As early as the Second Congress, Ilovaiskii began his intellectual rampage against the calling of the Varangians. A fascinating character from Riazan, his teachers noticed his intelligence and persuaded his parents to allow him a classical education. He studied in Moscow with the great historians of the 1840s and ’50s. When in the 1860s Moscow University limited him to teaching general rather than Russian history, he resigned his post. He supported himself writing history and sparking controveries relevant to Great Russian nationalism. This might explain how one of his textbooks enjoyed reprinted 44 editions. His daughter Varvara married another prominent archeologist, Ivan Tsvetaev, who remarried after Varvara’s premature death from tuberculosis. His second wife gave birth to the poetess Marina. Ilovaiskii moved from moderate to radical conservatism after the 1905 Revolution, joining the Union of Russian People.
Political Affiliation: Monarchist
From an impoverished family in a small provincial town, Buslaev’s brilliance and energy garnered him honorary professorships at all of Russia’s universities. Count Sergei Stroganov recognized the talents of his children’s tutor, and he took the young man with him on a 2-year tour of Western Europe. A follower of German philologist Jacob Grimm’s studies of historical influences on languages, Buslaev studied comparative linguistic influences on translations of the Gospels. Publishing prolifically on all aspects of language, his reputation landed him a palce as tutor to the ill-fated Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.
Great grandson of Catherine the Great, from her relationship with Grigorii Oslov, Bobrinskii enjoyed considerable wealth and social prestige, which he deployed at Chairman of the Archeological Commission, 1886-1917. His attempts to be elected to the first two Dumas from rightwing parties failed, but representing Kiev Province, the Third Duma elections proved the charm. He was also a member of the State Council and an ober-hofmeister to Tsar Nicholas II. He also directed the St. Petersburg orphanages for the charitable trust of Tsaritsa Maria Fedorovna.