Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2014 number

The article addresses a problem of identifying the meaning of the notion “Siberian rear», its origin and development; analyzes governmental plans to form the rear areas as an element of geopolitical and military-defence strategy of the Russian state. The concept of “Siberian rear» is treated as a project reflected in the ideas and plans which sooner or later were implemented in practice as a result of objective necessity. The author focuses on the fact that in the late XIX-early XX centuries the semantic value of the notion “Siberian rear» was determined. It led to creation of the image of the territory as central parts of the state relatively protected from the border intrusions. During this period the “Siberian rear» in the latitudinal direction was geographically identified in the area from the Eastern spurs of the middle Ural to the area between the Irtysh and Ob Rivers. Natural resources were estimated from a perspective of colonization and further socioeconomic development with agricultural and industrial production. From the officials and entrepreneurs’ point of view the development of mining and metallurgical industries was of particular interest. In the problem field of the article the concept of “Siberian rear» is linked with its spatial and geographic characteristics. The concept’s historical role in the geopolitical strategy of the Russian state is also shown. The author notes that the need to create the rear industrial areas became more clear when the First World War began. During this period, the railway construction was for Siberia of primary importance in terms of self-organization of the territory, its settlement and economic development. The first and most effective step was the Trans- Siberian railroad construction, which initiated the construction of other railroads and laid down the foundations of the future economic development of the region.

The article deals with the problems of state-society relations in Russia during the First World War (1914 - February 1917) in the context of nationwide mobilization processes. The term “nationwide mobilization” is used in a broader sense which means engagement of the belligerent nation in the governmental war efforts. The author discusses the ways of spiritual mobilization of the Russian nation by means of patriotic propaganda, rituals, symbolic actions and civil activity. The author describes the powerful upsurge of patriotic sentiments sweeping across all regions and social social classes at the beginning of the War; characterizes general moods and their evolution as well as specifics of different social groups’ attitudes toward the War; shows the forms of state-society collaboration and civil activity, practices of social self-organization of the population under wartime conditions in the context of relations between the government and the society. The article evaluates activities of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union, All-Russian Union of Towns, War-Industrial Committees and other organizations engaged in mobilization of the rear areas and solving social problems of combatants and civilian population. The author stresses the significance of the Russian army’s defeats in the spring and summer of 1915, the “great retreat”, which vividly demonstrated the enormous oversights in the country’s preparations for war, organization of the army’s supply with weapons, ammunition, and clothing, as well as consequences of insufficient coordination and incompetence of the military and civilian authorities. The role of political crisis, confrontation between the authorities and society which had grown since the middle of 1915, the mutual power-society distrust in the outlet of national mobilization project is discussed. The article reveals several factors of the evolution of state-society relations which determined the general crisis of national mobilization process.

The article analyzes transformation of the taxation of population in Russia during the World War I. The author researches regional practice and productivity of the taxation, including income tax in the territory of Middle Volga region. At the beginning of the XX century the main feature of the imperial budget was the insignificant share of direct taxes in the revenues of the state treasury. Fiscal value of wine monopoly was exceptionally great. The World War started in 1914 and significantly changed the nature of the financial system and organization of the taxation sphere in Russia. Sharp reduction of profitability of the ordinary budget was caused by a ban on vodka sale in the first days of war, replacement of the commercial transport by the free military transportation, essential reduction of volume of foreign trade. While not having a powerful financial basis in the country the government was compelled to wage the war without tax increase. It only increased external and domestic debt and caused full disorder of monetary circulation (emission of money). The government tried to compensate budget losses by increasing rates of practically all main direct and indirect taxes as well as introducing the new types of taxation (indirect and direct). In 1917 when the war was not over yet the government introduced the income tax - with great difficulty and in an incredibly archaic form. The tax revenue was insignificant and in the context of general naturalization of the economy it played only a secondary role. Indirect taxes remained the main basis for the budget which inevitably led to social tensions. As a result, when the Provisional government’s taxes and normal budget revenues largely lost their fiscal value the forthcoming financial catastrophe became more and more apparent. Emission of unsecured government credit notes and treasury signs for extraordinary expenses led to hyperinflation and financial catastrophe that to some extent caused rapid change of the political regime and social system.

The period under consideration was not marked by any significant changes in formation and functioning of the governorate officialdom. Heads of governorates and districts, with rare exceptions, had considerablet experience in the sphere of public service. During the war they worked “flat out” within the scope of their competence defined by law. Their administrative methods and styles of work varied. Their methods of adaptation to the war-time conditions were also different. In their everyday activities they rest on the relatively small governorate (district) offices suffering from the lack of staff. On the level of uyezd administration this period was marked by lower quality of employees. Later this new generation of uyezd officials joined the Soviet administrative apparatus. During the war administrative burdens of local police agencies and municipal self-government bodies increased. Along with their main duties the latter were responsible for troop housing, accommodation for refugees and prisoners of war, combating high prices etc. All this led to formation of a new type of officials along with the traditional bureaucracy. The new bureaucracy had some distinctive features: service to the people (society) and not to the Emperor; staff turnover on the basis of election (as opposed to appointment); the requirement of just elementary education for filling administrative positions. One of the most important consequences of the war was the municipal self-government bodies’ growing role in the socioeconomic and sociopolitical life of Russia and Siberia.

The paper deals with the problem of registration of the prisoners of World War I in Russia and the 1917 census (on the materials of the Perm province). The author asserts that the census was conducted on a nation-wide scale not only because of the «defects» in prisoners registration. The vagueness of quantitative characteristics of the Russian captivity was above all due to its polycentric nature. Rapid integration of captives in production processes led to the fact that in 1915 the captured enemy soldiers were sent to 891 sites, of which 317 were considered as «places of permanent settlement» and only 68 as camps. In the camps registration was conducted in one way or another but it was lacking in those places where forced labor was used. Captives often arrived at such places bypassing the points of permanent settlement and while being there they could be removed from one production site to another. However, all this was only the beginning. Since 1916 accurate prisoners registration as well as their categorization by age, national, ethnic, confessional and other criteria had been turned into unachievable goal. Its realization was blocked by fierce «battle for prisoners» between Russia’s industry and agriculture. As a result, by the middle of 1917 any available registers of captive foreigners in Russia reflected neither their total numbers nor composition nor actual captivity geography. The solution of this problem was seen in conducting the prisoners census for which a set of documents was developed. However it created another problem since the military authorities had been overzealous and made perspective system of the prisoners registration so unwieldy that it turned out absolutely unpromising. For all that even if the All-Russian census of captives had been held successfully, the collected data would have required certain time to be processed, which was impossible in the context of political developments of 1917. The late 1917 census campaign failed to produce reasonable statistics and confirmed once again that the pattern of Russian captivity was initially too complex to retain its transparency.

When Russia entered an extremely large-scale war, it faced the necessity not only to mobilize the economy and people to withstand the military adversary but also to work out a set of measures aimed at addressing the consequences of suddenly increased social mobility. During the second half of 1914-1915 special institutions for solving this task were created. In 1916 when the living standards of working population essentially fell, none of the counter-measures could stop the process of marginalization of the large groups of people and consequent radicalization of political consciousness. The aim of the article is to analyze the processes of social mobility in the eastern regions of Russia, to reveal all-Russian tendencies and macroregional specifics of this phenomenon. The efficiency of the state social policy in Siberia and Far East was negatively affected by the absence of territorial authorities, underestimation of Siberian and Far-Eastern specificity by the government, allocation of funds for social transfers covering expenses less than the Russia average. Citizens - members of the families called up for military service faced extreme difficulties since the first days of the year, and refugees - since summer 1915. Unbalanced measures in the field of social policy led to inclusion of these groups into a kind of underclass suffering from the severe psychological disadaptation. During 1915 even broader layers of population suffered from the gradual deterioration of social situation. In 1916 marked aggravation of commodity shortage and the rouble’s decline led to qualitative impoverishment of a considerable part of Siberian and Far-Eastern population. Decrease of social status of public servants was clearly indicated. However, the employment growth in the industrial sector of economy under the war conditions was a deterrent factor of descending social mobility.

The article deals with the problem of World War refugees repatriation (natives of the western territories cut off from Russia in compliance with the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty) on the example of central provinces of European Russia in 1918-1919. The article reflects the Bolshevik government’s policy towards both the old social welfare organizations (left from the pre-revolutionary period and dealing with refugees) and the new organizations that were established on democratic principles during the Soviet period and resumed to provide social care to refugees. The article also highlights the process of creation of the Soviet evacuation bodies, which assumed control over the refugees. The article examines efficiency of the Central Board for prisoners and refugees (Tsentroplenbezh) activities on re-evacuation of refugees. It presents comparative data on the refugees who were sent home free by the Tsentroplenbezh and on those who left European Russia on their own or remained there till the beginning of 1920. The author shows the extent of refugees’ spontaneous movement to their homeland, the Central Board’s attitude towards this process as well as the attitudes of local authorities and local boards who considered prisoners and refugees an intolerable burden amid hunger and destitution. The author assesses the Central Government’s attitude to the numerous problems of refugees who remained in the Russian Republic waiting for re-evacuation, including the declarative nature of Council of People’s Commissars decree dated January 28, 1919 «On the responsibility of the Central board of prisoners and refugees towards refugees subject to re-evacuation». The author shows how the refugees were involved in military service for the Red Army and in forced labor.

The article discusses the question of the use of the manuscript heritage of the Early Russia by the Old-Believers. The analysis of two collections composed in 1710 and 1711 shows how the Old-Believers, refuting the official church hierarch’s argument, managed to appeal to the exact version of Velikie Chetii Minei (Great Menaion Reader) which had been referred by the author of Uvet Duhovny (“Spiritual Homily”). The article emphasizes that the Old-Believers gave a more complete description of the manuscript and adopted a scientific approach to the analysis of its content. First of all the authors copied verbatim the fragments of the preface in which Makarious the Metropolitan wrote about possible penetration of “false words” into VCM and asked to exclude them. Those fragments are followed by the information that Philaret the Patriarch excluded the apocryphal Skazanie Afroditiana (Aphroditian’s Tale) from VCM in order to comply with metropolitan Makarious’ request. The article shows compilers’ way to argue Uvet Dokhovny which stated that Ukaz o tregubaya hallelujah is present in the June and August books of the VCM copy in question. The Old-Believers began with the analysis of the content of the August Minei and explained that the Ukaz had been excluded from the book as well as Skazanie Aphroditiana from the December book and that the text is preserved in the June book by mistake. The article concludes that the Old-Believers managed to provide a convincing comprehensive logically arranged argumentation against one of the proofs referred to by the hierarch of the official church in order to prove their point. The analysis of the collections reveals a remarkable fact which serves as an evidence of the highest level of the Old-Believers’ book culture.

The collection of 16 author’s Words (Speeches) is the most important manuscript in Metropolitan Daniel’s heritage. Its appearance was due to the moral and educational state of the Russian society in the first half of the XVI century. Daniel’s Words were intended to educate the Orthodox Christians by the means of enlightenment and didactics. It is proven that church writers’ sermons were based on the principle that one should not express his opinion but teach on the behalf of the Holly Writ and in accordance with it. That is why the Scriptures play such a significant role in Daniel’s Words. His writings have a three-part structure which was considered incoherent by the researchers in the XIX century. The second part comprising up to 88 per cent of the whole txt contains quotations from the Bible and Fathers of the Church. The researchers of the XIX century considered it unnecessary to study and publish those quotations. The article draws attention to the need to revise the existing views on Daniel’s practice of writing. The elements creating the integrity of the content and the composition of the author’s collection are shown on the basis of analysis of several writings from the “Sobornik” (“Collected writings”). These elements allow determining the logic of the Words’ structure. The “Sobornik” (“Collected writings”) concerns the issues of theological doctrines and worldly life such as false prophets and true preceptors, the sign of the cross and Calvary, the Holy Tradition, the incarnation of the God, relationships between church and secular authorities, human morality. Prophetia, pastoral pathos and uniformity of the Words’ design served as unifying elements. V. Zhmakin regarded Daniel’s writings as the genre of treatise. The article suggests that the genre is synthetical and has a compilation structure. Large narrative forms were the general trend of the book-publishing development in the XVI century. Daniel thought it was most important for a person not to seek the truth by himself but to follow a theologian’s interpretation of the holly texts. This position determined the architectonics of the Words.

The article deals with the materials of Martin Sauer, a secretary and interpreter in the North-Eastern Geographic and Astronomical Expedition (1785-1795 ) under I.I. Billings and G.A Sarychev’s command. These sources are introduced and studied for the first time in historiography. Martin Sauer;s materials concerning physical geography of Western Siberia and Yakutia were included in his book published in Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and other European countries but never in Russia. They fill up the gaps in scientific works written by the expedition commanders and participants. The analysis of Sauer’s geographical information has shown that the traveler observed, collected and recorded the new data concerning the topsoil, the topography, the water bodies, the climate, the wildlife, and other components of natural complexes in various regions of Western Siberia and Yakutia. Having summarised the collected data he proposed physiographic regionalization of the regions. Using the method of regionalization, one of the main methods in physical geography, Sauer determined location of natural zones of the researched regions with good accuracy and ascertained the influence of terrain relief on the nature of the region (altitudinal zonality). This leads to a conclusion that Sauer’s scientific work is an actual source on the history of geographical research in Siberia snd on the history of development of physical geography as a science. The article also describes M. Sauer’s book as the main source of information about Billings and Sarychev’s expedition in Europe, shows its geopolitical significance for Russia.

The clergy was one of the most educated social groups in Russia. However, the book culture of the clergy has been poorly studied , that is why searching for information about the libraries of the clergy can be of considerable interest. The article is devoted to the personal library of the Perm Archpriest Evgeny Popov. A few years after the owner’s death the library was acquired by the rural dean from the Solikamsk district Jacob Shestakov, who took it as a basis for organizing a district library. The library passed through the hands of two priests who shared common interests (missionary, educational and charitable activities) and a common fate. During the period of Great Reforms a new type of Orthodox cleric was formed. The clergy became engaged in social activities, actively cooperated with the laity in the field of social service, culture and science, while never forgetting their own special status. The library of E.A. Popov discloses first of all the professional interests of an educated cleric in the second half of the XIX century. Since the directions of the clergy’s inter-church and social activities in the late XIX - early XX centuries did not change, the private library could serve as the basis for a public library. Analysis of the library holdings allows to define more clearly the circle of reading of the parish clergy at the turn of the century. At the same time the early XX century witnessed the reduction in the number of deanery libraries which suggests an idea that the attempt to improve the clergy’s professional level and book culture by means of libraries failed due to both objective and subjective reasons.

In the historical and bibliological studies on the scientific book publishing in Siberia its printing component has been studied very fragmentary. Until the mid-XX century in the region there were no specialized printing enterprises for production of scientific journals and monographs. In 1957 when the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences (SB AS) of the USSR was established the then existing practice of publishing scientific literature in various printing houses of the Siberian cities did not meet the new development goals of science. The paper presents information from the documents dating to the 1950s-1960s, memoirs of the participants in the events that allow assessing the problems and difficulties associated with the creation of polygraphic base for the regional academic publishing during the formative period the Siberian branch history. Increased research activities, the need for prompt publication of their results forced the administration of the Siberian branch to take steps in order to create a temporary printing house and to place orders in the printing houses of Moscow and Siberian cities. Correspondence between the heads of the Siberian branch with the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Soviet Government demonstrates that the former were very persistent in getting permission to construct in Novosibirsk a specialized polygraphic enterprise that would meet the requirements of scientific book publishing being provided with the same equipment as the printing houses belonging to the “Nauka” Press in Moscow. The author introduces into scientific use the new archival documents and memoirs demonstrating difficulties faced by the constructors of the new printing house and describing how these difficulties were overcome. The leadership of the Siberian branch managed to defend its position during the confrontation with the local authorities, who tried to leave the printing house at their disposal. However under the conditions of centralized management of the publishing industry the right of ownership of the printing house after construction was transferred to the Publishing house “Nauka”, along with vesting the Siberian branch with a right to reconcile its production plans for scientific publications.

The post-revolution history of the Chasovennye Old-Believers in Tuva is analyzed in the light of two different cultural systems. One system is antireligious literature. It was usually produced on the instructions of the relevant authority; its super-task was to counteract the religious views and to introduce “the Soviet way of thinking”. It was based upon a scheme which regarded the Old-Believers and especially the monastic Old-Believers as enemies to the Soviet government. They were considered to be in league with anti-Soviet gangs, to oppose to the Collectivization and to induce resistance to authorities among ignorant peasants. It was also considered that authorities have never persecuted them. The information gathered both from the secret files of the archives of the Ministry of the State Security and from residents’ interviews was interpreted and sometimes even modified according to the scheme. The system of Old-Believers’ culture is represented as Old-Believers’ literature, in this instance by Uralo-sibirsky paterik (“Ural and Siberian collected patristic writings”) created by the Chasovennye Old-Believers of the Lower Yenisei in hermitages and neighboring villages in the 1940s - 1990s. The Dopolnenie (annex) to the Paterik (1991) contains a number of hagiographic biographies of the Tuvian monastic Old-Believers and the laity Chasovennye. It also uses the data from A.F. Emeliyanov’s antireligious book of feature stories “Ot mira ne uiti” (“No escape from the world”) based on the documents of crime investigations of 1920 - 1940s and the Tuvian monastic and laity Chasovennye Old-Believers’ personal interviews. The compiler of the Annex to the Paterik ignores A.F. Emeliyanov’s conception entirely; he chooses separate facts, deprives them from the context and introduces them in the course of the hagiographic biographies. The facts are used in such a way as to create the images of hermits usually in accordance with the system of toposes of saints or righteous laity Christians. The negative facts from the “foreign” source are interpreted as positive ones. Supplemented with evidences of the miracles performed by those hagiographical heroes (who are portrayed by Emeliyanov as being rather unattractive) and with descriptions of their ascetic deeds etc. these blocks of facts acquired a new cultural meaning different from the original source.

The paper examines recent (post-Soviet) research on reproduction of agricultural population of Siberia in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries. The author considers the reproduction of population as a complex process of physical, social and cultural renewal of generations. That is why his historiographic research is based on the studies in historical demography as well as in social history, ethnography, pedagogic history. The author describes how the theme has been studied over time and summarizes results of research on conditions and factors, social forms and technical content, stages and results of reproduction of the rural population within the territorial borders of the Tobolsk, Tomsk, Yenisei and Irkutsk provinces, Akmolinsky and Transbaikalian areas in 1861-1917. The author emphasized the great impact of some pioneering fundamental works on the problem. The writings by a demographer A.G. Vishnevsky, social historian B.N. Mironov, ethnologists M.M. Gromyko and S.L. Pushkarevoy are among them. The author insists on vitality of historical and demographic issues in the context of contemporary demographic crisis in Russia. Contrary to the dominant views the author argues that the demographic and sociocultural modernization and the leap in reproduction in Siberia began at the turn of centuries, almost simultaneously with European Russia. He also emphasizes the significant impact the church and religion had on the demographic process; presents the results of his long-term research on reproduction of the population of Asiatic Russia during the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries. He had been inspired by the idea to reveal demographic situation, characterize specific patterns of demographic (matrimonial, reproductive, migrational and vital) behavior and socialization of Siberian dwellers that in fact provided mechanisms of fixation and transformation of the Siberian population’s qualitative and quantitative characteristics.

The article analyzes the information potential of the sources on the history of pre-revolutionary urban consumer cooperation. The author analyzes such historical sources as legislative acts, office and secretarial documents of the government and cooperative organizations, reports of cooperative conventions, notes and essays of cooperative societies’ functionaries, statistical publications. These materials are contained in the central and local state archives and periodicals. This refers to the administrative documentation of municipal authorities, reports of police ranks, petitions, protocols of general meetings, charters and reports of cooperative organizations. Taken together they depict the legal and socio-economic conditions of commercial and cultural activities of cooperatives, the nature and evolution of their relations with the authorities, contribution to overcoming the food crisis. Office documents are accurate in fixing the facts. Reference and statistical sources are important for systematization of information about cooperation. Proceedings of the co-operative congresses, essays and notes of the functionaries of Siberian co-operation provide rich material for the study of questions of co-operative ideology and practice. Materials from periodicals significantly expand and elaborate on the existing views on the urban consumer co-operation of Siberia. They are of particular importance for studying the consumer cooperatives within the framework of the concept of civil society, allowing retrieving from the contemporaries’ observations the set of certain values, motivations and mental attitudes, ways of thinking and patterns of behavior typical for the initiative and ordinary participants of the co-operative movement in the cities and villages. The author concludes that fragmented and piecemeal nature of the source base of the research suggests the need for complex use of the information potential of all types of sources.

The article deals with peculiarities of repatriation of refugees, optants and prisoners of war after signing a Peace Treaty between the Soviet Russia and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on the one part and Poland on the other part in Riga in 1921. The topic of repatriation of Poles from Siberia is poorly covered both by Russian and Polish historiography. The aim of the paper is to characterize the concrete historical circumstances of repatriation of refugees, optants and prisoners of war from Siberia to Poland. Archival fond of the Central Office for Evacuations of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs of RSFSR provides the number of Polish refugees and prisoners of war in Siberia and contains data on their repatriation to Poland. The author analyzes social and national groups of returners, their financial standing and the activities of the Polish Office for Refugees based on the new archival documents, including applications found at the Department for Optants of the Polish Office in Novonikolayevsk. Optants were mainly represented by peasants. Ethnic structure of optants was rather diverse. The article reveals the influence of economic devastation on repatriation of Poles from Siberia. Analysis of various written sources shows that repatriates suffered from hunger, cold and diseases. Rail disruption in Russia slowed down the process of repatriation. According to references, peasant rebellions caused by the policy of “war communism” also slowed down the process of repatriation. The author concludes that repatriation of Poles was necessitated by the political interests of Bolsheviks’ and their Polish allies. Archives make it possible to determine the political aims of Bolsheviks and Polish Communists who tried to turn repatriates hostile towards the revolution into their supporters.

Based on the archival data and published sources the paper reconstructs the history of the Yukaghir complex expedition - the most important academic initiative in the history of Yukaghir studies. Researchers from the Institute of Ethnography, the Institute of Linguistics and the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Yakut affiliate of the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR took part in this expedition. The author characterizes the expeditionary research methods which included the archaeological reconnaissance and excavations, interviews with local people; observation of contemporary household practices, collection and analysis of archival, somatological and serological materials. The basic directions, results and geography of the research, covering a large part of the North-Eastern areas of Yakutia and Magadan region are defined and illustrated. Research made by the expedition members contributed a lot to identification and study of archaeological sites and monuments of the area under consideration. They helped to obtain information about the traditional occupations and lifestyles of ancient Yukaghirs, bio-anthropological characteristics of the Yukaghir ethnos, folklore, language and its dialectological features. They also helped to study the modern linguistic and ethno-cultural situation, economic activities and ethnic processes. The author stresses the significance of the research for the formation of the modern scientific knowledge about Yukaghirs and training of qualified scientific personnel were noted.

The article evaluates the current situation in the foreign historiography of the development of Siberian construction industry. The author considers 30 publications dealing with this topic; reveals main problems that caught the researchers’ attention. Foreign historians traced how the capital construction was connected with implementation of economic state policy aimed at realization of nationwide programs. They demonstrated how narrow departmental interests hampered the investment process in Siberia. Among the major factors in the development of the region’s productive forces scholars determined the military-strategic and export interests, the country’s aspiration to obtain the missing raw materials and finished goods. Foreign researchers paid much attention to the creation of West Siberian oil and gas complex, duly appreciated its significance for Russia and world economy. Another important issue attracting the researchers’ attention is a large-scale energy construction on the Yenisei and Angara Rivers. These authors traced the relationship between the construction of hydroelectric power plants and creation of large industrial hubs and regional industrial complexes. Foreign specialists also considered the extent of use of forced labor of prisoners, migrants, prisoners of war and internees. The most commonly use forms of manpower recruitment were organized recruitment, appeal to the public, sending college and vocational schools graduates to the trusts.

The author aims to draw special attention to theoretical and methodological issues, which will help us to understand the museums role in the information support system of the historical science. These issues include analysis of museums as one of the basic elements of information infrastructure of historical science; structuring and systematizing museum funds for the needs of science; collections of literary museums as a source of information for the historian of literature and culture; using information technologies with due regard to the specifics of communications between scientific and museum communities; representation of information potential of museums. Information support is considered in terms of technology and content. Museum and science are viewed as partners involved in the information process in their own way. They help each other to obtain, maintain and present information. Historical science needs information resources of museums, their expositions (as platforms for translating knowledge to the society), especially information resources of historical museums. Museums need historical knowledge as scientific justification for the principles underlying acquisition, systematization and cataloguing of museum holdings; in order to increase information output of museum collections as well as to create displays and exhibitions meting the requirements for representativeness. The author defines the number of issues dealing with the theory and methodology of history and museum science (museology). These issues are key for improvement of information support both for the historical science and museum activities. The author states that historical science and museums have underused the potential for reciprocal usefulness to each other. In the context of information society the information support has become a more significant factor in the development of historical science. The increased role of communication and representation of information makes the museums to facilitate access to the collections for historians using both the traditional and innovative methods.

The importance of local history studies for preservation and reproduction of socio-cultural values actualizes the problem field of methodological and historiographical reflections on studying the native land. Russian local history studies have been thoroughly reviewed in historiography, however the formative stage of the local lore research in Russia and its epistemological foundations remain understudied. On the basis of geo-historical approach the paper analyzes the role of the XVIII century academic expeditions in the development of local history studies in Russia. It also considers ontologically-cognitive strategy of local history research during that period. The need for a comprehensive study of the country impelled the reformer’s genius of Peter the Great to create the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which became a basis for the new Russian science. Formation of the local history studies in Russia took place in the framework of the principle research project of the academic community - drawing up a general map of the country. The natural history research was focused on the eastern regions (Siberia) to which the Kamchatka expeditions were sent. Monadology of G.V. Leibniz and logical-mathematical principles of Ch. Wolff epistemology presented theoretical and methodological basis of the expeditionary research that implemented the concept of geo-historical study of a particular area, i.e. local history research, in the Eastern peripheral territories. Local geo-historical aspect acquired academic status and nationwide scale due to the second Kamchatka expedition and was manifested in the most complete form in local history studies by G.F. Miller and S.P. Krasheninnikov. Born in the “bowels” of St. Petersburg academic community, the practice of local history research inherited classical scientific and organizational principles of the supreme scientific institution of Russia.

Documents restoring the structure and functioning of the Intelligence Department of the Siberian Cossack troops (Osvedkazaka), selected by its chief Cossack colonel F.I. Porotikov, were found in the State Archive of the Trans-Baikal region. These materials were used to acquit F.I. Porotikov in the military court. The documents demonstrate that Osvedkazak was established on August 5, 1919 but began to function on June 22, 1919, when the first issue of the newspaper “The Siberian Cossack” was published. The staff of Osvedkazak totaled 107 employees. Its operating area included West Siberia which was divided into 26 districts each headed by the Cossack officer having an experience in military propaganda. F.I. Porotikov’s chief, the Ataman of the Siberian Cossack Forces P.P. Ivanov-Rinov recommended the leader of Osvedkazak as a “talented officer and passionate patriot”, “bright incorruptible public figure”. Osvedkazak published and disseminated anti-Bolshevik literature in Cossack troops on the battle- and home fronts. It widely used informants - women, nurses, priests in order to promote literature. Osvedkazak’s structure consisted of five divisions: publishing, information (verbal propaganda), belles-letters, newspaper (“The Siberian Cossack” editorial board) and financial. Preparing for evacuation to the East Porotikov took 2 million rubles for the verbal propaganda aims. Having arrived at Chita F.I. Porotikov by order of Ataman G.M. Semenov used the Osvedkazak’s employees for performing Ataman’s secret tasks. On March 8, 1920 Osvedkazak was liquidated. Earlier, in January 1920, the former chief of the General office for Cossack troops at the A.V. Kolchak’s headquarters B.V. Horoshkhin started persecution and prosecution against the chief of Osvedkazak, accusing him of misappropriate use of these 2 million rubles. Porotikov was supported by the Chief General P.P. Ivanov-Rinov. As a result the law-suit against F.I. Porotikov was closed.

The paper deals with a significant source on the history of uncensored press and poetry of Siberia - the archive of E.P. Iordanskiy who was a poet and activist of “samizdat” publishing in Novosibirsk. The author analyzes archival documents, describes the history of its publishing in relation to the activities of Sokur group of poets, the “Left Siberia” group and to the creative work of a famous Russian underground poet A. V. Makovskiy. The first book of Makovskiy’s poems was based on manuscripts from Iordanskiy’s archive. E.P. Iordanskiy is still following Makovskiy’s principles of evaluation of poetry. He has always demonstrated individual approach to the young poets, which was very important in the “novitiate” period. The main element in such approach was his search for novelty which could not be substituted with cliches and stock phrases. This sense of novelty in poetry is always connected with perception of the life itself. The presence of novelty meant for Makovskiy the denial of routine. After all Makovskiy appreciated the original primitive state of every phenomenon. However he himself was well known in the “undergound” circles of Russia being a significant figure of uncensored poetry. To this extent the “Sokur school” and “Left Siberia” group were not absolutely isolated and historically could be included in the tradition of development of the similar groups such as the famous “Lianozovo school”, “Helenukt group” and others. Despite the fact that these groups differed in styles and approaches to working with words one can determine points where they were coming together as well as points of their repulsion. However the certain “remoteness” of the Sokur school makes difficulties for further publication of the archival materials of this archive due to the fact that publishers of Makovskiy’s poetry and his heirs use different systems of selection and evaluation of his poems. In this case contradictory views on publishing are very explicit, as they are caused by the program principles of Makovskiy’s poetry along with Iordanskiy’s desire to preserve these principles which can eventually result in conservation of this archive.

The article describes the Imperial Russian geographical society’s activities in the field of book trade; considers how the IRGS books were sold - on a commission basis, by subscription, on demand, or based on the non-store retailing when books were shipped via mail. The IRGS distributed periodicals and proceedings, part issues and cartographical editions. It is noted that multivolume works were on sale both as separate volumes and as complete sets. The printed editions could be also distributed in parts - as separate offprints. The IRGS sold not only its own editions but also books published by its provincial branches. The author describes specifics of the IRGS book trade that was based on opening its own book-selling enterprises - book warehouses. The IRGS growing involvement into the book trade is proven by its activities in the field of book advertisement. In order to increase the total volume of book sales the IRGS practiced an exchange of announcements informing the reading public about the recently released books, how they could be bought or subscribed to. Book-selling lists became another type of advertising its book production. The author comes to an important conclusion that the IRGS book production enjoyed popularity and was distributed both in Russian Empire and abroad. The author states that the economic upturn in Russia in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries had positive impact on the IRGS book-selling activities while the military and revolutionary events led to deterioration of economic situation and negatively affected this sector of book trade.