Murzilka
Soviet and Russian children's magazine

Murzilka (Russian: Мурзилка) is a popular Soviet, and later Russian, illustrated magazine for children aged 7-13 years old. It has been in continued publication since May 1924.
History and profile
At the end of the 19th century, the Canadian illustrator and writer Palmer Cox created a cycle of poems about little people from Scottish folklore known as brownies. Later the Russian author Anna Hvolson started writing stories based on his drawings about little forest men. She called the main character, who wore a white tie, had a walking stick and a monocle, "Murzilka".
The first issue of the magazine came out on 16 May 1924. There Murzilka was a small white dog and appeared with his owner Petya. The magazine is still published on a monthly basis.
In 1937, the illustrator Aminadav Kanevsky created the new design of Murzilka – now a yellow furry character in a red beret with a scarf and a camera over his shoulder.
Several famous writers have published their work there (Korney Chukovsky, M. M. Prishvin, V. V. Lebedev).
“Murzilka” enters the record as soviet and Russian children's magazine. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Murzilka, Soviet and Russian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Murzilka” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Murzilka, Soviet and Russian provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2382250. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924 and 1937.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Murzilka”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Murzilka primary sources, Murzilka archive and Murzilka research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Murzilka”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Murzilka” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.