The Commission of Petitions' Journals as a Source for the Reconstruction of the Personal History of the Descendants of the Architect V. I. Bazhenov

Personal history (history in biographies) is one of the most relevant areas in modern historical science. Historians conducting research in line with the resurgent biographical method and new biographical history focus on the lives of individual people. The name of the famous Russian architect Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov (1738–1799) has been forever etched in the annals of history. Despite the abundance of research on the biography of this outstanding architect, the personal history of his descendants remains largely unexplored. As is well known, almost all of Bazhenov's grandchildren were born before their parents' marriage, which means they were illegitimate (born out of wedlock). In 1810, Emperor Alexander I established the Commission of Petitions to consider complaints against top government institutions and petitions from individuals addressed to the emperor. Among the petitions of individuals, petitions for the legitimization of illegitimate children occupied a special place. During the study of the Commission's journals, which are stored in the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg, previously unknown information about the illegitimate grandchildren of Vasily Bazhenov and their legitimization was revealed. This article explores the potential of the Commission's journals for reconstructing the personal history of the descendants of the well-known architect, which can also be applied to the reconstruction of the personal histories of other famous families. Without this archival source, which has not been widely used in scientific research, it would have been almost impossible to discover many previously unknown facts about the descendants of a prominent Russian cultural figure. In addition, this study presents previously unknown information from the history of the Bazhenov family, found in other sources. This study uses such methods of historical research as historical-genetic, historical-comparative, historical-systemic, etc., as well as the biographical method and methodological tools of auxiliary historical disciplines, primarily genealogy, are widely used.