Oleksandr Tverdokhliebov is a Researcher of Handicrafts of Slobozhanshchyna

Author

Mishchenko Liudmyla

Director of the Municipal Institution «Okhtyrka City Local History Museum», (Okhtyrka, Sumy Region, Ukraine).

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6483-0394

Oleksandr Tverdokhliebov is a Researcher of Handicrafts of Slobozhanshchyna

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of the creative heritage of Oleksandr Dmytrovych Tverdokhliebov as a historian and ethnographer of Slobozhanshchyna of the mid to late-19th – early-20th century. During a long ethnographic-folklore expedition in the 1880s, the researcher has collected, recorded, processed, and systematized data on the handicrafts of the Okhtyrka region, as well as the anthropological, social-economic, everyday life and folklore characteristics of craftsmen of various age, gender, marital status, and other groups. In general, 13 settlements have been researched within the expedition framework. Information on nearly 400 artisans and craftsmen has been collected. The purpose of the article is to characterize the research contribution of O. Tverdokhliebov on the history of handicrafts in the Okhtyrka Region. The object of the research is the creative heritage of O. Tverdokhliebov dedicated to the handicrafts existed in Slobozhanshchyna, particularly in the Okhtyrka Region, in the late 19th – early 20th century. The subject of the submitted study includes the peculiarities, informational potential and effectiveness of O. Tverdokhliebov’s ethnographic studies. The content of his main articles on pottery, weaving, tanning, blacksmithing and other industries common during that period is comprehensively presented. Attention is paid to the peculiarities of the presentation of the ethnographic-folklore expedition results, their program, geography, the production cost of handicraft items, and the size of the profit. Common and distinct features of the handicraft industries in the cities of Okhtyrka, Kotelva, Bohodukhiv, and other settlements of Slobidska Ukraine are shown. The value of the terminological part of each essay is noted. It contains a dictionary and brief definitions of terms (both commonly used and dialectal) used in the craftsmen daily lives. The main ways of selling goods common for handicrafts are defined as well as different depending on the specifics of the product and the demand for it. The influence of handicrafts on the social and economic development of the region is emphasized.

Keywords

Oleksandr Tverdokhliebov, Okhtyrka Region, Sloboda Ukraine, craft, handicrafts, pottery, blacksmithing, tanning, weaving, ethnographic-folklore expedition.

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