“I Would Be Very Grateful to You if You Don’t Refuse to Sometimes Help with Advice”: Letters from V. I. Goshkevich to V. A. Gorodtsov

The article publishes 8 letters from the founder of the Kherson Museum and its first director V. I. Goshkevich to the curator of Russian Historical Museum V. A. Gorodtsov. The Kiev and Kherson periods of Goshkevich’s life and work are considered — the years of study at the Kyiv Theological Seminary and the University of St. Vladimir, choosing a path in science, working in the Kherson Provincial Statistical Committee and creating an archaeological museum with it. The dialogue was started on the initiative of Goshkevich, who was attracted by Gorodtsov’s work on ancient ceramics in Russia. The Kherson Museum received a donation of the main printed works of the curator of Russian Historical Museum. Considerable attention is paid in the article to the comparative biography of both scientists. The destinies of Goshkevich and Gorodtsov have many similarities: both are from a family of clergy, studied in theological seminaries, and made their way into science with considerable difficulties. Gorodtsov was helped along this path by the patronage of the chairman of the Moscow Archaeological Society, Countess P. S. Uvarova, who opened up wide opportunities for excavations in various regions of the empire for the career officer and then keeper of the Russian Historical Museum. Goshkevich took a lot of effort and time with the creation and functioning of the Kherson Archaeological Museum and the routine work of collecting materials for the archaeological map of the Black Sea region. These endeavors became the main meaning of his life and work. Goshkevich’s works were continued by I. V. Fabritsius, A. V. Dobrovolsky and subsequent generations of researchers.