Boris Lavrentievich Khlebnikov (1877–1937) was a cousin of Velimir Khlebnikov on his father’s side, Vladimir Khlebnikov. On August 1, 1886, he became Velimir’s godfather. The poet was baptized in the Tundutovo Ascension Church in Chernoyarsk Uyezd, Astrakhan Governorate. Ekaterina Petrovna Levitova was his godmother.

Lavrenty Khlebnikov was an honorary citizen of Astrakhan, a member of the city council, and a first-class councilor of the City Duma. It was his descendants who made up the majority of the Astrakhan branch of the Khlebnikov family.

Boris, the son of Lavrenty and his first wife Anna Katonovna, graduated from Kazan University in 1900 “with a doctor’s degree” and, as the family legend says, continued his studies at the University of Göttingen in Germany.

Natalia Alexandrovna Drozdova, the great-niece of Boris Khlebnikov, recalling the words of her mother, described him as a selfless and kind man who would never “offend the honor” of being a doctor. He was drafted twice: during the Russo-Japanese War, when he served in the Far East, and in the First World War. He was captured by the Germans.

Returning to Astrakhan, he opened a private practice at home, but during the epidemic he worked in cholera barracks. There he was helped by his half-sister Ekaterina, who later recalled that Boris “did not feel fear, but shamed cowardly doctors… and never called them by their first name and patronymic.” He also founded a venereological dispensary in the city.

During the famine in the 1930s, Ekaterina Lavrentievna and her daughter Evgenia lived with him and witnessed both his hard work and his love for luxury. Even though he owned an eight-bedroom apartment and periodically “allowed himself to buy scarce products in Torgsin” [state-run hard-currency stores], the NKVD did not bother Boris Lavrentievich: he was an experienced specialist and a popular person in the city, even “the butchers from the Bolshiye Isady market… adored him.”

Boris Khlebnikov was buried in the old Astrakhan cemetery, in the Khlebnikov family vault. The photo on display has been preserved in the Khlebnikov family photo album.