“Our family was called the ‘blessed family’ in the city...” (to the biography of Alexander Nikolaevich Pypin)

The work deals with the questions of the biography of the outstanding Russian scientist-humanitarian, academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences A. N. Pypin (1833–1904). The purpose of the study is to identify and summarize materials about the Saratov period of the scientist’s life, to present the history of his family, to reveal the role of his father and mother in intellectual and spiritual development. The study of a wide range of memoirs, documentary and epistolary sources resulted in establishing that the history of the noble family of the Pypins dates back to 1791. The ancestors on the father’s side, N. D. Pypin, were clerical workers, on the side of the mother A.E. Golubeva they were priests. It is shown that A. N. Pypin was brought up in a religious family, with high moral ideals, in the atmosphere of love and care. The role of parents in the formation of his humanitarian interests is significant. It is noted that the love of books and reading that distinguished Alexander Nikolaevich from an early age came from his family, from his mother, and was a natural necessity for all younger family members. Parents formed a picture of the world of their son by various means. If the mother did so through literature, primary educational knowledge, then the father formed it by means of contact with real life. He introduced his son to the world of peasant life, of serfdom. According to the scientist, N. D. and A. E. Pypins had a significant impact on the formation of his personality, influenced the choice of life priorities. The paper publishes for the first time the primary source about the birth of A. N. Pypin, the record in the metrical book of Saratov Church of the Holy Saviour, the formulary lists of his great-grandfather, grandfather and father.