Vasilii Magnitskii

(pseudonym of V. K. Velelepov). Born Mar. 3 (15), 1839, in the town of ladrin, in the present-day Chuvash ASSR; died Mar. 4 (17), 1901, in the village of Shumatovo (present-day Sovetskoe), in ladrin Raion, Chuvash ASSR. Russian historian, ethnologist, and student of folklore.

Magnitskii graduated from the University of Kazan in 1862. He devoted his entire life to work among the non-Russian nationalities of the Volga Region. Among his works are Material for an Explanation of the Old Chuvash Faith (1881), Manners and Customs in Cheboksary District (1888), and Chuvash Pagan Names (published in 1905). The social-literary activity of the Chuvash poet M. F. Fedorov and the scholarly ethnological work of the writer and student of folklore I. N. lurkin, as well as a number of others, were initiated with his support.