Savva Morozov’s ancestors: Main Archive Directorate on the Vikulovich dynasty

The Moscow’s Main Archive Directorate (MMAD) keeps documents from the Vikulovich dynasty, a branch of the famous family of Morozov entrepreneurs. The founder of the family, Savva Morozov (1770–1860) was the founder of one of Russia’s largest trade and industrial textile factories. The MMAD’s materials include letters, diaries, photos, clothes, and utensils, to name a few.

Historically, the decendants of Morozov’s sons were named after the founder of the branch — Zakharoviches, Abramoviches, and Timofeyeviches with the exception of his senior son — Yelisei. The Yelisei Morozov dynasty was called Vikuloviches after the name of Yelisei’s only son Vikul Morozov (1829–1894) who created a large trade house capable of competing with his grandfather’s company.

Of all Vikul Morozov’s documents, some of the most interesting are his photo portraits and group photos of the Morozov family taken during family holidays, which depict sons, daughters, grandchildren and friends of the family.

Vikul Morozov was born in 1829 and began helping his father Yelisei manage the factory when he was still a young man. Yelisei Morozov opened the factory on a family plot in Nikolskoye in 1837. By the 1890s, the factory was employing about 10,000 people for whom the owner built a church, a clinic, schools, farms and other social buildings.

The manufacturing technology at the factory was continuously upgraded through the introduction of the latest technical developments. Steam boilers and electric lighting were installed. The factory’ products (fabrics, threads and yarn) were awarded with medals at Russian and international trade shows and were sold in retail shops in Moscow, St Petersburg and Riga. The company’s annual revenue reached 9 million roubles.

After Vikul Morozov’s death his business was inherited by his senior son Alexei (1857–1934) who headed the Partnership of Vikul Morozov’s Textiles & Sons. In 1897, Alexei Morozov with his brothers and Ivan Polyakov opened a new factory in the village of Savvino in the Bogorodsky parish in the Moscow Governorate. They called it the Partnership of Vikul Morozov & Sons, Ivan Polyakov and Co. It produced yarn and other goods for the Nikolskyaya Factory. In 1909, the two partnerships were merged into one.

Having headed the partnership for several years, Alexei Vikulovich handed the family business over to his younger brother Ivan and devoted himself to collecting fine and applied arts, something he was much more interested in than business.

Alexei Morozov travelled a lot. The MMAD has a diary he kept during his travels to Europe in 1878. In this diary he described his impressions of the cities he visited, including Berlin, Dresden, Zurich, Paris, Milan Vienna and Warsaw, to name a few. During his journeys in Russia and Europe, Alexei sent letters and photo postcards to the wife of his brother Ivan. One of them describes in detail a trip to Yaroslavl and Kostroma in 1913. His report included over 50 postcards.

In 1913, Alexei Morozov demised his collection to the city of Moscow, having in mind to establish a museum in his own house on Vvedensky Pereulok (renamed Podsosensky Pereulok in 1922). In 1918, part of his collection was lost during the capture of his mansion by Latvian anarchists. Several months later, his collection was nationalised.  

At first, the collection was kept in the mansion that was designated the Museum-Exhibition of Artistic Antiquity, while Alexei Morozov was appointed the custodian of his own possessions. However, later the collection was separated and sent to different museums. The collection of items from the 13^th-17^th centuries was transferred to the State History Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery, and the silverware went to the Armoury. The unique collection of engravings and lithographs, for which Alexei Morozov compiled a four-volume catalogue, was deposited for safekeeping in the Fine Arts Museum (now the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts). The State Porcelain Museum was established in the mansion to accommodate the collection of Russian porcelain (about 2,500 items). In the early 1930s, it was renamed the State Museum of Ceramics and moved to Kuskovo.

More details about the Morozov dynasty are described at the new exhibition “My Family-My History. The Link of Generations” organised by the MMAD and integrated state services centres. The materials are also published online on the I’m at Home website.