Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2016 number

Researchers of the reproduction of Russian population pay attention to the process of natural movement of the urban population. In the early XX century the share of urban population increased in every region. The objective of this paper is to show the quantitative parametres, general characteristics and peculiarities of natural migrations of the population in certain regions of Asian Russia in the first decades of the XX century. The author considers the chronological dynamics of the situation in Western and Eastern Siberia, the Steppe krai and the Far East; compares various regions with each other and with European Russia as a demographic center of the country. Based on the the data of the General medical inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian empire (1902-1914) the author for the first time in historiography calculated birth and death rates, the rate of natural increase - number of demographic events per 1,000 population in various regions. Calculation data for all years are tabulated, particularly for the years 1902-1905, 1906-1909 and 1910-1914. the dynamics is presented in three histograms. The conclusions based upon the comparative analysis of the research findings are as follows: 1) the traditional type of reproduction of the population dominated in the early XX century in European Russia and in all regions of Asian Russia implying high birth and death rates and modest natural increase; 2) natural population increase was more rapid in the east of the country, as opposed to the situation in European Russia where the demographic indicators began to decrease by the end of the XIX century; 3) certain signs of the first phase of demographic modernization manifested themselves in the cities of Asian Russia (e. g. reducing birth rate and especially death rate, higher rate of natural increase); 4) there were essential differences in character and dynamics of natural movement of urban population in various regions of Asian Russia depending on the population composition, intensity of migratory streams, level of communication of urban population with their rural environment.

The article formulates an understudied problem of classification of population migrations in the USSR during the Great Patriotic war. Contemporary historiography is skewed towards the forced deportations. During the war these deportations were of ethnic character. As a result the forced deportations were considered to be numerically prevalent and both researchers and readers viewed them as a dominant type of migrations. Undoubtedly, forced migrations had a great impact on social structure dynamics, economy, social and cultural image of the USSR. However a concrete historical research based on the new, previously neglected sources has shown that during the war along with forced deportations the Soviet Union witnessed another type of deportations which were mainly of voluntary-compulsory character. The analysis of this little-investigated subject allowed identifying among all types of territorial displacements the military and labour migrations, evacuations and re-evacuations of large masses of population, repatriations. The purposeful and planned settlement of territories that became vacant after deportations of ethnic groups played an important role in migratory movements, as well as organized agricultural resettlement. For the first time in national historiography the author characterizes military mobilizations, which meet all the classic criteria of migration, as a special form of migrations. In this aspect forced ethnic deportations are considered to be just one of the forms of migration. Quantitatively, it was not the greatest migration thread. Labor migrations remained an important type of migrations. The article determines quantitative relationships between different types of migrations.

The purpose of the article is to identify and substantiate principles of city grouping according to the city types and classes in historical research. The research problem deals with peculiarities of urbanization in the Angara-Yenisei region in the second half of XX century, along with specific aspects of its study. The key research objectives are: to analyze the most widespread ways of classification in urban studies; to define specific characteristics of East Siberian cities; and to identify the main problems of city grouping while suggesting possible solutions. The author considers a city as a historical phenomenon, represented in the historical process as a special social organism, complex and multi-layered. Thus, typologies also have complex structures. Fr om the historical point of view, the most efficient approach in this case is a genetic method which classifies the cities according to the time and reason for their origin as well as to the extent of preservation of various historic features as seen in the modern plans and images of the cities. The key research findings are as follows: the paper demonstrates the efficiency of genetic typology used in historical studies on urbanization; defines four main types of the cities (regional, historic (old), early industrial, and late industrial). Intra-typological classification is performed on the basis of conventional features: population size, functions, economic and geographical characteristics. It is notable that the need in such classification arises only in regard to the last two city types due to their great number and significant differences in various features. As for the late industrial type, there is a need to distinguish a separate group of industrial cities - closed cities (Zheleznogorsk and Zelenogorsk), which is determined by their unique nature. The author also observes a phenomenon of “rebirth” of those historical (old) cities wh ere large enterprises were localized during the late industrial period (the case of Minusinsk). This phenomenon deserves further consideration in a separate study.

The historical family demography is a new research direction today. The complexity here arises from the fact that the research problem lies at the intersection of historical-demographic and socioeconomic studies. The statistical data on familistic processes are the most important sources of information, which allow drawing conclusions about the key aspects of the problem, such as nuptiality, fertility, natality, single motherhood, divorce rates, etc. However, it must be acknowledged that all these indicators were also influenced by the legislative initiatives. One of the most striking examples of such influence in the Russian history of the XX century was the Decree of July, 8, 1944. It was the immediate cause for the incompleteness of statistical data on families for the whole of Russia as well as for the individual regions. 1950s and 1960s witnessed a process of gradual abolition of some paragraphs of this decree. This process was reflected in changing registration forms. The most significant changes were made in the forms of birth registration. Thus, the old and common Form 2 (registration of maternal age and birth order) was replaced with numerous forms assessing the dynamics of lonely mothers by age and social groups (2-b), general information about the mother’s social and age group (2-v), the data about fathers (2-g). Tables of marriage rates were also modified as they no longer contained the data on urban areas with population over 100 thousand people. Changing forms affected the modes of statistical information presentation, as can be seen from the data on Western Siberia. This region included areas with different family dynamics, therefore changing forms of statistical record-keeping led to misinterpretation or loss of information. The article presents an overview of changing forms of keeping family statistics in the context of Western Siberia.

The article is based on the materials of the Current Archive of the Territorial Body of the Federal State Statistics Service in the Omsk region (Omskstat) including the archival materials from the fonds of Statistical directorate of the Omsk region (F.2122.) in the Historical Archive of the Omsk Region (HAOR). The paper comprehensively examines the population of the Omsk region in the 1950s-1970s. The author studies demographic development and traces demographic transition during the period from Stalinism to the “Thaw” and stagnation based on the archival records and materials which used to be «For office use only». Materials of the current statistics and population censuses of 1959 and 1970 are analyzed. The paper focuses on the natural movement of population which was the determining factor behind the evolutionary development of the region. The author reconstructs the times-series of the main demographic indicators: birth rate, mortality (including infantile), natural and mechanical movements, sex and age structures of the population. Trends and problems related to the birth and mortality rates, are studied. The author introduces a whole body of data on demographic development of the Omsk region previously unused by the scholars due to the censorial restrictions of the Soviet period. Materials of the current statistics of the period under study (1950 - 1970) there was a constant outflow of population from the Omsk region which was interrupted by the net migration gain in the years of development of virgin soils and intensive resettlements in the region.

The paper presents research findings on the structural characteristics of Western Siberian urban population. The purpose of the article is to show peculiarities of these transformations in the 1960s - 1980s. Detailed analysis of the age and gender composition of population is necessary for the reconstruction of demographic processes. This would facilitate explaining the current and future dynamics of reproduction and migration. In order to understand specifics of demographic development of urban population in Western Siberia in the 1960s-1980s the author carries out analysis of dynamics of its age and gender composition. Theory of urban transition developed by the Russian scientist A.S. Senyavskyi serves as a methodological foundation for the research. The author used a set of statistical mathematical methods along with special methods of historical cognition: historical-genetic and historical-comparative. In the course of research it was revealed that in the eastern areas of the country the age structure was characterized by a higher proportion of youth and a lower share of people over the age of 60 due to migrations that contributed significantly to the local population growth. It is shown that the preceding period of history had a great impact on the age structure as it suffered from numerous falls and vast gender disproportion, although in Western Siberia it was less than the national average in the RSFSR. It is revealed that consecutive ageing of population in Western Siberia occurred as quickly as in the RSFSR in general despite the ongoing development of the Western Siberian Oil and Gas Complex. Quantitative differences between the numbers and average age of men and women gradually narrowed. Continuous concentration of economic potential in big cities and several regions was a distinctive feature of the last stage of Soviet modernization. Against this historical background there were increasing inter-regional differences in structural characteristics of population that had been hardly noticeable previously.

The paper considers main trends in the development of rural fertility rate during the post-Soviet period as exemplified by the rural population of the Krasnoyarsk krai. The purpose of the study is to find out to what extent the rural dwellers adopted the new reproductive norms, which character the process of fertility acquired under conditions of radical transformation of rural society according to Western standards and what features are peculiar to this process in Siberia. The research theme was chosen due to the fact that it has been poorly studied at the national and regional levels. It is also necessary to overcome misinterpretations made under the influence of political situation. All processes unfolding in the Krasnoyarsk countryside have been studied in comparison with similar processes in towns located within the Krasnoyarsk krai and in other rural areas of Russia. The events in the reproductive sphere are treated on the basis of demographic modernization theory which was further elaborated by a concept of the second demographic transition. The information base of the research includes the data of 1989, 2002 and 2010 population censuses, the data of 1984 micro-census as well as current demographic statistics. The study has shown that the reproductive behavior of villagers is undergoing a transformation while acquiring features typical of the second demographic transition which has been observed in Western countries since the 1970s. However, along with some features of ”Westernization” the reproductive model still has “Soviet relics”. It is unstable and highly dependent on external conditions. Their improvement resulted in a short-time increase in fertility rate when the national and regional demographic projects were launched. Instability of the rural residents’ behavior makes it difficult to predict further development of the fertility process. However it necessitates observation of fluctuations of this process, since the knowledge of all modern trends in fertility and of underlying factors at the regional scale is an essential condition for developing an effective demographic strategy.

This paper intends to describe the ideological stages in the process of secularization in Russia that have led to the formation of a post-secular society. To achieve that goal the author sets and solves several tasks: explaining the stages of secularization process, identifying the key features of the “Petrine phase” of secularization; investigating the parameters of Soviet secular society. Analysis of the reasons for the emergence of de-secularization is provided. The processes of secularization and de-secularization are illustrated with a sociological interview, reflecting the period from the 1920s up to the present. Therefore, the paper offers an analysis of the historical and social aspects of ideological secularism in Russia; outlines the steps in this process up to (and including) the Soviet period. As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union’s secular project, religion once again was incorporated into the structure of the Russian society’s life-world. The methodological basis of the article was provided by post-secular approaches to the historical and sociological study of religion. The author comes to several conclusions: ideological secularization was completed as a results of successful and effective establishment of Soviet ideology. Ideological indoctrination started at a pre-school stage and extended through all stages of schooling. It continued at the secondary and high education levels being supported by the Soviet mass-media, literature and arts. In effect, as a result of this indoctrination purified atheistic world view was formed with the horizontal transcendence of a “bright communist future” and the vertical transcendence of the cult of soviet leaders. As an illustration of these ideas, the sociological interview is analyzed in the final part of the paper. It shows that the results of Soviet secularization at the micro-sociological level were unstable due to the lack of crucial elements in the world-view provided by the Soviet ideology.

In the late XIX century Russia’s policy towards the peripheries was based on a theory of “a strong and indivisible country”. N.P. Ignatyev, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, suggested to extend the application of the law on land captains (enacted in European Russia in 1889) to the whole region of Siberia and to subject its peasant and indigenous population to the new authorities. This proposal was supported by the Minister of Interior I.N. Durnovo, Minister of Finance S. Yu. Vitte and personaly by Alexander III. The law of 1898 introduced the new 107 positions for peasant officials and formation of the new 25 district (uezd) congresses. The peasant and indigenous officials in Siberia exercised far greater control over the peasantry as compared to the land captains in European Russia. From then onward the peasant chiefs were given full mastery of the local peasant and indigenous self-government bodies. They controlled economic activities and morale of peasantry; played a significant role in judicial cases concerning rural population. Congresses of peasant chiefs were established in each district. They acted as courts of second instance challenging decisions made by peasant chiefs. Administrative reforms principally were aimed at strengthening the police control over the peasants and non-Russians in Siberia, accelerating russification of the latter, and at unification of administrative systems in the rural areas of European and Asian parts of Russia. The reform was carried out by the state of landowners and bureaucrats during the bourgeois era, however it retained some vivid feudal features. It quite fell within a range of measures taken by the government in the peripheral territories and aimed at preservation of the Empire’s integrity.

The paper reveals changes in the sanitary condition and redevelopment of regional administrative centers (Tobolsk, Tomsk, Omsk) under the influence of modernization processes. Despite unsatisfactory sanitary condition of West Siberian cities, the author argues that the urban environment gradually improved. This was manifested in changing everyday practices of cleaning the streets, squares and neighboring territories; rubbish removal and observance of sanitary conditions by different social infrastructure institutions. It is found that the number of epidemics depended on the overall sanitary conditions of the cities. The author comes to conclusion that the citizens’ sanitation and hygiene knowledge and ensuing behavior improved under the influence of urbanization and industrialization that penetrated into Siberia at the beginning of the XX century. These processes resulted in increasing cultural needs of the people living in Siberian cities. The infrastructure of Tobolsk, Tomsk and Omsk was enriched by water supply systems, new chemist’s shops and medical aid posts. Local authorities addressed on a day-to-day basis such issues as swamp draining, laying out parks and garden squares, cleaning the house premises and adjacent territories, maintenance of neighboring territories, establishing sanitation control over household waste removal. Sanitary and medical commissions intensified their work. Health education of city dwellers was strongly influenced by the local press, lectures delivered by representatives of the official conventional medicine; activities of various societies (like soberness clubs, societies for giving aid to indigent people, public health societies). There was increased public awareness of the importance of joint efforts of local authorities and citizens for the improvement of sanitary conditions.

The article analyzes basic trends in land policy of the Soviet state in the 1920s. It also provides an analysis of the discussion that took place in Siberia and was focused on the choice of optimal forms of peasant communes’ land surveying. Analysis of this problem allowed to describe the dynamics of NEP and to outline its periodization. Land surveying was aimed at rationalization of the peasant communes’ land use. In Siberia where communes consisted of multiple households the peasants’ individual allotments were scattered all over the communal territory and were far from a household and from each other. Moreover, individual allotments could be subject to compulsory repartitioning. With regard to this region it was proposed to replace communes consisting of multiple households with smaller settlements separated from the former communes. However, the discussion arouse on what forms of land use were to be chosen within these settlements. A solution to this problem depended on the changing policies of the Bolshevik party. In 1924 the first attempt was made to wind up the NEP. In 1925-1926 agricultural policy was liberalized. In the late 1920s the Bolsheviks set off on a new course of collectivization of agriculture. In 1924 specialists from the agricultural management bodies of Siberia envisioned three possible ways of land surveying: recovery of communal practices within the territories of new settlements; establishment of kolkhozes; division of communal lands into individual parcels. In 1925-1926 division of arable lands into individual parcels (with pastures and sources of water supply left in joint use) was considered as an optimal form of land surveying. In the late 1920s the allotment of individual parcels was rejected as an obstacle in the path of collectivization. In the course of land survey the communes with multiple households were supposed to be split into several kolkhozes or into smaller peasant communes which later would serve as a basis for collective farms. Specialists from the agricultural management bodies who supported individual forms of land use were strongly criticized and later subjected to repression.

The article is devoted to a high spot in the history of Soviet-American cooperation during World War II - the Alaska-Siberia Airway along which the Lend Lease supplies were delivered to the USSR. The article is based on analysis of recently declassified archival documents of the Government Purchasing Commission of the Soviet Union in the USA, memoirs and documentary publications. Special attention is payed to the problems of the initial stage of organization of the airway, difficulties of supplying equipment to the airfields of Krasnoyarsk airway, which were part of Alaska-Siberia Airway. Flights fr om Alaska to Siberia started on 7 October 1942. Soviet pilots faced numerous difficulties, connected with the weather conditions, great distances, “loneliness” of pilots of fighter aircraft flying in V-formation after the lead bomber aircraft. There was a close cooperation between the Americans and Russians along the Alaska-Siberia Airway. Government Purchasing Commission situated in Washington, D.C., organized delivery of US supplies to Siberia in order to provide the Krasnoyarsk airway with necessary equipment. The Commission’s special department was opened in Fairbanks in Alaska, from wh ere the route to Russia started. Its representatives exercised control over the pre-arranged regular supplies, checked technical conditions of equipment sent to the USSR. For their part, the Americans instructed the Soviet pilots at the airbase in Alaska. Russians took care and made technical improvements of the American aircraft adjusting them to specific battle conditions on the Soviet-German front. The role of Alaska - Siberia Airway in the Lend Lease program was substantial. Out of total of 14 203 American planes sent to Russia 7925 were delivered by that route. It was also used as a safe airline for political and business leaders who flew from the USA to the USSR, and back. It was a sort of bridge of practical cooperation between the USA and USSR during the war.

The article considers issues relating to the system of organization of production in the Soviet agriculture in the mid-1950s - early 1960s. During these years N.S. Khrushchev initiated an attempt to improve the efficiency of agricultural sector of the economy trough the mass construction of state farms - agricultural enterprises that were the Soviet analogues of the industrial form of agricultural production. Analysis of motives, progress, methods, results and consequences of state-farm construction during the Khrushchev decade allowed obtaining new important knowledge in order to deepen and concretize understanding of the essence and fate of the Soviet agricultural system as well as specifics of the state economic policy. Particularly valuable is the information about the activities of state farms established in 1954-1955 in the areas of virgin and fallow lands in the Eastern regions of the USSR. Their establishment was considered the lever for growth in corn production, first of all, for the sake of increasing the fodder base for livestock production. State farms were also established in the habitable areas using the resources of kolkhozes in order to increase an output of dairy products and vegetables. Development of state farm network was widely supported by the regional authorities who were interested in transferring the collective farms to the state as it helped to respond more quickly to the social and economic needs of the village and, first of all, to provide rural dwellers with a better income. Believing in huge production capacity of state farms the government often approved regional level proposals for transforming kolkhozes into sovkhozes. Contrary to all expectations, financial, economic and production indicators of many state farms were below forecasts. “Sovkhozisation” failed to achieve the anticipated results due to the fact that it was carried out in a forced manner while neglecting the evolutionary pattern of industrialization of agriculture rooted in economic practices.

The article considers the activities of Academician L.V. Kirensky (1909-1969) as an organizer of the Institute of Physics and Krasnoyarsk Scientific and Educational Complex in Krasnoyarsk. L.V. Kirensky was an outstanding magnetologist and specialist in the physics of magnetic phenomena and biophysics. His name is inextricably connected with the history of academic science and education in Eastern Siberia in the 1940s - 1960s. The purpose of this article is to show based on the study of archival documents and memories of scientists the formation of L.V. Kirensky as a scientist and organizer of science. L.V. Kirensky’s path to science was not easy. A native of Yakutia, after finishing school he worked as a teacher for several years before entering the Moscow State University in 1931. A talented young scientist under the influence of his mentors became so much engrossed in studying the problems of the physics of magnetic phenomena, that this field of research became his life’s work. After a thesis defence the young scientist began teaching at the Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical Institute (KSPI). The research capacity gained at the Moscow State University was used by L.V. Kirensky during his work in the Magnetic Laboratory at the Department of Physics of KSPI, which he had started creating before the war. During the war the laboratory gained prominence owing to the development of certain military devices. Further research work in the Magnetic Laboratory of KSPI led to the establishment of the first academic Institute of Physics in Krasnoyarsk in 1956. Under the leadership of L.V. Kirensky the Institute turned into a leading center for research on the problems of physics of magnetic phenomena in the country. At the same time, the Institute of Physics became a kind of «incubator» for several Krasnoyarsk Scientific Research Institutes (SRI), which grew out of its departments. The article also deals with the activities of L.V. Kirensky on creation and development of a complex of academic institutions in Krasnoyarsk and establishment of the Krasnoyarsk State University.

Studying the early works on regional history written by a well known Siberian historian and archeologist Aleksey Pavlovich Umansky is of particular interest not only for the purpose of reconstructing his scientific career but also for investigating the cultural landscape of a provincial town in the second half of the 1950s-early 1960s, when the contradictory tendencies of the “Thaw” began to manifest themselves in the regional communities. The scholar’s works written in the middle of the 1950s present a mixture of properly scientific factors with the ideological motives. In further articles, reviews, resource books and in the summarizing work “Cultural Monuments of Altai” the political declarations were gradually overcome; he worked out a critical approach to some dogmatic statements of official propaganda and successfully addressed various problems in his scientific and regional studies. The immensity of A.P. Umansky’s personality was revealed in his ability to get out of his everyday duties and mobilize his intellectual resources to solve a broader range of problems of his scientific and local lore studies. His transfer from a higher educational institution to school and then to an administrative institution didn’t help to enhance his research activities. However even then A.P.Umansky tried to realize his scientific potential and prepared several popular scientific publications, wrote a number of reviews which, on the one hand, were in line with his work as inspector of the Department of Culture. On the other hand, they can be considered as the first experience of systematizing and summarizing historical sources and working out methods and skills of scientific research as such. The author concludes that A.P. Umansky should be considered a representative of the generation of the Sixtiers in the sense that the new tendencies in social life made it possible for him to form his own nonstandard creative personality free of provincial narrow-mindedness and odious officialism while living far from scientific and cultural centers of the country.

The purpose of the article is to show the role of museum associations in development and improvement of museums’ activities. Since the museums have opened their doors to the public, they have required public support: material, intellectual and spiritual. As a natural and integral part of our social environment, museums have developed together with the society, constantly expanding their functions. Being aware of the role of cultural heritage in ensuring sustainable development, the modern society increasingly complicates the tasks of the museum and actively participates in their solution. Public associations play an important role in social interaction with museums. The first non-governmental organizations, the so-called “Association of Museums” created solely for the support of museum institutions, appeared in the late XIX century in England, the USA, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden and other countries. Public associations have greatly contributed to the improvement of various activities of museums, interaction of museum professionals with representatives of various spheres of activity interested in preservation of cultural heritage. Today the problem of public support for museum activities is of global character. A special place in the system of public support of museums is occupied by an authoritative public organization - the International Council of Museums (ICOM), created in 1946 within the structure of UNESCO. ICOM unites 35000 museums in 137 countries, 115 national committees, 31 International Committees, more than 30 thousand individual and collective members. The article focuses on the history and development of one of the structural units of ICOM - Committee for Museology (ICOFOM). Analysis of the Committee’s experience shows that the development of national museums is greatly enriched by the exchange of information, the study of international experience of museums. Intercultural dialogue contributes to the search for new forms and technologies of preservation of cultural heritage.

The article provides analysis of research and institutional capacity in the field of museology and experience in museumification of the Institute of History, SB RAS. It highlights current and promising forms of presentation and development of the scientific heritage: active cooperation with the Committee for Museology in Asia and the Pacific (ASPAC), integration of science, culture and education, formation of exhibition space for presenting the history and modern developments in the Siberian science. Since 1994 the SB RAS Museum Scientific Council has been operating on the basis of the Institute of History. Since 2008 the Institute of History has been involved in the activities of ASPAC. In 2012 the Institute became a collective member of the Russian National Committee of ICOM, Committee for Museology of the International Council of Museums (ICOM-UNESCO). Taking into consideration that scientific research is one of the most important areas of work of ICOFOM and its regional Committee ASPAC the Institute of History under the auspices of SB RAS Museum Scientific Council has attained a number of significant results in the field of museology. The All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference “Contemporary Trends in Development of Museums and Museology” (2011, 2014) has become one of the “brands” of the Institute of History, SB RAS and can be viewed as an actual form of presentation and development of historical, cultural and scientific heritage of Russia. At the present time in compliance with global trends three research units of the Institute of History serve as a basis for a promising direction for further work connected with the regional scientific and cultural heritage development. Actual and innovative forms of the scientific heritage presentation by the Institute of History, SB RAS include project activities aimed at integration of science, culture and education. Fruitful cooperation resulted in implementation of several international and All-Russian interdisciplinary projects.

The article analyzes journalistic works of Ivan Ivanovich Popov, a political exile, one of the members of the organization “Popular Will” whose name was well-known in Irkutsk in the 1890s-1900s. I.I. Popov never concealed his political beliefs; he was not a monarchist and always stood for a radical democratization of the political system in Russia. Popov’s established political image seems dissonant with the opinion of redactors of “The United Catalogue of the Siberian and Far Eastern Books...”, published in 2004, that it was Popov who wrote an article published in the supplement to “Irkutskie eparkhialnye vedomosti” (Irkutsk diocesan journal) (1891. №№ 26, 28, 32) and entitled “Visit of His Imperial Highness Faithful Sovereign Heir Tsesarevitch the Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich to Irkutsk”. This article was written in a faithful, monarchist and patriotic spirit. Because of his political beliefs I.I. Popov could not be the author of this publication. The redactors of the catalogue drew their conclusion from the fact that the article was signed with a pseudonym “Irkutyanin” (Native of Irkutsk) which actually belonged to I.I. Popov. This fact was stated by such bibliographers as Masanov I.F. and Petryaev E.D., however they did not argue that Popov was the author of the above mentioned article. Analysis of the Irkutsk periodicals provided quite foreseeable results. There were at least two people with the same pseudonym. Moreover, they were namesakes. One of them was N.I. Verkhoturov, an Irkutsk painter, famous for his revolutionary views. Another one was Nikolay Verkhoturov, who appeared to be a Transbaikalian merchant. However, careful examination of their notes in the “Vostochnoe Obozrenie” (Eastern Review) has led to conclusion that more than likely none of them wrote the article about the meeting of the Tsarevitch in Irkutsk. Thus, possibly there could be yet another “Irkutyanin” (Native of Irkutsk), who used this pseudonym in newspapers in the 1890s. But who was he? The answer to this question requires further research.

Researchers of the history of Old-Belief consider the early eighteenth century as a period of particular interest, as it was the time when the Old Believer accords’ ideology formed. At that period the adherents of the Old Belief actively debated with representatives of the official Orthodox Church. As a result of the missionaries’ activity the famous “D`iakonovy otvety” and “Pomorskie otvety” were created. They presented a detailed exposition of the advocated point of view. Researchers have already pointed out that there has been insufficient research on the preparatory stage of writing these fundamental manuscript monuments. The author uses four books related to the name of Timofey Lysenin, a Deacons’ Old Believer writer. These books are important sources for the study of issues concerning the work of the Old Believer writers in gathering testimonies in favor of their point of view. The article introduces for scientific use a manuscript dated from the early XVIII century (1714 is given in the manuscript as the date of its creation) from the State Public Scientific Technical Library, SB RAS, the fond of M.N. Tikhomirov, № 529. This manuscript is an indication of the attempt to create the literary monument based on the four “Books” by Timofey Lysenin. The analysis of the contents of the above-mentioned manuscript allows concluding that certain chapters and fragments from the “Books” by Timofey Lysenin were used in its composition. These materials were revised and completed by the compiler, a new introduction was written. It allows us to view the “Book” from the fond of M.N. Tikhomirov as a new phase of work carried out either by Timofey Lysenin himself or by some unknown Deacon’s writer.