The merchant’s drawing room has a vest of the governor Sergei Vyazemsky on display. This item is here for a reason: it is supposed to emphasize that there had always been a lot of communication between merchants and governors of ordinary small towns. Together, they took part in formal events, discussed business, as well as celebrated holidays in more casual settings.

Petersburg physician and archaeologist Vasily Florinsky, who came to Tomsk with the goal of establishing the first university beyond the Urals, wrote about the local nobility as follows: ‘The leading role here is played by the merchants. They set the tone of life here, as low as it is, and are welcomed as most honorable guests in parlors of the local administration <…> Wherever they go, they always take the top of the table: be it the residence of the governor or the bishop, not to mention minor officials.’

Sergei Vyazemsky was born in the Kostroma Governorate. He graduated from the Imperial Moscow University in 1870. From 1896 to 1900, he served as the vice-governor of Olonets, after which he was appointed the governor of Tomsk. In this capacity, Vyazemsky commissioned the construction of the Chuya road, which began in 1901 and was completed by 1903. He also authorized the establishment of a treasury in the village of Novonikolaevsky on the Ob River. This contributed to the village’s economic development and resulted in it being “promoted to the status of town” in December 1903. Vyazemsky took part in many major events that had great significance both for Tomsk and the governorate as a whole, including the consecration of the Holy Trinity Cathedral and the opening of the Tomsk Institute of Technology, among many others. In 1903, he was dismissed from his job as the governor of Tomsk and was appointed a member of the council under the Minister of Internal Affairs.

The odds are, Sergei Vyazemsky’s vest was made in St. Petersburg. It was sewn from several different fabrics, with the front likely being made of cotton-warp cloth, and light cotton being used for lining. The item has a classic en vogue design. Some of the stitching work was done by hand, while some was done using a sewing machine. Gold buttons with foreign blazonry immediately give away that the vest’s owner was not a commoner. The buttons on the top part of the vest differ in design from the ones found at the bottom. Most likely, this is because some of the buttons got torn off and ended up replaced by similar-looking ones.