The publication is opened by memoirs and epistolary testimonies about Gogol by his relatives, as well as memoirs of contemporaries related to the writer's stay in his homeland in Vasilyevka. Among the materials of the initial period, documentary evidence of the genus Gogol is presented. Further, materials are collected about his life during his studies at the Poltava district school, at the Nezhin Gymnasium of Higher Sciences (memoirs of teachers, documents from the archives of the school and gymnasium, memoirs of fellow practitioners). The Petersburg period of Gogol's biography is represented by the testimonies of M. A. Maksimovich, P. A. Pletnev, A. S. Pushkin and others, as well as documents and memories of Gogol's service in the Department of destinies, the Patriotic Institute and at the university. Some of the materials are located in the form of systematic arches, consisting of several sections, the memoirs are accompanied by historical, literary and textual comments. The name index has more than one and a half thousand names.