1913 Diary of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaievna, transl. by Marina Petrov

[Inok Nikolai]

Nicholas personally packed all of his previous diaries into a crate upon his departure from Tsarskoe Selo, and IMO they were never unpacked -- he repeatedly expressed concern about that crate as well as another crate of papers belonging to Alexandra when the guards began pilfering the IF's belongings from the shed in Ekaterinburg. So I think it's likely that the bulk of the girls' diaries were similarly packed away.

Maria's 1914 & 1915 diaries could have been lost or stolen. As I recall, Aleksei's 1918 diary was found at the home of one of the guards...

Once the Imperial family had arrived in Ekaterinburg, that is probably true.

But while still in Tobolsk, they must have had access to the diaries, etc.
In his letter of October 26, 1917, to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Tsar Nicholas II writes that he has begun re-reading his diaries and his letters from his parents and siblings.

[Eric_Lowe]

Were the diaries taken back to Moscow ?

[Inok Nikolai]

Marina Petrov is a professional translator I hired when I return to the United States after my first trip to Russia in 2005. During my first trip to GARF, I made copies of some of the family’s diaries and letters (as well as other documents) and came to the decision to publish Grand Duchess Olga’s 1913 diary in order to give people a glimpse into the private life of the family. After the translation of the diary was completed, I did the editing, wrote the introduction and included an explanation of the Russian calendar in 1913, as well as a list of people Olga wrote about in her diary and their relation to her.

I want to thank everyone who has sent me private messages of congratulations. I do apologize to the people I have not yet gotten back to. Life has been kind of hectic lately, so I am taking a much needed vacation soon. Also, thanks to the people who knew about this project of mine long before it was ever mentioned here on the forum. Your words of encouragement and interest in the book were so kind. Yes, that includes you Teddy! Thank you!

Dear Raegan, or Marina,

Do you still have the copies of the Russian text?

On p. 133 of your book, you cite  G. D. Olga's entry for Oct. 7: "…N. P. [Sablin] is taking the harp player to Sevastopol…"

Am I correct to presume that "harp player" is in the feminine form? I.e., the player was female?

N. P. Sablin later married one, so perhaps this is the same woman. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna wrote  to A. A. Vyrubova about it from captivity in Tobolsk.

Spasibo!
I. N.

[ImperialxTwilight]

Warm in the heart maybe ? In Russia it is very cold, so 20 maybe warm in comparison...

If you're talking Celsius, which is what they use in Russia, then it is indeed fairly warm. Here in Canada 20˚ C (68˚ F) is seen as warm - with the humidity we get sometimes, something like about 18˚ can make a person overheat. Hell, anything over 15˚ C (59˚ F) is TOO hot for me most of the time. However, it does all depend on the weather you've recently been experiencing - we had weather here of -50˚ C this past January (which is about -58˚ F) and after something like that, even -20˚ C (that's -4˚ F) is seen as warm. Yet when it comes to the temperature dropping after the summer, something like 10˚ C (50˚ F) which would've been shorts weather at the end of the winter is hoodie weather and chilly after the summer. So if winter is ending for her, then something like 20˚ C would DEFINITELY be considered warm, if not HOT. Even at the end of summer it's still considered warm over here, however it doesn't feel quite as hot as it does when winter is ending. Comparing cold temperatures to hot temperatures at different times of year definitely gives a different perspective on what is considered 'warm' or not.



I know that's an older post, and it doesn't directly relate to the topic at hand, but I was reading through here and thought to add my two cents. My sister's ex-boyfriend (and the father of her child) is actually from Russia, and he says the weather there is pretty much almost the same to what we experience here in Canada (specifically Northern Ontario), so I figured my explanation on weather may help to explain what Olga explained as 'warm weather'.

[Kalafrana]

In Russia at the time they were using the Reaumur scale, at which freezing point is 0 and boiling point 80.

According to wikipedia, you convert Reaumur to celsius by multiplying the temperature by 5/4 and to fahrenheit by multiplying by 9/5 and adding 32.

20 reaumur is therefore 25 celsius, so decidedly warm!

Ann

[Inok Nikolai]

In Russia at the time they were using the Reaumur scale, at which freezing point is 0 and boiling point 80.

According to wikipedia, you convert Reaumur to celsius by multiplying the temperature by 5/4 and to fahrenheit by multiplying by 9/5 and adding 32.

20 reaumur is therefore 25 celsius, so decidedly warm!

Ann

Well, yes and no. Russia had used several temperature scales during the 18th and 19th centuries. For example, in Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov", Reaumur is indeed the scale mentioned.
However, by the turn of the century -- the period covered by most of the letters and diaries cited here on the Forum -- the celsius scale predominated. By then, if Reaumur was meant, then, to avoid ambiguity, one would write the word "Reaumur" or "R." after the digits -- as Pierre Gilliard did in his diary entries.

[Kalafrana]

Inok Nikolai

Many thanks. I do, however, distinctly remember seeing an extract from Alexei's diary a good few years ago, where he went swimming and gave the water temperature. The commentary made it clear thar reaumur was meant, and this has stuck in my head because it was the first time I had ever heard of it.

Be that as it may, 20 Fahrenheit is below freezing, 20 Celsius is warm (pleasant summer temperature for Brits), and 20 reaumur hot (for a Brit anyway - we are currently getting 25-25 Celsius and most of us are feeling the heat!).

Ann

[helenazar]

Inok Nikolai

Many thanks. I do, however, distinctly remember seeing an extract from Alexei's diary a good few years ago, where he went swimming and gave the water temperature. The commentary made it clear thar reaumur was meant, and this has stuck in my head because it was the first time I had ever heard of it.

Be that as it may, 20 Fahrenheit is below freezing, 20 Celsius is warm (pleasant summer temperature for Brits), and 20 reaumur hot (for a Brit anyway - we are currently getting 25-25 Celsius and most of us are feeling the heat!).

Ann

25 Celsius is hot for this American-Russian too .   I was also under the impression that the temperature Olga used in her diary was Celsius, but it would make sense if it was reaumur. The diaries of course don't mention it one way or another.

[matushka]

Father Nikolai, did you recently have a look at Spiridovitch book? I have not the tome for 1913 (the 2nd), but Spiridovitch gives always so much details, perhaps is there anything about the harpist?

[Inok Nikolai]

Inok Nikolai

Many thanks. I do, however, distinctly remember seeing an extract from Alexei's diary a good few years ago, where he went swimming and gave the water temperature. The commentary made it clear thar reaumur was meant, and this has stuck in my head because it was the first time I had ever heard of it.

Ann

Well, yes. But in this instance, we are both correct:

Tsarevich Alexis did indeed record the temperature in Réaumur, and he also noted that fact in writing.

 It is an excerpt from his diary entry for July 31 / August 13, 1917 — the Imperial family’s last day in Tsarskoe Selo before departing for Tobolsk. A photograph of that page of his diary appeared in N. Sokolov’s official investigation into their murders, and it has been reproduced many times since.

Tsarevich Alexis Nicholaevich wrote: «Днемъ купался. Въ воде 18° Р.»

“In the afternoon I went swimming. In water 18° R.”

And the commentators explain that the letter “R.” here stands for Réaumur.

*********

In order to share more information on this whole topic of temperatures, I am going to open a new thread "Temperature Scales in NAOTMAA’s Letters and Diaries” under the board “Their World and Culture”, q.v.

Inok Nikolai

[Inok Nikolai]

In order to share more information on this whole topic of temperatures, I am going to open a new thread "Temperature Scales in NAOTMAA’s Letters and Diaries” under the board “Their World and Culture”, q.v.

Inok Nikolai

http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=17924.msg536459#msg536459