Minkh A. N.

Minkh A. N. «Folk Customs, Rites, Superstitions and Prejudices of the Peasants of the Saratov Province.» — St. Petersburg: Printing House of V. Bezobrazov and Comp., 1890. — [4], II, 294 p.

A lifetime edition. A fundamental ethnographic work that incorporates materials collected by the author over almost thirty years (1861–1888). It contains a systematic description of folk customs, rites, superstitions and legal traditions of the peasants of the Saratov province. For this work, the author was awarded the large silver medal of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. The publication is a most valuable source on the ethnography and history of everyday life of the Lower Volga region.

Minkh's work, based on many years of field observations, has not lost its scholarly significance and is actively used by researchers to this day.

Alexander Nikolaevich Minkh (1833–1912) was a Russian historian, local historian, ethnographer and archaeologist, one of the founders of the Saratov Scientific Archival Commission; a veteran of the Crimean War, awarded the Cross of St. George, he later served as a peace mediator and justice of the peace. He was the author of about 100 publications of a local history nature, including the "Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province."