“The second sex”: Bibliographical female world of Galagan’s family

The concept of the article is based on the statement that woman's depictionas equal historical subject is an effective tool for studying the social communities, in particular the Ukrainian regional elite within the 18th–19th centuries. The Ukrainian noble family of Galagan represents the rise and fall of “new elite” establishment in Ukraine during early modern and modern times. The most prominent figures are Gnat Galagan, the founder of Kozak's officerbranch of the family in the beginning of the 18th century and Grygoriy Galagan,the landowner, public figure, educator of the second half of the 19th century. Nevertheless, female component was crucial in the family history, as frequently, material welfare and social status depended on woman's actions. The author aimed at recreating the elements of “the biographical female world” from Galagan's family, particularly, a cultural process embodied in a human life with values, motivation, aim and sense of being was reconstructed. The personal space of female fates is rebuilt in close connection with private andpublic spheres according to the presented sources. The documental base of a study was Galagan's family archive. The high representative level of stored documents permitted to reconstruct the biographical female world according to the several contextual layers – particular text (self-created), big text (contained external information), historical-cultural context (consideration of time realities). A researchfocus change from “male” to “female” revealed the new edges of Galagan's family life in the society belonged to the 18th-19th century. The fact intensifies lifeaffinity of Ukrainian nobility, study of family, property and cultural relations. Such research direction is perspective for the study of noble community of Left-bank Ukraine consolidated by genealogical, property, intellectual, social and cultural interests.