The museum’s collection features a photograph of Pyotr Isidorovich Golikov, who would later become the writer Arkady Gaidar.

Pyotr Isidorovich was born on January 26, 1879 in the suburban Troitskaya Sloboda near the county town of Shchigry. Pyotr Isidorovich’s grandfather, Danila Golikov, was a serf of the Golitsyn princes. At the age of 19, he was conscripted and served for nearly 20 years. Pyotr Golikov’s father, Isidor Danilovich, worked as a carpenter, making tables, cabinets, and stools.

Pyotr, the eldest son in the Golikov family, was the first to learn to read and write. In 1896, he applied to the Kursk Teachers’ Seminary. Among the required documents was a certificate from his parents stating they had no objections to their son’s admission to the seminary. Pyotr compiled and wrote the text of the certificate himself. His illiterate parents sought help from Father Lavrenty to provide the necessary signatures. For a small fee, the priest wrote: “Signed on behalf of the illiterate Isidor and Natalya at their personal request by Hieromonk Lavrenty.”

After graduating from the seminary, Pyotr Isidorovich received a document stating: “Awarded the title of a primary school teacher and, upon admission to the specified position, entitled to all the rights associated with that position.” He signed a commitment to serve as a teacher for four years and was assigned to a school at the Lgov Sugar factory. Pyotr Isidorovich moved there with his wife, Natalya Arkadyevna.

On October 25, 1908, Pyotr Golikov began his service in the Nizhny Novgorod Excise Department. The family settled in the working-class suburb of Sormovo, in the Varikha settlement. There, Golikov began to perform the duties as a controller in the excise tax department.

In April 1909, the family moved to Nizhny Novgorod, where Pyotr Isidorovich was appointed senior controller and assigned the lowest rank of collegiate registrar, the 14th in the civil service hierarchy of the Russian Empire.

In mid-May 1912, Pyotr Isidorovich was appointed to the position of full-time controller in Arzamas. There, he started working at the state wine warehouse No. 3 with a salary of one thousand rubles per year.