And We're Off...

Well, here I go.

As some of you may know, I'm a historian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I specialize in Russian history. Specifically, I'm interested in the political, institutional, and intellectual history of the early Russian Empire, say 1650-1850, without getting in to too many disputes.

My first book was a biography of the Bakunin family; on the whole, I think it went fine. But after being cooped up, intellectually, in a small,private archive for over a decade, I decided it was time to hit the road, metaphorically and literally, and see a little more of this place we call Russia. And beyond that I began to be interested in the big question -- researched little, in relation to its importance -- of how people got around this place called Russia.

It's something Russian princes, certainly, worried about from earliest times (ca. 13th century¹), with an obligation (sometimes a tax) called podvoda: 'carriage', or perhaps more literally 'cartage', as the word podvoda also means 'cart'. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that everything else involved in the making of a place called Russia depended on the simple business of hauling things around.

And so when I set out to start this blog, I couldn't think of a better name.

What is this, then?

This is, simply, my cart, carrying my thoughts about my new project, as they evolve and as I have time to write them down. All blogs, of course, run the risk of graphomania; and I guess I could just as well keep my thoughts to myself.

But I've chosen to throw open the research process for three reasons:

1) It's a convenient way for me to focus my thoughts, and discipline them, as I go along; somehow writing in a handwritten journal, despite my antique desire to do so, just doesn't happen; and in any event, I'll be on the literal road a lot this year, and in this sense a journal is just another thing to haul and lose.

2) I suppose that on occasion I might want to invite others to comment on an idea I've had; or alternatively, it might be useful to someone to read this open research journal, for their own reasons;

3) Last, but not least, I've just helped launch an online Working Group for the Study of Mobility in Russia and the Soviet Union (see link at right); and this blog will also be a place where I'll reflect on what's going on over there.

In any event, this blog is about my ongoing research and discoveries. I welcome comment.


1. See I. Ia. Gurliand, Iamskaia gon'ba v moskovskom gosudarstve do kontsa XVII veka (Iaroslavl': Tipografiia gubernskogo pravleniia, 1909), 24-26.