Journal articles on the topic 'Volga River Region (Russia) – History – 20th century'

Abstract We trace the history of the uses of the alcoholic drink known as kumyshka among the Udmurt. Our focus is on kumyshka’s ritual uses both in public and domestic contexts in the second half of the 19th century, the early 20th century as well as the early 21st century. We suggest that kumyshka not only represents a site of resistance to the dominant religious regime, i.e. Russian Orthodoxy, but is also a tool for self-enhancement and identity making for this indigenous people in the Volga River basin in Central Russia. The consumption of kumyshka has been a frequent object of criticism in the accounts of Orthodox clergy, scholars, doctors, travellers and administrators. Most accounts show a moralising stance, which only occasionally reflects the local understandings behind its uses. As anthropologists working in the region, we compare these historical sources with the current practices. We discuss changes in the religious sphere as well as in gender roles related to the uses of kumyshka.

The article focuses on the analysis of glazed ware imported into the southern regions of Russia from the Early Middle Ages to the Golden Horde period. The author studied most common types of glazed ware and their sources. In order to compare, the paper considers the groups of ware brought to the Pontic and the Volga River regions. From the 7th century in the northern Pontic region, vessels produced in Constantinople appeared. Various groups of Byzantine pottery were recorded there till the beginning of the Golden Horde period. In the Caspian region, glazed ware appeared not earlier than the middle-late 9th – early 10th century coming there from Central Asia and the Middle East. In the 11th century, there were no significant changes in the sources and number of imported products in the Pontic, while the Volga River region falls under the influence of the North-Eastern Caucasus, Transcaucasia and the Middle East (mainly Iran). In the second half – end of the 12th century, the Volga region was becoming one of the key areas points in the trade of kashi ware of Middle Eastern origin. In the 14th century, Byzantine ware first appeared there. The same period was marked with the rise in local pottery production in the Pontic and Azov littoral which contributed to the spread of these products throughout Eastern Europe.

The article discusses the birth of a national historical discourse in Central Asia at the turn of the 20th century with special reference to the Taranchi Turks of Russian Semirech’ye (Zhetissu) and early example of Uyghur national history written by the Taranchi intellectual Näzärγoja Abdusemätov (d. 1951). The article shows how intellectuals among the Taranchi Turks, an ethnic group who settled in the Semirech’ye oblast of the Russian Empire in late 19th century, became involved in debates on nations and national history organized on the pages of the Tatar newspapers and journals in the Volga region of Russia. Näzärγoja Abdusemätov’s published workIli Taranchi Türklirining tarihi(‘History of the Taranchi Turks of Ili’) receives particular attention as part of an examination of the evolution of the author’s ideas about an Uyghur nation.

This article dwells on the biography of the provincial doctor Dmitry D. Avdeyev (1879–1952) unfolding during the dramatic events in 20th-century Russia. The methods of intellectual history and micro-historiography allow us to create a certain “portrait of a provincial doctor against the background of the era”, who had to make cultural choices. The paper analyses the impact of Avdeyev’s life on the image of Doctor Zhivago, the protagonist in Boris Pasternak’s famous novel, who embodied the best features of the Russian intelligentsia: selfless devotion, action for the common good, disregard of material wealth, and commitment to the timeless humanistic ideals. Avdeyev’s origin and family as well as his professional path are described. Further, the paper studies the everyday life and practice of the ordinary provincial doctor in the early 20th century, including the period of the Civil War and famine of 1921–1922 in the Volga region. It is emphasized here that Avdeyev’s reminiscences of these tragic events, which he had shared with writers evacuated to Chistopol and Yelabuga (1941–1943), were directly and indirectly reflected in Doctor Zhivago. During the war, the doctor’s house in Chistopol became a kind of a writers’ club and a literary salon. It is concluded that the dramatic clash between Avdeyev’s (and Doctor Zhivago’s and, to some extent, Pasternak’s) thoughts and dreams and the reality of post-revolutionary Russia, as well as their being fettered by the actualities of the epoch were, nevertheless, overcome through the spirit of creativity and due to finding meaning in serving the Russian people. This paper provides deeper insights into the lives and behavioural patterns of Russian intellectuals during this landmark period and can be used in interdisciplinary research on the intellectual history of 20th-century Russia and in literary studies.

The madrasah in the village of Satyshevo, Mamadyshsky district of Kazan province (modern Sabinsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan) was one of the oldest rural madrasas in the province. The activity of the Satyshevsky madrasah begins no later than the middle of the 18th century (after the 1750s). In the 19th – early 20th centuries it was one of the largest rural madrasas in Russia. At the beginning of the 19th century, the training center consisted of 3 wooden buildings, and by the beginning of the 20th century, a complex of mektebe and madrasah of 7 buildings was being created. At the beginning of the 20th century, a second parish was allocated in the village and another mosque was being built. The teachers and students of the madrasah were famous imams and recognized theologians in the Volga-Ural region. The madrasah in Satyshevo village had extensive educational ties with the Muslims of the main educational centers of Kazan, Orenburg, Troitsk, Bukhara and Dagestan. The founder of the madrasah should be considered Imam Abdurrashid bin Kadermukhammad. The next famous imam and mudarris was Ibrahim bin Jagfar as-Satyshi. After him, Mukmin ben Budach continued his spiritual path in Satyshevo. One of the famous imams and mudarris of the Satyshev madrasah was Yarulla bin Bikmukhammad (1794–1869). His son Mubaraksha continued his spiritual ministry at the Satyshevo Mosque. One of the students of Yarulla hazrat was Muhammad bin Ali (Mukhammet Mukhammetgaleev), his name is associated with the further development of teaching in the Satyshev madrasah. After his death in 1902, the position of the first imam passed to his son – Abdrakhman Mukhametov, and the second imam in the documents is indicated by the son of Mubaraksha hazrat – Gabdulla. The teaching program at the madrasah was old-fashioned, classical. It is known from the preserved description of the library of the madrasah that there were a large number of manuscripts and books published in Russia and Turkey.

The article examines the views and the work of S. A. Rachinsky and N. I. Ilminsky, the prominent religious enlightenment fi gures in the second half of the 19th century. The former had created a network of church schools for the common people in his estate Tatevo in Smolensk province and its environs, and spent a number of years teaching there. The latter in 1872–1891 held the position of a Director in Kazan Seminary for Teachers of Non-Russian Origin — the central educational institution of the missionary type in the Volga region, aimed at maintaining Orthodoxy among the Christianized peoples of the area. Both educators received the support of K. P. Pobedonostsev, the prominent statesman, publicist and notionalist, one of the leaders of the conservative camp and the chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod. The activists of the religion-based primary education shared the views of specifi c conservative populism based on the idea of common people possessing a set of values that could potentially prevent the society from social upheavals (such as simplicity, patriarchal relations, loyalty to traditions, true religiosity). Rachinsky’s and Ilminsky’s initiatives were aimed at preserving such qualities among the Russian peasantry and the “smaller” nations of the Volga region — social groups that, according to the educators, had managed to stay most aloof from the destructive tendencies of ideological and political development of the second half of the 19th century. Such views in many respects corresponded to the ideas of Pobedonostsev. The famous conservative shared the belief of Rachinsky and Ilminsky that the cause of upheavals that engulfed the post-reform Russia had been the excessive development of individualism and the desire to reconstruct the historically established way of life according to abstract theoretical principles, and that the counterbalance to these phenomena could only be found in the moods of the common people. Rachinsky’s and Ilminsky’s work became a noticeable phenomenon of public life in Russia in the second half of the 19th — early 20th century, and refl ected its important features.

The period between the 19th – early 20th century witnessed waves of actively forming Polish communities in Russia’s rural areas. A major factor that contributed to the process was the repressive policy by the Russian Empire towards those involved in the Polish national liberation and revolutionary movement. Large communities were founded in Siberia, the Volga region, Caucasus, and European North of Russia (Arkhangelsk). One of the largest communities emerged in Siberia. By the early 20th century, the Polonia in the region consisted of tens of thousands of people. The Polish population was engaged in Siberia’s economic life and was an important stakeholder in business. Among the most well-known Polish-Siberian entrepreneurs was Alfons Poklewski-Koziell who was called the “Vodka King of Siberia” by his contemporaries. Poles, who returned from Siberian exile and penal labor, left recollections of their staying in Siberia or notes on the region starting already from the middle of the 19th century. It was this literature that was the main source of information about the life of the Siberian full for a long time. Exile undoubtedly became a significant factor that was responsible for Russia’s negative image in the historical memory of Poles. This was reflected in publications based on the martyrological approach in the Polish historiography. Glorification of the struggle of Poles to restore their statehood was a central standpoint adopted not only in memoirs, but also in scientific studies that appeared the second half of the 19th – early 20th century. The martyrological approach dominated the Polish historiography until 1970s. It was not until the late 20th century that serious scientific research started utilizing the civilizational approach, which broke the mold of the Polish historical science. This is currently a leading approach. This enables us to objectively reconstruct the history of the Siberian Polonia in the imperial period of the Russian history. The article is intended to analyze publications by Polish authors on the history of the Polish community in Siberia the 19th – early 20th century. It focuses on memoirs and research works, which had an impact on the reconstruction of the Siberian Polonia’s history. The paper is written using the retrospective, genetic, and comparative methods.re.

Introduction. For its centuries-old history, in the development of various branches of scientific knowledge, Russia has relied on scientific schools – leading centers that determine the prospects for the development of science, its goals, objectives, strategic priorities, designed to unite and strengthen the work of scientists on certain issues. In the late 80s and early 90s of the last century, the researchers of our country addressed the problem of socio-economic development, attempts to identify the causes of their occurrence, to determine the ways out of the current situation, became the impetus for the creation of the Centers for Economic History. The purpose of the article is to study the history of formation, development, determination of the main directions of activity, analysis of the work and functioning of the Center for Economic History of the Central Russia and the Middle Volga Region at Mordovia State University. Materials and Methods. When solving the set research tasks, the materials of the Center for Economic History of Central Russia and the Middle Volga Region, information and analytical bulletins, conference programs, reports, scientific works of the team, reviews, analytical reviews were used. The article uses a micro historical approach, narrative, traditional methods of historical research. Results. The expediency of creating the Center is due to the processes that took place in many vital spheres of Russia, including science and education. The main purpose of the Center was the reproduction and generation of historical, historical and economic knowledge and knowledge of social and humanitarian informatics, as well as their transfer to the system of training bachelors, undergraduates, highly qualified personnel and the modern humanitarian space. Discussion and Conclusion. At the present stage, the economic history of the Republic of Mordovia is known to the wide scientific community largely due to the activities of the Center, which is represented in the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the problems of Russian and world economic history. Over the years, the scientists of the Center have accumulated significant experience in studying economic history, organizing and conducting scientific events, publishing, expanding the boundaries of scientific research, acquiring scientific connections and contacts. All this allows the staff of the Center to continue further research aimed at the formation of the humanitarian space and socio-cultural environment of modern society.

In the article, based on a wide range of documents, an attempt is made to analyze the interaction of the leaders of the Russian Muslim social movement on the main political issues of two key regions: the Volga-Ural and the Caucasus, at the beginning of the 20th century. We are talking about the cooperation of the leaders of the Muslim movement in considering the issues of the models of statehood and autonomy and land. The interaction of Muslims of the Volga-Ural region and the Caucasus in the framework of the activities of the Ittifak al-Muslimin party, the Muslim faction of the imperial State Duma of four convocations, during the revolutionary events of 1917 and the Civil War is considered.The source base of the study is bills, legislative sources, programs of parties and factions, clerical materials, verbatim records of meetings of the State Duma of all four convocations and Muslim congresses. Methodologically, the article is based on systematization, classification and analysis of these documents. To compare the facts and events related to the activities of the leaders of the Muslim movement of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century and to determine their role in the history of interaction between the Muslims of the Volga-Ural region and the Caucasus, the comparative-historical method adopted in domestic science was applied. The conclusions are made that, firstly, the economic and intellectual elite of the Tatar and Azerbaijani peoples stood at the head of the social movement of Muslims of the Russian Empire. Secondly, the main issues facing the Muslim politicians of Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century were questions about the form of government and the autonomy of Muslims and land. Thirdly, the political cooperation between the leaders of the Muslims of the Volga-Ural region and the Caucasus at the beginning of the twentieth century led to the creation of the All-Russian Muslim party "Ittifak al-Muslimin", the Muslim faction of the State Duma, and the convocation of All-Russian Muslim congresses.

Introduction. Observed in the late XIX – early XX centuries intensification of state participation in the development of the engineering industry was primarily due to the need to solve military-strategic problems against the background of militarization unfolding throughout the world. The support for certain areas of the so-called civil engineering was considered as one of the tools of overall economic growth and a way to increase the well-being of the people. One of these priority areas was agricultural engineering. This article will attempt to consider the development of the production of agricultural machinery and implements in the provinces of the Middle Volga region against the background of the development of this industry segment in Russia as a whole. Materials and Methods. In solving the research problems, archival materials, published data of official statistics, and also scientific literature were used. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was made by the methods of socio-economic history. The study was conducted on the basis of the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematic. The need for quantitative data processing led to the use of the statistical method. The use of modernization theory made it possible to include the development processes of the production of agricultural machinery and implements in the trend of industrial modernization. Results. Based on the study of archival and published sources, as well as the available scientific literature, the conditions, factors and basic parameters of the development of agricultural engineering in the provinces of the Middle Volga region in the late XIX – early XX centuries were examined in the context of general trends in the development of this industry on a national scale. The study showed that the first decade of the XX century is characterized by a rather dynamic development of domestic agricultural engineering, including in the Middle Volga. Several factors contributed to this: the trend of technical re-equipment of agriculture, improvement of market and transport infrastructure, the success of metallurgy in the region, customs protection, stimulation of producers through soft loans and bonuses, etc. Discussion and Conclusion. Despite the individual, mainly local successes in the development of agricultural engineering in the Middle Volga region, its role in the industrial and industrial structure of the region is hardly worth recognizing. Difficulties in the development of this area of engineering in the Middle Volga region were associated with increased competition from enterprises of industrially developed regions of Russia, foreign manufacturers, as well as handicraft production. The unfolding processes of monopolization had a double effect on agricultural engineering. On the one hand, they increased pressure on manufacturers, primarily from large metallurgical syndicates. On the other hand, the consolidation of agricultural machinery manufacturers at the beginning of the 20th century within the framework of the created monopolistic union contributed to the development of the industry as a whole and the creation of the most favorable conditions for industrial entrepreneurship in this area, including with the participation of the state.

The study aims to compare the concepts of religious autonomies of the Muslims of European Russia and Siberia with similar ones in the North Caucasus, set out in projects in the early 20th century. We analyze the process of developing a decision on the creation of religious autonomy for Muslims in European Russia and Siberia and the North Caucasus at the beginning of the 20th century within the framework of a unified Russian statehood, including government bills, drafts of the All-Russian Muslim Congresses in 1906 and 1914, Muslim congresses in the spring-summer of 1917. As a result, in 1917, the Tatar Muslims of Inner Russia and Siberia at the II All-Russian Muslim Congress in July 1917. The concept of national-cultural autonomy was chosen and the Milli Idare and Millet Majlis were established. In the North Caucasus the First Mountain Congress announced the creation of the the Alliance of the United Mountaineers of the North Caucasus and Dagestan (SOGSKD), as a territorial autonomy, with a single body represented by the “Caucasian Muftiate”. We applied the comparative historical method in order to compare the provisions of the projects and characterize the historical events that accompanied their creation. We came to the following conclusions: firstly, the main questions were questions about the form of government and the autonomy of Muslims and the land ussue. Secondly, the political cooperation between the Muslim leaders of the Volga-Ural region and the Caucasus at the beginning of the 20th century led to the creation of the All-Russian party “Ittifaq al-Muslimin”, the Muslim faction of the State Duma, the convocations of the all-Russian Muslim congresses, the idea ofcreating 5 separate Muftiates and a single all-Russian Muslim religious autonomy headed by Sheikh-ul-Islam. Thirdly, in 1917 there was a separation of the two regions on the issues of the formation of religious autonomy, a departure from the idea of common Muslim unity within the borders of Russian statehood. Fourthly, didn’t result in a solution of the issue of organizing the Spiritual Administration of Muslims in the region.

Introduction. In the late XIX – early XX centuries agricultural engineering in Russia was considered as a tool for solving several important problems. Against the background of the growth of the export potential of Russian agriculture, an increase in its productivity was considered as a way of obtaining foreign currency funds necessary for settlements on international financial obligations. At the same time, the task of increasing the production of agricultural machinery could not be fully resolved without an increase in demand for it. Therefore, the large-scale agrarian transformations undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century assumed assistance to the peasants in the technical re-equipment of their farms. The preservation of manual labor and archaic methods of agricultural production at the beginning of the 20th century became a threat that could nullify all reform efforts. This article will attempt to determine the extent of consumption of agricultural machinery and implements in Russia in the late XIX – early XX centuries based on the use of statistical materials on the provinces of the Middle Volga region. Materials and Methods. In solving the research problems, archival materials, published data of official statistics, and also scientific literature were used. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was made by the methods of socio-economic history. The study was conducted on the basis of the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematic. The need for quantitative data processing led to the use of the statistical method. The digital data presented in the work received a graphical interpretation and were visualized in the form of diagrams. The application of modernization theory allowed the inclusion of the growth processes of the technical equipment of agriculture in the trend of industrial modernization. Results. Based on a study of archival and published sources, as well as available scientific literature on the topic, a dynamic analysis of the scale of agricultural machinery consumption was carried out in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The study showed a fairly significant increase in this indicator both in Russia as a whole and in relation to the provinces of the Middle Volga region. At the same time, uneven technical equipment of agriculture was revealed in relation to different provinces. The main factors hindering the introduction of agricultural machinery in agricultural practice are considered. Discussion and Conclusion. The above data quite definitely allow us to talk about the growth in the use of agricultural machinery and improved tools in the Middle Volga region at the beginning of the 20th century. However, in relation to different provinces, these dynamics had very significant differences. It looked the most rapid in the Samara and Saratov provinces. It was much less noticeable in the Penza, Simbirsk and Kazan provinces. Such high rates in the Samara and Saratov provinces are due to the active spread of intensive agriculture, which provided for a high level of mechanization of labor. Passing to the expanded production of a market type, the farmers actively introduced agronomic and technical innovations. However, the technological revolution in agriculture did not cover all producers, far more affecting those who went beyond the communal regime and moved into the category of rural private owners. Among the factors that slowed down the implementation of machines, one can single out the conservatism of the peasant consciousness, the inertia of traditions in the practice of farming, the insufficient technical literacy of the peasantry, which made it difficult to maintain and repair complex machines, their high cost, low purchasing power of rural residents, etc. All this not only hindered the development of agriculture, but also significantly restrained the processes of early industrial modernization of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

Analysis of the current state of fisheries in the Volga-Caspian subarea has been carried out. The processes of deformation of aquatic biological resources of the Caspian basin have been assessed. Modern catches of commercial fish have decreased by one order of magnitude compared to the last century. At the beginning of the 20th century the stocks of semi-anadromous and river fish species were significant, the catches reached 200-300 thousand tons. In recent years, the catch of the fish has stabilized at the level of 36.0-43.3 thousand tons. In recent years the catches of vobla, carp and zander were the lowest in the history of the Caspian fisheries. The catch of carp, compared with that in the 1980s, decreased by more than 5 times, vobla – by 6 times, zander – by 4 times. Since 2003, there has been a decrease in the catch of bream up to 7-10 thousand tons. A sharp decrease in catches is primarily explained by the collapse of kilka stocks. There is an acute problem of limiting and even a complete ban on fishing vobla. According to the results of the correlation analysis (comparison of the values of natural factors with the value of catches in the studied subareas), it was found that fish production in the Volga-Caspian subarea does not show any relationship with any of the listed natural factors. An analysis of the species composition of semi-anadromous and river fish caught by various fishing gear in the Lower Volga was carried out. The species composition of catches by secrets is more diverse than by cast nets and gillnets. Most abundant species in the catches are bream, vobla, pike, catfish, rudd. A forecast is given for a further fishery reduction in the Caspian basin including the Astrakhan region.

On the territory of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain, plant communities including Sporobolus cryptandrus are found. This is an adventitious species from North America that came to Europe in the early 20th century. In Russia, Sporobolus cryptandrus was first discovered in 1998 on the territory of the Volgograd region. Currently, Sporobolus cryptandrus is actively distributed throughout the Volgograd regions. Probably, Sporobolus cryptandrus was introduced together with imported grain and mixed fodders. This species was originally built into the plant communities of sandy steppes. In this paper, we describe the S. cryptandrus communities that we found in the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain. The descriptions were carried out at two sites in the northern part of the floodplain. Geobotanical sites are located on the nearbed sand banks along the river bed. Akhtuba. Completed 19 geobotanical descriptions. All descriptions were accumulated in an electronic database based on the TURBOVEG program. Communities of Sporobolus cryptandrus are characterized by poor floristic composition, low overall projective cover. Habitats of communities are subject to short-term flooding in the spring-summer period, as well as cattle grazing. In communities dominated: Sporobolus cryptandrus, Secale sylvestre, Artemisia marschalliana. We assume that these phytocenoses can be classified as cl. Artemisietea tchernievianae Golub 1994. Sporobolus cryptandrus has shown itself as an agriophyte and a transformer species that can completely replace the dominant cereal species in sand steppe communities or be introduced to pioneer communities at an early stage of overgrowth. Settling of this adventive species can lead to the loss of the natural appearance of the vegetation of sandy substrates. Propagation processes need further observation and analysis.

Introduction. Factory inspection was one of the key institutions that influenced the industrial development of Russia in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The factory inspection, closely integrated into the state management system, went through several stages of its formation and development. Being at the very center of social contradictions within the framework of an increasingly acute “work issue”, the factory inspectorate was often criticized by various political forces, as well as by entrepreneurs and the public. Research methods. The range of applied research methods when considering this topic is determined by the intersection of several subject areas: social, economic and legal. In order to reflect all the complexities of their interaction, the methods of socio-institutional analysis were used. The use of the modernization theory made it possible to include the approval of factory-labor legislation in Russia in the trend of industrial modernization. The method of micro-history allows you to see the specific practice of the relationship of factory inspection with the owners and administration of industrial enterprises. Results. In this article, based on the study of predominantly archival sources, an analysis was made of the activities of factory inspection of the provinces of the Middle Volga region in the beginning of the 20th century in the context of confrontation with entrepreneurs, the essence of which was the desire to oblige them to comply with the norms and rules of factory labor legislation. As the study showed, it was not unclouded, it raised many questions and controversial issues, often caused by the frank reluctance of the owners and administrations of industrial enterprises to comply with the requirements of factory-labor legislation, and in some cases the insufficient functioning of the factory’s institute inspection, as well as mechanisms for its implementation. Discussion and conclusion. As the study shows, carrying out mediation in resolving labor disputes and conflicts between workers and entrepreneurs, factory inspectors became essentially the main actors in the formation of the legal space in the sphere of industrial production in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Gradually, they became an effective force that could resist the desire of the owners and management of enterprises to preserve the so-called “old factory orders”, where the decisive role was played not by the “letter of the law”, but by the will of the owner and a well-established custom. The way in which the new practice of production and labor relations was successfully implemented largely depended on the personality of the factory inspector, on his principledness and desire to resist the entrepreneurs and the administration of factories in their desire not to comply with the norms of factory labor legislation. Keywords: industry, actory inspection, workers, entrepreneurs, Middle Volga region, factory labor legislation

The article presents an overview of the biography and scholarly heritage of a graduate of St. Petersburg University, a student of S.F.Platonov, and an outstanding Russian historian of the first half of the 20th century, P.G.Liubomirov. Based on the analysis of the works and materials of the personal archive of the scholar, the paper shows that the sphere of academic interests of P.G.Liubomirov comprised several directions. He made a great contribution to the study of the socio-economic history of the Low Volga region in the 17th–19th centuries, and to the history of social thought in Russia in the 18th century. A series of articles by P.G.Liubomirov on these topics appeared in the 1920–1930s in the regional academic periodicals. Many works of the scholar have never been published and are kept in his archive as manuscripts. In the 1930–1940s a group of his students and colleagues did a large amount of work with concerning publication of his works. However, due to the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War and ideological campaigns of the turn of the 1940–1950s this work has not been completed. Today, much of the scholarly heritage of P.G.Liubomirov remains unpublished and unknown to historians. The works of the historian has not lost their relevance. In this regard, it is necessary to resume work on the study and publication of the works of P.G.Liubomirov, which was interrupted in the 1950s.

Introduction. The Oirats are Western Mongols, today living between the Altai mountains, the river Volga, the Kukunor Area, the Ili River and Kyrgyzstan. In 1648, Zaya Pandita from the Hoshut (Hoshud) tribe of the Oirats created the ‘Clear Script’ (Oir. Todo Bičig), nowadays also known as Oirat Script. This script was originally meant to be used as a reformed script by all Mongols, but it caught on with the Western Mongols, the Dzungars (Oirats, Kalmyks), only. The 20th century witnessed the introduction of new writing standards for individual groups of Oirats/Kalmyks in the Soviet Union (Russia), China and Mongolia, which led to a weakening of the West Mongolian identity. Three of the most influential Kalmyk scholars, who worked on the reform of the written language and who were active as teachers and researchers in Tashkent, Sinkiang and Western Mongolia in the 1920s and 1930s, were Aksen Suseev, Iǰil Čürüm and Ceren Dorži Nominhanov. Goals. The study aims to investigate the connection between ethnic identity and (written) language against the background of global political upheavals. The work focuses on the change of the Oirat written language in Sinkiang (Xinjiang) in a multi-ethnic region compared to the Kalmyk written language in Russia, as well as the Oirat language in Mongolia over the past 100 years. Materials. The research project, given as an outline in the following article, analyzes schoolbooks, dictionaries, grammars and other printed materials of the 20th and 21st centuries in the West Mongolian Oirat script collected in Sinkiang Kalmykia since 1986. Results. Since the 1940s, the Oirats in Sinkiang have been taking up a development in their reformed written language that was originally initiated in Kalmykia by Kalmyk scholars during the period of 1915–1938, but was not carried on there due to the political conditions which resulted in the deportation of the Kalmyks to Siberia in 1943. After the return of the Kalmyks to Kalmykia since 1957/58 the old traditions were broken, and the development of the written language focused solely on the use of a modified Cyrillic alphabet. The community based on a common script of the Kalmyks and Oirats – in China, Russia (Kalmykia) and Western Mongolia – broke up, and the three or four groups went their separate ways. For example, the orthography and grammar of the Oirat written language in reformed Todo Bičig in Sinkiang is not standardized until today. The Oirats in Mongolia, like the Oirats in Kyrgyzstan, no longer have their own written language in which they can express themselves in writing. Another desideratum is a textbook of modern Kalmyk and modern Sinkiang Oirat for Western students and scholars. Although some institutions and scholars have some Oirat language archives, like the State and University Library Goettingen has good collection of Kalmyk-Oirat and Mongolian literature, there are a lot of aspects to deal with.

This paper aims at reconstructing the genealogy of Siberian Tatars of Knyazevs (Western Siberia), identifying the origins of their surname, which is not characteristic of the Tatars, and at analysis of the influence of socio-political and socio-economical processes in Russia in the 18th through 20th centuries on the social transformation of the family. The sources were represented by the materials of the Inventory Revision Book of Tarsky District of 1701 and census surveys of the end of 18th through 19th centuries, which allowed tracing the Knyazev family through the genealogical succession and identifying social status of its members. In this work, recordkeeping ma-terials of the 18th–20th centuries and contemporary genealogical and historical traditions of the Tatars have been utilized. In the research, the method of genealogical reconstructions by archival materials and their correlation with genealogies of modern population has been used. The history of the Knyazev family is inextricably linked to the history of modern village of Bernyazhka — one of the earliest settlements of the Ayalintsy (a group of the Si-berian Tatars) in the territory of the Tarsky Irtysh land which became the home to the Knyazevs for more than three centuries. The 1701Inventory Revision Book cites Itkuchuk Buchkakov as a local power broker of the Aya-lynsky Tatars in the village. During the 18th century, this position was inherited by his descendants who eventually lost this status in the beginning of the 19th century in the course of the managerial reforms by the Russian gov-ernment. Nevertheless, the social status of the members of the gens remained high. In the mid. 19th century, the village moved — the villagers resettled from the right bank of the River Irtysh onto the left one. As the result, the village was situated nearby the main road connecting the cities of Omsk and Tara. At the same time, the village became the center of the Ayalynskay region. That led to the strengthening of the social status and property en-richment of the descendants of Itkuchuk Buchkakov. The Knyzevs’ surname first appeared in the materials of the First All-Russia Census Survey of 1897. Some of the descendants signed up under this surname later in the Soviet period. During the Soviet years, members of the Knyzev’s gens had different destinies: some worked in the local government, whereas the others were subjected to political repressions and executed. Knyazevs took part in the Great Patriotic War and seven of them perished. Presently there are no descendants of the Knyazevs in Bernyazhka as they spread over the villages of the Omskaya Region, some living in Omsk and other towns of Russia and abroad.

The article considers the activities of Ivan Kraft, the governor of Yakutsk Oblast, on the incorporation of North-East Siberia into the single economic, administrative and sociocultural space of the Russian Empire. The aim of the study is to analyze Kraft's contribution to the construction and arrangement of the Amur-Yakutsk Highway at the beginning of the 20th century. To reach this aim, the authors broadly use archival sources that have not been previously published and introduced into academic discourse. The topic has theoretical and applied relevance. It has not been sufficiently studied in the historiography of North-East Siberia and is the subject of scholarly and political discussions. The key method in the study is an interdisciplinary approach to the research problem, which is at the intersection of history and economics. The authors used content analysis for a quantitative and qualitative study of these sources based on the principle of historicism and consistency. The authors determined that, in connection with the design of the Amur Railway, the Amur-Yakutsk Highway received the status of a strategic infrastructure object in the macroregion. The authors note that Kraft was the initiator of the construction of the route from Yakutsk to the Amur. The governor conducted a number of scientific and engineering surveys of the most convenient route and made applications for financing the construction of the highway. Kraft made a strategic decision to attract private companies with large capital for the construction. The Upper Amur Gold Mining Company and the Heirs of A. I. Gromova company helped build highway sections with a total length of more than 500 km, equip stations, establish telegraph communications, and construct river crossings. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the framework of modernization measures, Kraft considered Yakutsk Oblast as a mining region. This became the basis for raising the question of Yakutia's access to the Trans-Siberian Railway. The close cooperation of the government, in the person of Kraft, with large enterprises of the region was the basis for the project of constructing a railway line to Yakutsk. In conclusion, the authors note that the processes of incorporation of the Asian borderlands of Russia into the economic, administrative and sociocultural space of the state that Governor of Yakutsk Oblast Ivan Kraft began at the beginning of the 20th century were reflected in the modern policy of the Russian Federation. The Amur-Yakutsk Mainline was put into operation in 2015. At present, the problem of building a bridge across the Lena in the Yakutsk area is still relevant. In 2019, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed orders to begin the construction of the bridge. This will create an international transit corridor between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Goals. The article publishes and analyzes archaeological materials of the modern period found at Pervomaisky-1 site discovered in foothill-steppe areas of the Southern Trans-Urals (a high plateau 14 km west of the right bank of the Ural River, Abzelilovsky District, Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia) in 2019. Materials. The collection includes three groups of pottery (coarse, gray-clay and red-clay), porcelain and earthenware dishes, various iron products (knives, harrow teeth, fragments of a cast-iron pot, horseshoes, etc., and no weapons traced), pieces of iron ore, animal bones, etc. Results. The source analysis of the finds and analogies from the rest of the Urals, Volga Region and Western Siberia made it possible to date the site to the mid — late 19th century and typologically classify it a short-term sedentary agricultural settlement. The paper establishes a relative synchronicity of all types of pottery (including impurities to clay dough), porcelain and earthenware, showing a high proportion of tableware and ‘tea’ utensils, which may be associated with the type of the site. The absence of large cast-iron cauldrons is defined as a marker of some agricultural (not nomadic) population. The involvement of historical data and cartographic materials deepened the analysis and made it possible to determine the site is a field camp of Cossacks from Magnitnaya stanitsa (Orenburg Cossack Host) that emerged after the establishment of Novolineiny District and the 200 km eastward transfer of Russia’s national frontier. This resulted in the territory turned into a deep rear area. So, the former fortress became a rich village where trade was developing and the population was rapidly increasing. Cartographic data show the object was located in the center of a narrow (5-6 km) arable land strip bounded by the main transport artery of the region — Orenburg Post Road — in the east, and by the border of Cossack and Bashkir lands in the west. The conducted comprehensive studies substantiate dating parameters of the archaeological complex which is of great importance for further development of modern history-related archeology in the entire Ural–West Siberian Region, and show the likely abundance of agricultural field camps across the territory that can be viewed as a separate type of archaeological objects.

Статья посвящена анализу архивных фотодокументов 1860–1870-х годов, находящихся в коллекции Музея антропологии и этнографии им. Петра Великого (Кунсткамера) РАН, и изобразительных материалов, созданных на их основе. Комплекс этих изображений отражает тенденции второй половины XIX в. в визуализации этнических черт, когда нужный эффект достигался как с помощью различных выразительных средств, так и манипуляциями с зафиксированной информацией через компиляцию, ретушь и текстовое сопровождение. Анализ содержания при сравнении оригинальных и вторичных данных показывает, как искусственное насыщение информацией и объединение эстетических подходов отражались на достоверности этнической репрезентации. Примеры обработки фотодокументов и технологии создания на их основе новых, описанные в тексте, позволяют представить масштабы и вариации существовавшего явления. Сравнение изменений, произошедших с изображениями во временном и пространственном движении, выявляет смысловые и коннотационные трансформации. В статье рассмотрена музейная история фотоколлекции МАЭ № 106А, проанализированы атрибуции, повлиявшие на трансформацию информативных возможностей ряда документов и изменившие этнические и исторические факты. Особое внимание уделено тому, как нюансированно менялись контексты с помощью незначительных доработок как визуального текста, так и текста вербального. Описаны несколько вариантов создания вторичных документов – рисунков на основе фотографий – для научного иллюстрирования текста о путешествии О. Финша и А. Брема и в художественных произведениях с этнической тематикой М. С. Знаменского. Вопрос о достоверности изображения, особенно если оно раннее, должен обязательно подниматься при обработке фотодокумента. Не только критика фотографии, но и простое иллюстрирование текстов визуальными данными невозможны без предварительного изучения как самого изображения, так и сопроводительной документации. Анализ художественных работ сложнее, так как здесь исследование необходимо начинать с поиска первоисточников, послуживших основой для создания произведения. The article examines the archival photo documents of the 1860s–1870s, stored in the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and graphic materials created on their basis. These images reflect the trends of the second half of the 19th century in the visualization of ethnic features. The desired effect was achieved both through various expressive means and by manipulating the recorded information via compilation, retouching and textual accompaniment. The author’s aesthetic vision of beauty and exoticism often dominated in these pictures. Saturation with visual information was more likely to attract clients to purchase such an image. The comparison of the original and secondary data shows how the artificial information content and the integration of aesthetic approaches were reflected in the specificity of ethnic representation. The careful investigation of specific im-ages suggests where to look for difficult situations, allows avoiding loose interpretation and supporting the conclusions with specific facts. The museum received Collection No. 106 from the scientist Ivan Polyakov. The collection of photos is heterogeneous and includes two sets of documents: (1) prints acquired from various photographers during trips across the Russian Em-pire: the Caucasus, Siberia, the Volga region, Kazakhstan; (2) prints of photos Polyakov took during his own expedition along the Ob River to study local people. The history of the collection demonstrates how difficult it is to find out the origin of a photographic document and then to study its content. An example of changing attribution for a set of six photos from the collection is considered in the text. This group of documents is interesting because it vividly demonstrates conventions in depicting gender and national differences. All the photos show the same man. However, in three of them, he presents three variants of the Samoyed male costume; in the oth-er three, two variants of the female costume. The attribution of the photos is not clear to date. It is known that they were displayed at the ethnographic exhibition in Moscow in 1867 as images of the European group of Samoyeds (Nenets people) from Arkhangelsk Province. However, in the museum’s collection, they are registered with the title “Ostyak and Samoyed Winter Cos-tumes”. We can see how this change of attribution is reflected in the illustration and text error in the book about travel across Russia by Otto Finsch and Alfred Brehm. In the second part of the article, photo documents are considered as a source for creating graphic art works, in particular by the artist Mikhail Znamensky. Three color drawings, whose objects he borrowed from the prints of Collection No. 106, are analyzed in detail. Znamensky combined the objects with visu-al data from other sources and created new works of his own. The artist placed earlier samples into the new pieces of art. As a result, the original context presented in the original source was lost or altered. People drawn from photographs were assigned activities they did not do or this information was not embedded in the original image. The author colored his images copied from monochrome photographs and chose the color of the clothes at his discretion. The characters taken from different documents and placed in the narrative of the combined pictures turned out to be connected with each other by different semiotic links and created contexts in the new plots. Thus, representing various phenomena and cultures, a community of characters and events from different-time documents was created. This gave rise to unification and created ethnic stereotypes. Undoubtedly, people who created such constructs were more than far from thinking about a conscious falsification of data and from understanding that, in the historical perspective, the analysis of their compilations can lead to false conclusions. Their work, which concentrated information, responded to the needs of their time; it allowed contemporaries to see the diversity of life, without reference to special literature.

At the end of the 20th century, changes took place in the world that forced politicians and scientists to rethink many seemingly established postulates about the laws of social life and about the ways of development of human civilization. The modern development of the social movement among the Tatars of Russia, and especially the national processes in Tatarstan largely repeat the trends in the development of the nation in the pre-Soviet period. The main role in the social movement of nations is played by the activities of the elite aimed at creating political, educational and cultural institutions. The turning point in the history of the Tatar people should be considered the end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century. The Tatar ideology was created during the period of rapid development of bourgeois socio-economic relations (especially noticeable among the Tatars of the Volga-Ural region) and the rise of national culture. However, until recently, the sources and works of authors of different times have not been fully studied, although they contain data on the processes of formation of the Tatar social factor and the Tatar nation itself in the context of the development of the Russian community.