Before October 1917 it was in the scheme of things in Russia: every intellectual, that is one who belonged to what we call the intelligentsia, should be well versed in native history and know the acts of one's forefathers. Therefore many historians were anxious to improve the status of history at school where it lingered in the shadows as a stepdaughter of sorts. One of these dedicated men was a scholar eminent in those days - Nikolai Ivanovich Kareyev. Alas, today few know anything about his lifework, and those eager to learn must search high and low for snips and snatches of reminiscences, too scarce, unfortunately. So in this memorial appreciation we would like to recapitulate some of the milestones of the life of this glorious man. That happened on the sixth of December of 1850 in Moscow: a boy Nikolai was born into a family of hereditary nobility and career officers. His grandfather was an army general; and his father, an army officer too, fought in the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Wounded in action, he sent in his papers to become a civil servant: he held a governor's office in various small towns of the Smolensk gubernia (province). The infant's mother was Yekaterina Osipovna Gerassimova, a landlord's daughter. In his early childhood Nikolai received excellent at home - the family invited tutors who taught him arithmetic, geography and French. He continued his education at the First Moscow Gymnasium (classical grammar school) for which purpose his parents had to sell part of their property It paid off: being at the top of the class, the boy was in for honorary mention on the gymnasium's "golden roll", and he received a gold medal on graduation. page 78 While at grammar school, the young Nikolai made friends with Vladimir Solovyov who grew up to become an illustrious philosopher, poet and prose writer; now, Vladimir's father was a prominent historian and member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences-Sergei Solovyov. Nikolai Kareyev later had the good for ... Читать далее