V. A. Molochnikov

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Государственный музей истории религии

Scope and content:: Housed in the fonds are reminiscences by V. A. Molochnikov; materials about his public activities; articles about Lev Tolstoy; correspondence with family members and various other persons; articles by Lev Tolstoy, and copies of excerpts from his works; copies of Lev Tolstoy’s letters to various persons; etc. (1880s-1930s). Pertaining to Jewish history and culture is an “indictment of the townsman [meshchanin] Samuil Movshev Belen’kii for shipping 4,000 copies of works by Count Tolstoy that had been withdrawn from circulation,” and his prison diary (undated); as well as letters from I. Ia. Gintsburg, A. B. Goldenweiser, and others.

Administrative/biographical history:: Vladimir Aifalovich Molochnikov (1871-1936) was a metalworker, owner of an agricultural tool works, and public figure. He was active in the cultural life of Novgorod and in the operations of its municipal administration (1917-28). Of Jewish heritage, he converted to Russian Orthodoxy in 1893. He was an adherent of Tolstoyanism, and was acquainted with Lev Tolstoy and made several visits to him. In 1919-22, he was a representative of the Joint Council of Conscientious Objection Societies and Groups of Novgorod and the Northern Region. He was a member of the Vegetarian Society.

Access points: persons/families:: Belen’kii, Samuil Movshev; Goldenweiser, A. B.; Molochnikov, V. A. (Vladimir Aifalovich); Tolstoy, L. N.

Subject terms:: Correspondence; Jewish political activity; Literature; Literature--Writers, poets, and playwrights; Memoirs; Prisoners

System of arrangement:: The fonds includes a single inventory systematised according to the thematic-chronological principle.