On November 1, 1862, in the beautiful village of Kotelva in the Okhtyrka District (now part of the Poltava Oblast), one of the finest researchers of our region was born.
Among those who have passed away but managed to reveal the past of our beloved Sloboda Ukraine to us are many brilliant figures. The talent of Dmitry Petrovich Miller shines like a bright star among them. I am sincerely convinced that many readers are very familiar with him. After all, his name appears alongside that of Dmytro Bahalii in the seminal and frequently reprinted work *The History of the City of Kharkiv Over 250 Years of Its Existence*. Unfortunately, one often hears the unfair phrase “Bahalii’s History of Kharkiv” without a well-deserved mention of Miller.
For me personally, Dmitry Miller is one of my favorite historians of our city. He is the one whose books I often return to, and not just *The History of the City of Kharkiv Over Its 250 Years of Existence*. That is precisely why today I would like to write a little bit about this scholar—but in my own way, trying to avoid a dry recitation of biographical facts and achievements. There is a wonderful dialogue on this topic in one of my favorite movies:
— Tell me how he died.
— No! I’d rather tell you about how he lived…
So, after attending the First Kharkiv Gymnasium from 1874 to 1882, Dmitry Petrovich enrolled in the Faculty of History and Philology at Kharkiv Imperial University.
During his college years, Miller was greatly influenced by the lectures of A. A. Potebnya, A. S. Lebedev, V. P. Buzeskul, N. F. Sumtsov, and D. I. Bahalii. During that period, he began working with historical primary sources in the archives under Bahalii’s guidance. However, despite his extraordinary diligence, scholarly curiosity, and critical acumen, Dmitry Petrovich declined the offer to remain at the university and pursue an academic career.
There were several reasons for this refusal. One of them was deafness. Another, however, remains extremely relevant for young scholars today. The fact is that Dmitry Petrovich received no financial support from his family and had to earn his own living during his college years. During his senior year, he even took a job as a night proofreader at the newspaper *Yuzhny Krai*. After graduating from university in 1888, Miller continued to work at the same newspaper, but now as a senior proofreader. This hard work provided Miller—who had married in 1890—with a stable income that he so desperately needed.
At the same time, Dmitry Petrovich has not given up his scholarly work; he spends all his free time in the archives working with documents and occasionally publishes historical articles in *Yuzhny Krai*.
And on April 21, 1895, Miller, to his great delight, was appointed assistant librarian at the university’s general library.
He did not, however, quit his job at the newspaper. After becoming a staff writer, Miller wrote reviews of various newspapers and magazines. By the end of 1903, the historian had already joined the editorial board. Soon after, in collaboration with D. I. Bahalii, he authored *The History of Kharkiv: 250 Years of Its Existence*. In 1910, Dmitry Petrovich was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd Class, and the Order of St. Anne, 2nd Class.
From June 1 to 7, 1911, the First All-Russian Library Congress was held in St. Petersburg. At the congress, the most pressing issues facing libraries in the early 20th century were raised and discussed. To this day, the proceedings of the congress are considered an “encyclopedia of library science”: it was then that democratic principles of development and the public nature of libraries were formulated, and the social role of libraries and the independence of the library profession were established. The Sloboda Ukraine region was represented at the congress by seven delegates, one of whom was Dmitry Petrovich Miller.
As a researcher, Dmitry Miller has contributed an incredible amount to the history of Right-Bank Ukraine and Sloboda Ukraine.
In 1892, his first scholarly article, “Holstein Sets in Little Russia,” was published in the journal *Kyivska Starina*.
In 1893—the historical story “Alexei Grigoryevich Razumovsky.”
In 1894, in collaboration with Mikhail Meletievich Plokhinsky, he published the article “The Starodub Magistrate’s Book of Current Records (1690–1722).”
In 1895, he published *The Settlement of the Novorossiysk Region and Potemkin* and *Essays on the History and Legal Life of Old Little Russia: The Transformation of the Cossack Officers into the Nobility” (last reprinted abroad in 2015).
In the summers of 1900 and 1901, on behalf of the Kharkiv Preparatory Committee for the XII Archaeological Congress, Dmitry Miller traveled to the northernnorthwestern counties of the Kharkiv Governorate to survey and catalog government archives and private collections of historical documents. Thanks to this journey, the book *Archives of the Kharkiv Governorate*, which is extremely interesting and important for the history of Slobozhanshchyna, was published in 1902.
At the same time, the author himself honestly admitted in the introduction:
“Not all of the collected material was included in my report. The description of the Kharkiv Nobility Assembly archive was abridged; I had to postpone the publication of documents on the Chuguev Cossacks and military settlers until a more opportune time; and the description of the Kharkiv City Duma archive was also omitted from this work.”
But this material—albeit abridged—that Miller compiled for us remains invaluable to this day. After all, it describes and quotes unique documents from the following collections, archives, and sources:
Sumy County.
The village of Khoten, the family archive of Countess A. D. Stroganova.
The village of Luka, the Lintvarev family archive.
The City of Sumy, Archives of the Alexandrovskaya Gymnasium.
Lebedinsky District.
The village of Mikhailovka, the family archive of Count V. A. Kapnist.
The village of Mizhirichi, archives of the volost administration.
Akhtyrsky District.
The City of Akhtyrka, Police Department Archives.
The village of Trostyanets, church archives (unfortunately, not a single scrap of paper remains from the history of the major landowners, the Nadarzhinskis and the Golitsyns).
Bogodukhovsky District.
The town of Bogodukhov, the family papers of S. D. Kondratyev.
Kharkiv County.
The City of Kharkiv, Archives of the Noble Deputies’ Assembly.
At the same time, Dmitry Petrovich, with his characteristic crystal-clear honesty, clarifies:
Based on documents from the Noble Assembly’s archive, L. V. Ilyashevich published *A Brief Sketch of the History of the Kharkiv Nobility* in 1885. In light of this, while examining the oldest documents in this archive, we have noted only those that were not highlighted by the author of the “Brief Essay” but which, in our opinion, fully deserve such attention.
In 1909, *The Landlords and Tenants* was published. In 1912, Miller contributed to the creation of the second volume of *The History of the City of Kharkiv: 250 Years of Its Existence*.
Only God knows how much more Dmitry Miller, that tireless researcher of the past, could have written and revealed to us.
But on the night of June 13–14, 1913, after a brief illness caused by a purulent abscess in his abdominal cavity, Dmitry Miller passed away before reaching the age of 52. The news struck everyone who knew him like a thunderbolt. And in *Yuzhny Krai*, which had become a home away from home for Miller, obituaries from his colleagues and fellow employees were published.
The following passages could be found in the newspapers:
“The Burial of D. P. Miller.
Yesterday, June 16, following the late Liturgy at the Church of the Annunciation, a funeral service was held for D. P. Miller, assistant librarian and longtime employee of *Yuzhny Krai*. The service was attended by the deceased’s wife, his family and friends, the entire editorial staff and employees of “Yuzhny Krai,” University Rector I. V. Netushil, Professor V. P. Buzeskul, K. I. Rubinsky, librarian of the university’s general library, and others.”
Dmitry Petrovich was buried in Kharkiv at the 1st City Cemetery; after that cemetery was closed, the scientist’s remains were moved to the 13th City Cemetery.
Eight months later, a small book titled “In Memory of Dmitry Petrovich Miller” was published. In it, his loved ones shared their grief and memories of him.
Historian Viktor Alexandrovich Barvinsky, who never came to terms with the idea of Dmitry Petrovich’s death, would write:
…During our society’s meetings, it seems to me that at any moment the doors to the meeting hall will swing open, and Dmitry Petrovich will enter with his hurried gait, rushing here from the editorial office, take his usual seat, and get ready to listen. When I visit the university library, I can’t help but find it strange that I don’t see Dmitry Petrovich, so absorbed in his work that he sees and hears nothing around him…
His mind was constantly buzzing with creative thought—always restless, always seeking new paths… Scientific work was a pleasant respite for him, a favorite pastime amid his daily activities. I, along with many others, was often amazed by Dmitry Petrovich’s remarkable capacity for work and his ability to work productively. One need only look at the late scholar’s daily schedule to understand the reason for this amazement. During the day—from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.—he devoted his time to his duties at the university library; in the evening—from 7 p.m. to 11 or 12 p.m.—he was busy at the editorial office, and so it went day after day, with few exceptions.
Nevertheless, he found time for serious scholarly work: he devoted his evenings after returning home and his holidays to it. Upon returning from the editorial office, Dmitry Petrovich would set to work on his research almost every day and sit at his desk in the quiet of the night, undisturbed, until 3 or 4 in the morning. He loved his work so much that he never took a complete break: even during his vacation, he continued to visit the library every day to study… No matter how upset Dmitry Petrovich was, or how unwell he felt, he always perked up when the conversation turned to science…
The most interesting thing is that, being an extremely modest person by nature, Dmitry Petrovich never made a big deal out of his victories and achievements—it wasn’t until after his death that many people learned about them. They say that many people die while they are still alive. Often, it doesn’t matter at all how many years a person lived; what matters far more is how he used the time allotted to him by the Almighty. Despite all the hardships and deprivations, Dmitry Miller, one of Kharkiv’s finest historians, lived a life of dignity, and researchers of the city still remember him with gratitude to this day.
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