Yefim Karskiy - Biography

Biography

Yefim Karskiy was born in Lasha (Grodno Uyezd of Grodno Governorate, now in Hrodna Voblast, to the family of teacher F. Novitskiy and Orthodox deacon’s daughter M. Novitskaya. Initially, he bore the family name of his mother, Novitskiy. With his family, he spent his childhood years in Navahradak (at Yatra and Byarozavyets) and Minsk (at Volma) regions of Belarus.

• c. 1870s – studied in Folk School (Russian: народное училище) at Yatra, (Navahradak Uyezd).
• 1874 – c. 1880s – studied in Minsk Ecclesiatical School, later in Minsk Seminary.
• 1881 – became interested in ethnography, leaving ecclesiastical studies and entering Nezhin historical-philological institute.
• 1883 – published his first philological research paper, in the "Russian Philological Courier".
• 1885 – graduated from the Nezhin historical-philological institute (1885) in the field of Russian and Slavonic philology, supervised by Professor R. F. Brandt.
• 1885 – moved by the absence of the scientific development of the Belarusian language, he published his first major scientific work Review of Sounds and Forms of Belarusian Language (1886).
• 1885–1893 – taught Russian and Church Slavonic languages and Russian literature in the Vil’na Liceum No.2, also worked as the secretary of the Liceum in 1885–1889 and as elected member of the Resources Committee in 1890–1892.
• 1888 – published "Grammar of Old Church Slavonic Language as Compared with Russian Language". Until the very October 1917, this grammar had been re-published 19 times.
• 1891-09-17 – successfully passed his magister’s examination.
• 1893-02-01 – began teaching Russian language in Warsaw University. Later also taught Slavonic paleography, Russian dialectology, Church Slavonic grammar.
• 1893-10-23 – successfully defended his magister’s thesis "To the history of sounds and forms of the Belarusian talk" in Kiev University. This was the first dissertation in history, concerned with the Belarusian language.
• 1894-06-26 – was elected for the position of associated(?) professor of Warsaw University, chair of Russian and Church Slavonic languages and history of Russian literature.
• 1897-02-14 – was promoted to the position of the ordinary(?) professor of Warsaw University.
• 1898–1900, 1903 – studied the local talks of the Belarusian people, both by the literary artefacts and by ethnographical tours, esp. to the Grodno, Vil’na, Minsk regions.
• 1901 – became associated member of Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, dept. of Russian language and literacy.
• 1902 – published the first map of the ethnic areal of the Belarusians.
• 1903 – published the first volume of his seminal work "Belarusians".
• 1905-01-01 – became an editor of journal "Russian philological courier" (Russian: "Русский филологический вестник").
• 1905–1910 – rector of Warsaw University, elected twice, in 1905 and in 1908. By the anecdotal evidence, refused the position in protest against the policies of the (supposedly reactionary) Minister Kasso.
• 1915–1916 – conducted pedagogical work in the Rostov University (ex-Warsaw University).
• 1916-10-08 – elected for the full member of Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, with specialisation in ethnography and linguistics. Moved to Petrograd.
• 1916 – c. 1918 – taught in the Petrograd University, later Leningrad University.
• 1917 Founder member of the Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of Russia
• 1917, December – participated in the First All-Belarusian Congress in Minsk, elected Honorary Chairman. Barely managed to avoid the arrest in the following dispersal of the Congress, returned to Petrograd.
• 1918 – forced by the economic ruin in Petrograd, moved to Minsk. Appointed the teacher position at the Belarusian Courses for Teachers of Minsk Region (then headed by Yazep Lyosik), later transformed into Minsk Pedagogical Institute.
• 1919-03-14 – removed from the position of professor of the Minsk Pedagogical Institute.
• c. 1919-05-05 – arrested by the Extraordinary Commission ("Cheka"), luckily, not for long.
• c. 1919 Fall – moved to Petrograd.
• c. 1919–1920 – partially (~20%) published "Belarusians" in Belarusian language in the newspapers "Zvon" and "Byelarus’".
• 1920 – became an editor of journal "News of the Academy of Sciences of USSR. Digest of Dept. of Russian Language" (Russian: "Известия АН СССР. ОРЯС")
• 1919 – ? – taught in the Petrograd University, later Leningrad University.
• c. 1920–1921 – participated (together with Picheta, Dyla) in preparing the opening of the Institute of Belarusian Culture ("Inbyelkult") in Myensk.
• c. 1920–1930, September– became the Head of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
• 1921, Summer (or in 1919, Summer)– permanently moved to Petrograd, never to see his homeland again.
• 1922 – became a full member of the Institute of Belarusian Culture. Donated his library to the newly-created Belarusian State University.
• 1924 – participated in the First International Congress of Slavonic Geographers and Ethnographers in Prague.
• 1926 – made scientific visits to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia. His scientific reports of these visits was highly appreciated by the USSR Academy of Sciences. However, his reports had political repercussions.
• 1926, December – he refused the instructions given him by the Vice-Head of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
• 1927 – became the target of a sharp political critique, in the newspapers "Zvyazda" (Myensk) and "Pravda" (Moscow). His membership in the USSR Academy of Sciences was put under question (13 April 1927). Despite of enjoying a certain amount of political patronage he wasn’t given the room in the pressto defend himself.
• 1929, January – was elected for the member of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
• 1930, September (or in 1929) – abruptly removed from the position of the Director of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, St Petersburg.