In April 1922, Velimir Khlebnikov contracted malaria in Moscow. He was gravely ill. He wanted to go to Astrakhan to his parents. However, he agreed to Pyotr Miturich’s offer to stay in the Novgorod Governorate, in the village of Santalovo.

There the poet was housed in the building of a rural school, and when seriously ill — in a bathhouse, where they organized a living room. Santalovo became the last shelter on the poet’s life path. The school building, as well as the village itself, have not been preserved. The hospital survived, where the poet was unsuccessfully treated for some time, and the bathhouse is in a dilapidated state. Memorable plaques are installed in the places where Velimir once stayed.

The luggage of the King of Time consisted of two bags — one with clothes and the other with manuscripts. Before he was taken ill and had to stay in bed, the poet tried to put the manuscripts in order. Later, they formed the basis of a five-volume collection of works published by Nikolai Leonidovich Stepanov.

The heir of Pyotr Miturich, May Petrovich, wrote that the archive was brought to Santalovo “not in the notorious pillowcase, but in a huge iron chest” (his description of the chest corresponds to the appearance of the exhibit), and added,

The latter statement raised doubts among researchers of Khlebnikov’s work: could the poet, especially when he was sick, travel with such a heavy load? Most likely, as the researchers believe, he used the chest as a stationary storage while he lived in the dorms of VKhUTEMAS with the artist Evgeny Dmitrievich Spassky who took him in. On the road, he took with him bags or a stiff bag similar to a basket for poultry.

He probably obtained this chest during his military service. In World War I, the poet was listed as a private in the reserve infantry regiments of Tsaritsyn and Saratov. According to a family legend, shells and weapons were once carried in this receptacle. However, experts say that wooden boxes were used for such cargo; in general, such “army boxes” were very common.

In the museum, the chest is a separate “showcase”: photographs, books, newspaper clippings with Khlebnikov’s publications and “Squirrel” (“Belochka”) — Velimir’s favorite drawing of his sister Vera she made as a child are stored in it under glass.