The article is devoted to the study of the economic and public educational activities of the Yakut merchant of the 1-st guild A. M. Kushnarev. The main purpose of the publication is to recreate the historical portrait of A. M. Kushnarev. Achieving this goal involves the widespread use of previously unpublished and not put into scientific circulation archival sources. The topic has theoretical and applied relevance. The author determined the birthplace of A. M. Kushnarev and the initial sources of capital accumulation. The article states that A. M. Kushnarev was of peasant origin. In 1852 he arrived with a party of immigrants for the construction of the Ayan tract in the Yakutsk region from Transbaikalia. During the period of the Russian-American Company, he was engaged in the delivery of state and commercial cargo from the port of Ayan to Yakutsk. Established business contacts with well-known entrepreneurs of North-Eastern Siberia – I. G. Gromov, I. I. Silin, N. D. Everstov. After the closure of the Russian-American Company, A. M. Kushnarev moved with his family to Pavlovsk, Yakutsk Region. In the 1870-1880 years A. M. Kushnarev was engaged in the supply of meat to the gold mines of the Lensko-Olekminsky system. The article revealed that at the end of the XIX century A. M. Kushnarev created his own trading system and was actively engaged in fur trade in North-Eastern Siberia. The merchant’s stores were located in Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Okhotsk, Ayan, Nelkan, Kolymsk, Bulun, Bodaibo. In 1881, A. M. Kushnarev received a merchant certificate of the 1-st guild. At the end of the XIX century A. M. Kushnarev's fortune was estimated at 1 million rubles. Public education activities of A. M. Kushnarev was expressed in the establishment of a public school at its own expense. The commercial business of A. M. Kushnarev was continued by his son – P. A. Kushnarev and his daughter – A. A. Bushueva, who founded the trading house “The Heirs of A. M. Kushnarev” in 1903. In conclusion, it is noted that at present in Pavlovsk the Republic of Sakha Yakutia has preserved the material heritage of the Yakut merchant. This is a residential building and a chapel – architectural monuments of the late XIX – early XX centuries.

Kushnareva Margarita Dmitrievna, Doctor of Sciences (History), Associate Professor, Department of Service and Service Technologies, Irkutsk State University, 1, K. Marx st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation, e-mail: rita270880@mail.ru

Kushnareva M.D. Historical Portrait of the Yakut Merchant of the 1-st Guild A. M. Kushnarev. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series History, 2020, vol. 32, pp.4-10. https://doi.org/10.26516/2222-9124.2020.32.4 (in Russian)

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