In Russian cultural history there were many women who were able to express themselves in self-documentary texts (memoirs, diaries or letters), most of which were published during their lifetime or later. Yet the voices of these women remained unheard. Their texts almost never became a subject of scientific interest in themselves, rather than as historical or literary sources for biographies of famous men. The purpose of this book is to examine how women of the first half of the 19th century write about themselves in their diaries, memoirs and letters, or rather, “write themselves,” how they discuss and create acceptable models of femininity for themselves. The research material included, among others, the diaries of A. Kern, A. Yakushkina, A. Olenina, the memoirs of N. Durova, the autobiography of N. Sokhanskaya, the correspondence of Natalia Herzen with A. Herzen, G. Herweg and friends.