacon.
Peter Gorodtsov studied at the Ryazan Theological Seminary and graduated from the Demidov Law Lyceum in Yaroslavl. He worked as a forensic investigator in Ranenburg and Dankovsky departments of the Ryazan province. In his youth, he was an active participant in the archeological excavations along with his elder brother, famous archeology scientist, professor of the Moscow University Vasily Alexeyevich Gorodtsov.
In 1894, Peter Alexeyevich was appointed a forensic investigator in the Tobolsk province. In 1897, he became a magistrate of the 5th subdistrict of the Tyumen district located in its northeastern part in the Tavda river valley. Thus, Peter Alekseyevich visited the places where he met the outstanding personalities, experts in folk poetry, and collected the great number of material on ethnography and folklore of the local old people.
Since Jule 1905 Gorodtsov served as a Head of the peasants in the 3rd subdistrict of the Tyumen district, and then he was a lawyer at public service at the district court. Being the Head of the peasants he often made the duty journeys to supervise the peasant's public administration, and observed the performance of natural and monetary duties; he also had administrative and police duties.
However, Peter Alexeyevich's true passion was science. Due to his work, he often visited the Tyumen district villages, where he thoroughly studied Russian folk's everyday life. From 1905 to 1908, he collected the important and diverse materials on ethnography and folklore of the north-eastern part of the Tyumen district. In the Tavdinski region, he found a row of storytellers - Dmitri Nikifovich Plekhanov, Luka Leontievich Zayakin, Feodor Larionovich Sozonov, Peter Egorovich Utkin. He wrote down their oral legends.
In 1905, Peter Gorodtsov compiled “The Program for Collecting of the Folklore in the Western Siberia”. As the main genres, he distinguished hexes, epos (bylines - epic song on heroes, legends, sagas, verses of blinds, religious poetry and Apocrypha), songs, proverbs, and sayings. In 1906, Peter Alexeyevich wrote the Wedding Ritual of the Tumen Peasantry with Mysterious Rites. This work described the multi-genre of the rite as an informative dramatic performance and gave the classification of its relevant folklore and poetry types: songs, lamentations, proverbs, riddles, sayings. In his work “The Mammoth: the Western Siberian Legend” wrote in 1907 after the storyteller D. Plekhanov, Gorodtsov informed that in Siberia until the present times, people believed that mammoth was still alive. In the other published work “Holidays and Rites of the Peasants in the Tyumen Region”, Peter Alexeyevich depicted the variety of rites that he observed and studied in the Tavdinski region. He described the rites of Semik (holiday of the eastern Slavs), Pentecost, autumn preparation to the Nativity Fast, Shrovetide and Easter rituals. His works also reflected folk poetry and songs relevant to the rites. From storyteller Zayakin Gorotzov he put down an epic song of Ilya Muromets performed not in the typical ancient song manner, but by prose retelling.
After leaving the public service in 1908, Gorotsov became an attorney, and consulted Siberian banks. Besides, he had active social life - he was headed the Tyumen branch of The Society for Combating Child Mortality, he also was the full member of The Tobolsk Regional Museum, and conducted the emergent excavations of the mammoth's remains at the territory of the new good's court of the Tyumen railway station.
In 1914, the Tyumen newspaper “The Herald of The Western Siberia” published three tales by Gorotsov. In 1916, his most famous and significant work “Holidays and Rites of the Peasants in the Tyumen Region” was edited. November 1918, the fair copy of the article “The Siberian Plague” was dated, released after the collector's death in 1924 in the papers of the local history society.
Peter Alexeyevich Gorodtsov died on July 16, 1919, in Tyumen leaving the great heritage of manuscripts. The unique archive of his works was donated to the Tyumen Society of the Local Scientific Study, which housed the Gorodtsov Library. Today part of Gorodtsov's heritage is available at the Library of the Slovtsov Museum Complex, which is the structural subdivision of The Tyumen Museum and Educational Association.
The materials collected by Gorotsov show his highest art activity, great fantasy and aesthetic feeling of the peasantry. His works indicate that the Tobolsk province and Tyumen Region in particular were distinguished by the folk art variety. At the beginning of the XX century, epic songs, ancient stories, fairytales, legends, ritual poetry were not out of date; they were the vivid folk art.
Lit.: Беспалова Л. Тюменские тетради П. А. Городцова // Тюменская старина. Тюмень, 2006. Т. 1. С. 267-273; Коновалова Е. Н. Археологические раскопки П. А. Городцова в Тюмени (1912-1913 гг.) // Тюменский исторический сборник. Тюмень, 2002. Вып. 5. С. 104-107; Темплинг В. Рожденный в январе (к юбилею П. А. Городцова) // Лукич. 2010. Ч. 32. С. 116-129; Темплинг В. Я. Городцов Петр Алексеевич // Большая Тюменская энциклопедия. Т. 1 : А-З. Тюмень, 2004. С. 342; Темплинг В. Я. Ипостаси духа: опыт заурядных биографий. Тюмень, 2012.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Городцов П. А. Сказки, записанные П. А. Городцовым. Тюмень, сентябрь 1915. 118 с.;
The material has been provided by the Presidential Library’s branch in Tyumen Region