On family histories. Historiographical phenomenon of family chronicles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Abstract

This article centres on the issue of family chronicles and their distinctive features. The chronicles fall into the category of private narratives dealing with family history which, in view of the sources and research rules on which they are based, come close to works recognized as falling within the field of historiography. Drawing on examples of twentieth-century chronicles, the author analyses the issue in the broad context of other genre forms belonging to the category of family histories.