Communication Routes of Upper Irtysh Region of 17th — Early 18th Centuries in “Horographic Book” and “Drawing Book of Siberia” by S. U. Remezov

The characteristics of land communications of the Upper Irtysh region in the structure of communications in the south of Western Siberia at the turn of the 17th—18th centuries, is described in the article according to the chorographic drawings of S. Remezov. The source corpus of the study is based on the atlases of the Tobolsk isographer, which retain heuristic significance, and the published information of Russian diplomats. The increasing importance of traffic routes in the Upper Irtysh region is considered in the context of the dynamics of the ethnosocial and political situation in the region. Special attention is paid to the correlation of specific trajectories of movement with physical-geographical (hydrological, geomorphological) and sociopolitical (monasteries, rulers’ rates) terrain objects. The authors propose their own interpretation of the category “way”, present an original map-scheme of communication routes in the upper and part of the middle reaches of the Irtysh. The existence of two key trajectories of movement in the Upper Irtysh region in early modern times is proved: the caravan paths that left the Irtysh and connected in the upper reaches of the Chara; the way from the Kalbinsky ridge along the western plain of the Zaisan past the Ortentau mountains to the Tarbagatai ridge and the Emel River.

Mari of Udmurtia: Factors of Preserving Traditional Culture in Modern Conditions

The factors of preservation and intergenerational transmission of the traditional culture of the local group of Mari living in the territory of Udmurtia in a different ethnic environment is examined in the article. The source basis of the article was the field ethnographic materials collected in 2007 among the Mari of the Karakulinsky region of the Udmurt Republic and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The socio-economic situation of the respondents, the established mechanisms of adaptation to market relations, the preservation of traditional rituals and holidays, material and spiritual culture, the use of the native language, ethno-demographic processes, the activities of the Mari community to support ethnic culture are showed in the work. The author notes that the historically formed mechanism for ensuring the viability of the Mari society includes practices of demographic behavior, ethnic socialization of youth, reproduction of elements of spiritual and religious culture (prayers, family and calendar rituals, songs) and the material world (national costume, elements of architecture, musical instruments, national cuisine), the use of the Mari language. It has been proven that the ritual sphere of the Mari is undergoing transformations, but at the same time it continues to remain an inseparable part of the life of the people. In the course of the work, it was also revealed that the local group of Mari in modern conditions for self-preservation needs to constantly generate ethnic markers based on traditional culture. The key role in this is assigned to the village community, educational institutions and public organizations.

Bishop Apollos (Belyaev) and Development of Vyatka Diocese in 1866—1885

Using mainly historical-comparative and historical-genetic methods, the issue of the development of the Vyatka and Slobodsk dioceses, which coincides within the borders with the Vyatka province, under Bishop Apollos (Belyaev), is considered in the article. The author pays special attention to the process of organizing religious, educational and missionary activities, and up to the appointment of Bishop Apollos, the results of this work were insignificant. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time it comprehensively examines the activities of the Vyatka Bishop Apollos in terms of the implementation of a nationwide religious course, which included active educational and missionary work of the local clergy. Under Bishop Apollos, to increase the influence of the clergy on the local population, including the Old Believers and non-Orthodox, important transformations were carried out: a separate vicariate was allocated in the diocese, the Vyatka Committee of the Orthodox Missionary Society and the Vyatka Brotherhood of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker were opened, and the work of the local clergy was also generally reorganized. This gave the first positive results in strengthening the position of the Russian Orthodox Church among the local population of the Vyatka diocese.

System of Zemstvo Elections According to Regulations on Zemstvo Institutions of 1890 in Estimates of Russian Periodicals

The article is devoted to the little-studied issue of the reaction of the Russian periodicals to changes in the zemstvo electoral legislation in accordance with the Regulations on zemstvo institutions in 1890. The positions of the leading conservative (“Moskovskie vedomosti”, “Grazhdanin”, “Russian Review”, “Russian Bulletin”, “Novoye Vremya”), liberal (“Novosti”, “Nedelya”, “Bulletin of Europe”, “Russian Thought”, “Russkie vedomosti”, “Sudebnaya Gazeta”) and populist (“Russian wealth”, “Novoye Slovo”, “Severny Vestnik”) editions. The attitude of periodicals to key changes in the system of zemstvo elections is shown: the establishment of estate electoral meetings, the privileged position of the nobility, a change in the order of representation from peasants, the deprivation of voting rights for Jews, a change in the procedure for approving members and chairmen of zemstvo councils. The authors argue that certain provisions of the new electoral law did not suit both conservative and liberal and populist publications. At the same time, there was no single approach within each of these groups. Some conservative publications in their proposals and criticism were close to the liberal ones (“Novoye Vremya”), and vice versa (“Novosti”, “Nedelya”). In general, each of the editions focused mainly on individual changes, criticizing or supporting them, as well as proposing their own versions of their changes.

Formation of Administrative Statistics Bodies in Russian Empire: Statistical Department of Ministry of Police (1811—1819)

The article is devoted to the history of creation and the first years of activity of the Ministry of Police Statistical Division in the context of the departmental scientists of Russian subdivisions activities. Based on a wide range of published and archival materials, the author examines the prerequisites for the organization of the institution, the legal framework that governed its work at an early stage, examines the evolution of the structure and staffing. It is noted that the idea of concentrating statistical functions in one department appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century and acquired particular relevance during the reign of Alexander I. Analyzing the clerical documentation, the author corrects the date of creation of the department, established in historiography, and notes the peculiarities of its position within the Ministry of Police. It is concluded that the creation of the Statistical Office was in the nature of an administrative experiment, funding for its activities at an early stage was carried out from third-party sources, and employees were not part of the staff of the ministry. It was noted that the effectiveness of the department's work directly depended on the personal interest of the leaders — the Minister of Police A.D. Balashev and Professor K.F. Herman. They managed to prepare the basis for further improvements in the work of the department.

Formation of Soviet Postgraduate Studies in History in USSR in 1930s: Legislative Regulation and Practice

The formation of the institute of postgraduate studies in history in the USSR in the 1930s is examined in the article. The sources used are published legislative acts, journalistic materials, archival data. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the proposed problem was often considered in the context of the history of scientific and scientific and educational institutions or exclusively through regulatory legal acts without taking into account the practice that actually existed and developed under the influence of the community of scientists. Using the materials of curricula for the training of graduate students of Moscow University, Leningrad University, the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, as well as using the individual plans of graduate students, the author proves that the older generation of historians sought to integrate pre-revolutionary standards and mechanisms for training dissertation candidates into the new conditions of Soviet power. It is stated in the article that, despite the publication of numerous decrees, instructions, rules by government structures in relation to the institute of graduate school in the 1930s, there were no clear recommendations on the nature of the process of training scientific personnel. Supervisors of post graduate students, as a rule, themselves determined the scope of requirements for applicants. The author reveals the relative freedom of historians in determining the conditions and scientific criteria for entering the scientific community of neophytes.

City Elections in Kuban (Spring — Autumn 1919)

The article is devoted to the elections to the city councils of the Kuban Territory, which took place in the spring and autumn of 1919. The author dwells in detail on the Kuban electoral law, according to which, for the first time in Russia, a rather rare electoral system — раnаchage — was used, and on the results of its application. Election campaigns in Yekaterinodar and other cities of the region are considered, the results of voting and the composition of councillors are analyzed. By the example of Yekaterinodar, the difference in electoral preferences of residents of “bourgeois” and “proletarian” regions is shown, as well as the influence of the educational and property level, occupation on the political preferences of the townspeople. Special attention is paid to the story of the murder in the editorial office of the newspaper “Utro Yuga”, which was caused by the struggle between moderately socialist electoral associations, and one of the immediate reasons was S. Ya. Marshak's election poems. The general results of the elections show that in most cities of the region the victory was won by the “right” homeowners' lists, but the author believes that the reason for this was not so much a change in the mood of the masses as the absenteeism of the left and centrist electorate.

Sam Hughes and Mobilization of Canadian Volunteers for War (August 1914 — October 1915)

The process of mobilization of Canadian volunteers, carried out by the Minister of Militia Sam Hughes during the First World War, is considered. The chronological framework is limited by the dates of Canada’s entry into the war (August 4, 1914) and the end of the active phase of the mobilization of Canadian volunteers (October 1915) in connection with the first symptoms of the army manning crisis. The relevance of the study is due to insufficient knowledge of the specifics of Canada's mobilization activity during the First World War. For the first time, ideas are formulated and the activities of the Minister of Militia S. Hughes in the process of mobilizing Canadian troops during the war years are analyzed. The sources for the study were Canadian historical and statistical collections, as well as a collection of official documents of the Canadian government and publications of the Canadian federal and provincial press for two military years (1914—1915). The article traces the views of S. Hughes on the issue of Canada's participation in the war and his activities in the field of recruiting the volunteer army (1914—1915). It is proved that the decisive character of S. Hughes and the authoritarian style of his leadership predetermined the nature of the Canadian mobilization. In fact, it got out of the control of the British authorities due to the minister's refusal from the official mobilization plan, which provided for a too slow pace of manning. Thus, the personal efforts of S. Hughes to organize the process of mobilization contributed to its complete success.

Documents on History of Russian Naval Emigration in Regional Archives of Southern France: Problems of Search and Study

The article deals with the problem of identifying, describing and introducing into scientific circulation documents and materials on the history of the Russian naval officers who lived in the region of southern France in the 1920s—1930s. The relevance and novelty of the research is due to the introduction into scientific circulation of documentary complexes of regional, local and departmental archives containing information about the Russian naval emigration in France. The author draws attention to the specifics of identifying archival documents within the framework of the research topic. Attention is paid to the peculiarities of the collection of funds in the French archives. It is shown how knowledge of this specificity makes it possible to find and identify the required materials in the absence of thematic collections and indexes. The results of a study of archival collections and funds discovered by the author in regional, local and departmental archives containing information about the history of the Russian naval emigration in southern France are presented in the article. Contrary to the ideas of the marginality of this topic that have developed in French historiography, the potential of its development on the basis of the materials identified by the author is demonstrated. A review of the discovered archival funds is carried out from the point of view of the prospects for the reconstruction of collective and individual biographies of Russian naval officers-emigrants. The author’s classification of the identified documentary complexes is proposed.

Periodization of Antiquity’s History in Studies of I. M. Grevs and N. I. Kareev in Late XIX — Early XX Centuries

The periodization of history and the definition of the framework of Antiquity and the Middle Ages were questions open for scientific discussion at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, when the Russian school of ancient and medieval studies was actively developing in Russia and especially in St. Petersburg. The concept of I. M. Grevs was that the Roman Empire marked the beginning of Late Antiquity with its special economic structure in the form of large land ownership, but this period ended with the onset of the era of barbarian kingdoms. I. M. Grevs separated the Roman Empire from the period of classical Antiquity and at the same time showed its difference from the way of the early Middle Ages. In his courses on general history, read after I. M. Grevs, N. I. Kareev described the ancient universal monarchies, which sought to extend their power to the limits of the ecumene and unite the various traditions of organizing power. It should be concluded that N. I. Kareev supplemented the periodization proposed by I. M. Grevs, finding in the Ancient world the same turning point in the form of the Hellenistic monarchy, similar to that found in Late Antiquity by I. M. Grevs.