This unique document was found in the Kazan archives at the request of Irina Chaliapina-Baksheyeva — Feodor Chaliapin’s eldest daughter. This is the 1873 register of the Church of the Epiphany in Kazan. Its section on births states that Ivan Chaliapin, a peasant from Vyatka Governorate, and his lawful wife Yevdokia Prozorova had their son Feodor on February 1, 1873.

The next day, on February 2, the boy was christened by “a peasant from the Dubrovki village, Murom Uyezd, Vladimir Governorate, Nikolay Alexey Tonkov and Lyudmila Rodionova, a daughter of a bourgeois from Kazan Rodion Petrov Shishkov.” The baptism was performed by Archpriest Yevphimiy Malov, who later became a famous Orientalist scholar, a professor at the Kazan Theological Academy, and a member of the Kazan Society of Archaeology, History and Ethnography.

In the register, Feodor Chaliapin’s last name is misspelled and recorded as “Chaliapkin”, which suggests that the godfather was not well acquainted with his godson’s family. Feodor Chaliapin’s parents were peasants of Vyatka Governorate who worked in the city. His mother made some money as a wet nurse, and his father worked as a water carrier, a street sweeper, and a clerk. Each year, they paid taxes and were issued a passport for temporary residence in Kazan.

The Central State Archive of Leningrad retained the passport of Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, issued by the chief of Vozhgaly Volost on February 25, 1900. Feodor Chaliapin, even when he already was a world-famous performer of the Russian Imperial Theaters and the soloist of His Imperial Majesty, had to sign all official documents as “a peasant Feodor Ivanov Chaliapin”, emphasizing his taxed estate origin by the undignified half-patronymic “Ivanov” instead of “Ivanovich”. This practice was a remnant of the times when serfs did not have surnames and instead had their patronymic shortened and used as their last name.

The Alexey Gorky and Feodor Chaliapin Museum presents a replica of the unique artifact created in 1987.