An Ornithologist of a Son about his Historian of a Father

The article analyzes the edition of the memoirs of Gennady Nikolaevich Likhachev (1899–1972), an ornithologist and gamekeeper, devoted to his family and early years of his biography. The central figure of the narrative is his father, Academician Nikolai Petrovich Likhachev (1862–1936), a famous historian, specialist in the field of source studies and auxiliary historical disciplines, collector and bibliophile, and full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The memoirs contain valuable information about the scientists' family and everyday life in the pre-revolutionary and early post-revolutionary years, and N.P. Likhachev's scientific contacts and collecting activities. It is concluded that G.N. Likhachev's memoirs are an important source for studying N.P. Likhachev's biography and legacy as well as for the history of science in general.