Yulian Krachkovsky (July 25, 1840 - July 25, 1903) was a folklorist, ethnographer, historian, archaeographer, teacher, whose activities coincided with the rise of interest in local studies, the study of folklore poetry, everyday life, customs and rites of the Belarusian people.
Basic biographical materials about the scientist, information about his work can be obtained using the collections and electronic information resources of the National Library of Belarus (E-Catalogue, the Union Electronic Information Resource "The National Bibliography of Belarus").
Yulian Krachkovsky was born in the village of Ozyaty, Kobrin district (now Zhabinka district, Brest region). He studied at the Zhirovichi Theological School, the Vilna Theological Seminary, the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. He renounced the ecclesiastical title and for almost 30 years worked as a teacher at the Molodechno Teachers' Seminary, an inspector of public schools in the Vilna educational district, director of the Polotsk Teachers' Seminary, the Vilna Teachers' Institute, and the Turkestan Teachers' Seminary.
From 1888 to 1902, Yu. Krachkovsky headed the Vilna Archaeographic Committee He was also the chairperson of the temporary commission for the construction of the Vilna Public Library and Museum. He participated in the organization of the IX Archaeological Congress in Vilna (1893). Further biographical information can be found in the factual database “Belarus in Persons and Events” and the National Database of Authority / Regulatory Records.
Yulian Krachkovski showed interest in ethnography and folklore at the very beginning of his teaching career. His main ethnographic works were "Essays on the Life of a West Russian Peasant" (1869) and "Life of a West Russian Peasant" (1874). Here the author deeply explored everyday life, family and calendar-agrarian rituals, folk songs, beliefs and superstitions, proverbs and sayings of the Belarusians... A number of ethnographic articles by the scientist were published in the newspaper "Kurier Wileński" (The Vilnius Gazette).
Yulian Krachkovski was interested not only in pedagogy and ethnography but also in history. He was the author of "The Old Vilna Before the late 17th Century", "Essays from Russian History", publications on the history of the Uniate Church. He was the author of the collection "Historical Review of the Activities of the Vilna School District in the First Period of its Existence, 1803-1832" (1903), the editor of two volumes of the "Archeographic Collection of Documents." Under his supervision, the Vilna Archeographic Commission issued 14 volumes of ancient act documents. He was directly involved in the preparation and editing of some of them.
Biographical and bibliographic materials about the scientist are also presented in the multimedia publication dedicated to the Vilna Archeographic Commission, released by the National Library of Belarus in 2017. There is a personal page dedicated to the renowned fellow citizen on the website of the Zhabinka Central Library System (a link to the resource is also presented in the Union E-Catalogue of the Libraries of Belarus).
Bibliology Research Department
