Anecdote as a historical source (historiographic aspect)

Importance. The anecdote is a unique historical source for Russian history, reflecting the population's distinctive mentality and a source for studying the history of everyday life. While there have been numerous studies devoted to various aspects of the anecdote, conducted by scholars in various disciplines (history, philology, psychology, and cultural studies), a comprehensive historiographical review of the scholarly and other literature on the anecdote remains lacking. The purpose of the study is to consider the anecdote in the historiographical aspect as a source of studying the history of everyday life in relation to both the imperial, Soviet and modern periods.
Materials and Methods. The study is based on an analysis of monographs, articles, and other published works, as well as dissertations devoted to anecdotes as historical sources or containing fundamental propositions relevant to this topic. The primary research method is historiographic.
Results and Discussion. It has been established that, among the body of work devoted to the anecdote, philological studies predominate quantitatively, but from the perspective of characterizing the anecdote as a historical source, most of these are of little value. Historical works have identified and characterized two main areas of anecdote research: 1) the study of personalized anecdotes dedicated to Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and Paul I; 2) the study of the “modern” anecdote as a genre of urban folklore and a historical source for the history of Russian mentality.
Conclusions. Despite the considerable amount of research on the anecdote, there are no comprehensive studies that specifically attempt to characterize the Russian mentality and Russian legal consciousness in their static and dynamic forms, based on the study of historical sources such as anecdotes from the 18th to early 20th centuries. The anecdote as a historical source for the history of everyday life is also virtually unexplored.

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