Lietuvos istorijos institutas

The article discusses the evolution of research of the second half of the twentieth century to the twenty-first century in Western Europe and the USA into the material culture of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. It highlights the most characteristic stages in the development of the historiography on this topic and the most significant discussions. Attention is also paid to the research into material culture in Lithuania, because so far this topic has not received much attention from historians, although archaeologists and museologists have been working successfully in

The article is based on twenty-two letters written by Teresa Rachela Sapieżyna to her husband Antoni Kazimierz Sapieha, an elder of Merkinė, between April and October 1727. The article provides the context in which this correspondence arose as the letters reflect a period during which the A. K. Sapieha couple spent most of the time apart. Therefore, the letters were not only a means of maintaining an emotional relationship, but also a means of sharing updates on the work accomplished. The content of the letters shows that T. R. Sapieżyna was familiar with her spouse’s concerns: she was well acquainted with his milieu and maintained contacts with his creditors, legal advisors, and other persons close to him. Therefore, she could not only assess various situations but also advise her husband; in exceptional cases, she would act on her own, resorting to the assistance both of the relatives and the wives of A. K. Sapieha’s clients or creditors, thus forming her own circle of influence.

Researchers have focused for decades on the epistolographic legacy of individuals from various social groups. Letters are a valuable ‘complement’ for other sources, serving as an ‘insight’, giving the narrative a multi-voice, and, depending on the author’s social position, can provide many valuable details unfelt in other types of sources. Correspondence of public officials usually receives most attention from the researchers, because it reveals the mechanisms of the functioning of power. However, letters of the social elite also reveal different aspects of everyday life, including administration of domains, which have gained importance. The basis for this article became the letters by the elder of Merkinė, Antoni Kazimierz Sapieha (1689–1739), to Wojciech Kurzewski, administrator of this domain, kept in the Manuscript section of the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Due to his humble duties and difficult financial situation A. K. Sapieha cannot be considered one of the most prominent members of the Sapiehas family, although his persistent ambition to stay out of the “margins” of public life and, in particular, his involvement in 1733–1736 whirlwind of interregnum events, indicates that he was an extraordinary person. This is evidenced by his wide circle of correspondents, among whom we find not only close relatives but also a number of state officials and top hierarchs of the Church. Aspirations of the elder of Merkinė to participate in the political life of the state have already been noticed by the researchers, however his daily economic activities have not been researched at all. Analysis of the letters from the 1720–1732 period by the elder of Merkinė Antoni Kazimierz Sapieha to Wojciech Kurzewski, administrator of this domain, reveal a significant part of A. K. Sapieha’s daily life, i.e. the nature of administration of the domain, which required considerable effort, attention and time from the elder of Merkinė. The article deals with the subject matter of letters, economic activities carried out in the eldership of Merkinė, and requirements for the administrator. All of this provides an opportunity not only to reconstruct the relationship between Sapieha and Kurzewski, but also to see the broader issues that each major landowner has faced (or may have faced).