Melnikov Andrey Pavlovich (June 1, 1855, Nizhny Novgorod — July 16, 1930, Nizhny Novgorod) was a Nizhny Novgorod historian, local historian, ethnographer, and archivist, the son of Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky. He graduated from the Academy of Arts with the title of "non-class artist." Other sources indicate that Melnikov graduated from the Moscow School of Painting with a small silver medal; as a painter he participated in the first Nizhny Novgorod art exhibition of 1885, and his works were closely connected with the Nizhny Novgorod land.[1] He is known for his works on the history and ethnography of the Nizhny Novgorod region, the Old Believers in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and the Nizhny Novgorod Fair.[1]

Government and Archival Service

From 1888 to 1917, Melnikov served as a special-assignments official under the Nizhny Novgorod governors. Over the course of this service he worked under seven consecutive Nizhny Novgorod governors; in 1898 he was confirmed in the post of inspector of printing houses, photographic studios, libraries, and bookshops in Nizhny Novgorod.[1] Concurrently, from 1909 to 1917, he served as press inspector, and from 1913 he was a member of the military censorship commission. Following the The February Revolution, from March to October 1917, he held the post of special-assignments official under the Nizhny Novgorod provincial commissar of the Provisional Government.[1]

In 1917 he became head, and in 1918 inspector, of the Nizhny Novgorod Political Archive (Archive of the Revolution), and subsequently directed a department of the Central Provincial Archive.[1]

Academic and Local History Work

From 1888 to 1918, Melnikov was a member of the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Learned Archival Commission (NizhGUAK), and in 1910–1911 served as its acting secretary. Melnikov donated ancient documents, books, and personal belongings of his father, writer P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, to the NizhGUAK library.[1] In 1921 he was one of the founders of the Archaeological and Ethnological Commission. He was a member of the Moscow Archaeological Institute, the Russian Military-Historical Society, and the Yaroslavl Archaeological Commission.[1]

In the 1920s he taught Pedagogical University (offering a course in local history), worked as an assistant at the ethnography department of the biology faculty of Universities in Nizhny Novgorod, and headed the arts and crafts division of the encyclopedic faculty of NizhGU.[1]

His scholarly interests encompassed local history, ethnography, archival studies, the history of the Old Believers, the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka, and Nizhny Novgorod itself. Among his principal works are "A Historical Survey of the Nizhny Novgorod Region" (1899), "Essays on the Everyday History of the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka" (1917; reissued 1993), "Nizhny Novgorod Antiquities" (1923; reissued 1992), and the guidebook "Nizhny Novgorod and the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate" (1896). In 1911 his collaborative work "On the Tercentenary of the Time of Troubles" was published in Moscow, comprising historical and ethnographic essays on the Nizhny Novgorod region. In addition to major monographs, Melnikov published around 50 articles in periodicals and collected volumes; "Nizhny Novgorod Antiquities" appeared in 1927.[1][1]

Legacy

An obituary for Melnikov was published by A. V. Likin in Gorkovskaya Kommuna (newspaper)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))" in 1930. A portrait of Andrey Pavlovich by Vasily Grigoryevich Perov is held in Nizhny Novgorod collections; its history is the subject of a note by L. Trube in "Notes of Local Historians" (1991). The reissues of "Nizhny Novgorod Antiquities" and "Essays on the Everyday History of the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka" in the 1990s brought Melnikov's works back to a wide readership. Andrey Pavlovich Melnikov is buried at the Bugrovsky Cemetery in Nizhny Novgorod.[3][1]

Sources

  1. ngounb.ru — Literary Map of Nizhny Novgorod Region — Melnikov graduated from the Moscow School of Painting with a small silver medal — not from the Academy of Arts, as is sometimes stated. As…
  2. opentextnn.ru — Melnikov Andrey Pavlovich (1855–1930) — OPEN TEXT (archive)
  3. names52.ru — Melnikov Andrey Pavlovich — Andrey Pavlovich Melnikov is buried at the Bugrovskoe Cemetery in Nizhny Novgorod. (archive)
  4. opentextnn.ru — Pudalov B.M. On the 120th Anniversary of the Provincial Learned Archival Commissions — OPEN TEXT (archive)
  5. mapy.com