Correspondence as a Historical Source for the Study of Family Relations and Child Rearing (Based on Documents of the 19th – Early 20th Century from the Russian State Archive of the Navy)

The article analyzes the basic principles of family relations and issues of child rearing in the officers’ families. It is based on epistolary sources from the 19th and early 20th century that are stored in the personal collections of the Russian State Archive of the Navy (RGA VMF). The research shows that due to the specifics of the service and frequent and prolonged absence of husband and father, correspondence was the main form of communication between all family members, which made it possible to resolve everyday-life, financial, household, and parenting issues, to inform about events, to consult, to share opinions and experiences, and to support each other. The main body of the article may be divided into two parts. The first part analyzes the correspondence between husbands and wives. The content of letters from men and women has been compared and ranked by thematic subjects. The research revealed the gender equality in family relationships as well as mutual respect and parity in decision-making. The second part of the article analyzes the children’s letters to their fathers, identifying the main topics and the influence of the family head on the parenting process through correspondence. Having studied the sources, the author identifies the directions of children’s socialization as well as socio-cultural and educational priorities in the family. Despite their frankness, the children’s letters reveal the independence in communication with the father, the attitude to sports and hardening the body, social estate tolerance, combination of spiritual education and physical labor. The study of epistolary sources originating from naval officers’ family members allows us to conclude that the principles of communication not only corresponded to the class affiliation of the authors but also were based on the peculiarities of the professional activity of the family head. The conditions of his service caused the need for his wife to make independent decisions, and the children were encouraged to conform to the image of their father, who was an authority for them. Through the letters under analysis, it is possible to understand the education and upbringing priorities typical of the naval officers’ families. The letters also represent the reasons for the parents’ pride in their children as well as their worries and dissatisfaction.

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