Keyword: «yalgub old believers»

Using the example of the “case of Yalgub schismatics,” which came to the attention of Senator AO Dyugamel, who carried out an audit in the Olonets province in 1860, it is shown what role this event could play in the official biography of a particular official. Tikhon Rudnitsky, who in 1859 conducted an investigation into the actions of the Old Believers of the Yalgubsky parish, failed to catch the liberalization of the government's course towards schismatics that had begun. The methods of investigation used by him, which were usual during the reign of Nicholas I, were condemned by the senator and turned out for him to be removed from service, brought to justice and subsequent many years of unsuccessful attempts to justify himself and return to public service. When writing the article, the microhistory technique was used. The core of the source base of the article is the materials of a multivolume criminal case, which, perhaps, are inferior only to ego-documents in their ability to convey to the modern researcher and reader the feelings and thoughts of people of a long-gone era.