PAVLO GALAGAN (1853-1869) IN THE SOURCES OF PERSONAL ORIGIN

Abstract

The article explains deep understanding of the family and genealogical history of some families of Ukrainian elite of Cossack origin in the second half of the 19th century. Pavlo Galagan, as a personality, who is the last direct descendant of the Cossack Hetman origin who acquired high social status at the beginning of the 18th century, remains only as a “memorial name”. Grygoriy Galagan and Catherine Galagan (Kochubey), his parents, to commemorate his son after his premature death, often mention him in the context of the university foundation. The author creates a “biographical portrait” of Pavlo Galagan and interprets information about the socio-cultural life of the Galagan family, describes the attitude of the representatives of Ukrainian elite of the 19th century to the problems of education, religion, Ukrainian identity etc. The article describes Pavlo Galagan’s social life in the context of the environment based on the interpretation of the content sources of personal origin (memoirs, diaries, letters, etc.) created by him and people close to him. The main focus is devoted to memories of Pavlo Galagan’s father and mother created for the College “Yearbook” of P. Galagan, published by A. Stepovych in 1896, correspondence, in particular a pile of letters from father to his son dated the first half of 1860s, travel notes and P. Galagan’s diary, created upon the impressions from the first trip abroad in 1866. The author emphasizes that Pavlo Galagan origin and ideological priorities are formed, on the one hand, upon well-established traditions of training of young elite, on the other hand, according to the liberal-democratic beliefs and “Ukrainophile” preferences of his parents.