The article analyses "The Notes" by M. A. Milyutina and her correspondence with I. S. Turgenev, published in "Russkaya Starina", and also archive documents from Milyutin's Fund (RGIA, F. 869. Op. 1. D. 1149). The studied materials provided new features to N. A. Milyutin's biography, showed the backstage struggle in the most complicated period of the reformer's activity (mid-1850s to early 1860s) and revealed the peculiarities of his character in his relations with his wife, the like-minded people and the conservative opposition.