Revision Lists as a Source for Genealogical Research in the Field of Shevchenko Studies

The purpose of the work is to reveal the informational potential for Shevchenko studies of the documents of the Revision branch of the Kyiv Treasury Chamber, namely the Revision Lists of 1795–1850 in the villages of the Zvenygorod district of the Kyiv province, which are preserved in the State Archives of the Kyiv Region, and to introduce a large array of documents into scientific circulation for Shevchenko studies, which today are rarely used by Shevchenko scholars as sources of research on the genealogy of Taras Shevchenko and a number of other persons related to the poet. The goal of this study is also to fill partially the mentioned lacunae in Shevchenko studies by conducting a comparative analysis of the Revision Lists and providing their assessment compared to other sources. The basis of the research methodology is the complex use of historical-comparative and longitudinal methods, as well as the use of techniques inherent in special historical disciplines, such as biographical science, chronology, paleography and genealogy. The use of comparative-chronological and source analysis, synthesis and generalization of information made it possible to clarify, question, and in some cases refute some existing generally accepted facts about the poet's genealogy. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the expansion of the source base for the study of T. Shevchenko's pedigree and the positioning of the Revision Lists as a full-fledged genealogical source in Shevchenko studies. A careful comparison of bibliographic sources with the information of Revision Lists made it possible to draw a conclusion about the need in further use of archival content, including Revision Lists, in a comparative study of the genealogy of T. Shevchenko, and to put forward a number of assumptions and assertions regarding the present inaccuracies in the poet's genealogy and the biography of his childhood crush Oksana Kovalenko. Only a careful comparison of the oral tradition with archival sources will allow to eliminate the existing «white spots» in Shevchenko studies.