The wooden desk belonged to prince Serge Volkonsky (1860-1937), one of the foremost figures in the artistic and cultural life at the turn of the 20th century. An intellectual and a sensible person, for the whole life he was fascinated with theatre art, held a position of a director of the Imperial Theatres. His great influence expressed itself in the improvement of quality and technique of acting. In the memory of his famous grandfather Sergei Grigoryevich Volkonsky he organized an exhibition dedicated to the Decembrists in the building of People’s House in 1918. It was named Decembrists as the First Freedom Fighters.

This showpiece was situated in Serge Volkonsky’s house, in his study. The desk was made by a local craftsman from Borisoglebsk, the tabletop was covered with thick cloth in accordance with the fashion of the time. The Underwood typewriter used by the prince to write the soldiers’ letters home, when there was a hospital for the wounded ones during the time of the World War I, was situated on the desk. Serge Volkonsky used to write many letters, articles, and other printed manuscripts at this desk.

The story of the desk’s appearance was described by the prince in his book My Memoirs. The prince contacted a head of the uyezd Ivan Olenin with this question. This is how he described him in his notes: ‘Our head of the uyezd Ivan Olenin was worth special mention. He was voted for many times, for three years each time. But what for? Only for a reason there was no one else to vote for. It was a remarkable phenomenon. I’ve never seen any living creature looking so much as a literary character as Ivan Pavlovich looked like Sobakevich.

Cynicism and lightness of his lies surpassed all the possibilities. He used to tell about himself, ‘what kind of a leader am I? I’m a kulak, not a leader.’ I remember when I needed a desk. When he found out, he told me he had one he wanted to sell.’ As a result, Ivan Olenin sold a desk to the prince for 70 roubles after haggling over the price. Serge Volkonsky showed his acquisition to the local pharmacist Robert Weiss, who recommended a cabinet-maker for repairing the desk. The cabinet-maker recognized the table he made himself and said that he’d sold it for 50 roubles. In the end of his story the prince compared his acquisition to the Sobakevich’s road cart.

This painting was created in 1889 by a German female painter Ida von Kortzfleisch. It’s a copy of a same-name painting by a battle painter Wilhelm Camphausen.

Wilhelm Camphausen was a prominent painter, who worked in battle, historical, and portrait genre. He was born in 1818 in Dusseldorf and graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He was called into the Army where he worked as a field painter. It was the time in the army which inspired him to became a battle painter. Since then the soldier’s image played a special part in his art. The artist was also very careful about the precise reproduction of a historical costume.

The procession of puritans crossing the river is depicted on Puritan Horsemen by Wilhelm Camphausen. Puritans are the Protestants, followers of Calvinists, who argued against the official Catholic Church. Their fight for their values resulted in the religious conflict and is known as the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648).
Among Camphausen’s works of the mature period are such paintings as Frederick II and Bayreuth at Hohenfriedeberg Dragoon, Parade in front of Frederick II near Potsdam (1863), Blyukher’s Waftage Across the Rhine at Kaub (1860), equestrian portraits of prince Heinrich and prince Leopold Dessau (1859).
The painter passed away in 1885.

Ida von Kortzfleisch (1850-1915), an author of the painting, which is now in the collection of the Borisoglebsk History and Art Museum, was born in Pillau (now Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Oblast). Most of her works were signed Pillau, but in case with the Puritan Horsemen there’s a signature Kortzfleisch on the flipside.

The German artist became well-known for her active social work. In 1870 she opened a military hospital, in 1894 she took part in the Women’s movement. The educational question was very important for Ida von Kortzfleisch, so she founded a Higher Women’s School for educating girls from the noble families. There they were taught not only house work and garden work, but were also motivated to give back to the community.
However, having founded this educational institution, Ida von Kortzfleisch didn’t stop and continued to create such institutions around the whole territory of Prussia.

It was Henry Mill who came up with the idea to create a typewriter. He patented it in the early 18th century, however, neither the device itself, nor other information about it can be found.

The inventors came back to the idea of creating such device one century later, step by step developing the typewriter. In Russia such device was created by the inventor Mikhail Alisov, but the project wasn’t successful.
In 1873, thanks to the hard work of the printer Latham Sholes, the useful and solid typewriter finally appeared. That’s when the American company Remington Arms, which started producing that model, got into the game. At first the new invention was regarded with suspicion, but the companies, banks, and business concerns soon enough understood the profit of using typewriter in their job.

Story of the famous American Underwood Typewriter Company, which produced the typewriters, started with the inventor Franz Wagner. In the late 19th century he created the more useful variation of such mechanism. The lettering parts were placed horizontally, and the font was visible during typing, which made it much easier to use the device. Franz Wagner sold his invention to the American businessman John Underwood, which made his company much richer.

Typewriters were imported to Russia from the United States and Europe. The devices made by Remington and Underwood companies were the most popular ones. Its own production appeared in Russia only after 1929, when the first Soviet typewriter Yanalif was produced.

This model was made in 1913 and belonged to the prince Serge Mikhailovich Volkonsky, who worked a lot and preferred to type his texts other than write them by hand. Many of his books, articles, materials for the lectures appeared with the help of this Underwood. The prince used this typewriter to maintain his voluminous correspondence. His communication with the baron Nikolay Nikolaevich Vrangel is especially noteworthy. They were united not only by their close friendship, but their common interests in literature, history, and art. The interesting thing about their letters is the French words written with Russian letters, as the prince didn’t have Latin letters on his keyboard. During the World War I hospital for the wounded soldiers was placed at Serge Mikhailovich’s place. And Underwood typewriter came in useful, it was used by the prince to type the soldiers’ letters home.

In spring 1818 prince Serge Volkonsky (1860-1937) organized the first exhibition on the Decembrists in the history of the Soviet Russia at People’s House in Borisoglebsk. The exhibition was entitled Decembrists as the First Freedom Fighters. The event was dedicated to the memory of his grandfather, the Decembrist Sergey Grigorievich Volkonsky (1788-1865).

Sergey Volkonsky came from a princely family, he got a great education. The prince participated in the Patriotic War in 1812. For his distinguished service he was promoted to the rank of Mayor General. However, in the course of time the prince got disappointed in the existing political system and joined the ranks of the Decembrists in 1819. The arrest for his anti-state activity followed in 1826. He was sentenced to penal servitude for twenty years in Siberia.

His grandson did a lot for preserving memory about the heroic period of Sergey Grigorievich’s life, saved and kept the attributes of the time. It was Serge Volkonsky who finished working on the manuscript The Archive of the Decembrist S. G. Volkonsky.

For the exhibition in 1918 the prince prepared and printed the catalogue Decembrists as the First Freedom Fighters with two hundred copies. The catalogue started with the small introduction: ‘The following exhibition was motivated by a desire to use rich and various material of the Decembrists history for the public interest. By a happy chance the material is kept in Borisoglebsk uyezd. This is the first Decembrists exhibition in Russia. Let it serve as a warning to the ones who appreciate the past and the future life of our motherland, … an adequate tribute to the first freedom fighters in Russia.’

The exposition was exhibited in four spaces and was divided into four thematic collections: Before Siberia, Siberia, Official Russia, The Return. All exhibit items (portraits, paintings, documents, personal belongings from the Sergey Volkonsky’s archive) were taken by his grandson from the family estate Pavlovka.

When the exhibition was closed, at the prince’s instruction the exhibit items were moved to Moscow, and then they were divided between the capital’s museums. Some of the Volkonskys’ personal belongings were given to the local school museum. For many years they travelled between different museum collections, either going to the collection of the interior of the landlordly everyday life, or exhibited in the different showcases as objects from the Volkonsky family. Only one of two hundred copies of the catalogue printed in 1918 by Borisoglebovsky printing house survived to the present day. It was the basis for the concept of the first hall at the Siberian Passage exposition.