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The article introduces for scientific use one of the copies of a polemic writing by a Siberian peasant writer Grigoriy Arefyevich Strakhov from the collection of the Institute of History, SB RAS. The copy has been acquired in one of the Old Believers’ settlements as a result of archaographical fieldwork. Using G.A.Strakhov’s writing as an example the author considers eschatological issues that remained invariably topical in the Old-Believer literature and perfectly characterized specifics of historiosophy and ideology of the people at the grassroots level of Belokrinitsky Agreement - one of the last Old Believer agreements. Moreover, addressing the range of eschatological problems (which is a separate research problem) allows to deepen our understanding of both Old-Believers’ internal and interfaith polemics, as well as the late Old Believers’ political essays written in the latter half of the XIX century. In the article the author used traditional (general and specific) methods of historical research as the most appropriate for studying the narrative sources: analysis and synthesis, typologization and classification; causal analysis. In this particular case it is of utmost importance to study the historical context and circumstances in which the source was created. Like any other writer G.Strakhov had, perforce, to take into consideration the situation that had developed in the Belokrinitsky agreement by the time of creation of his work. On the one hand, by the late XIX century the Austrians had increased their influence in the Old Believers’ world, while a stand-off between the leaders of other agreements had also taken a serious turn, involantarily stimulating the literary activities and cultural exchange. On the other hand, civil and ecclesiastical authorities increased their pressure on the Belokrinitsky Old-Believers sharpening their long-standing oppositional sentiments. This was indirectly confirmed by the very fact of addressing the issue of end times.

The principle goal of the article is to introduce for scientific use and to analyze the information potential of memoirs of A.P. Kazin who was an officer of the Siberian Cossack Army. In the first of his essays A.P.Kazin tells about an armed clash between the Siberian Cossacks and a squadron of Sultan Sadyk Kenisarin near the Lake Sari-Kul in 1866, as well as characterizes the military actions of the Russian troops in the well-known battle of Irdzhar. The second essay is devoted to participation of the author, his friends and acquaintances in the Kokand Campaign of 1873-1875. It conveys ordinary Cossacks’ evaluations of the contemporary military leaders and statesmen such as D.I. Romanovskiy, K.P. von Kaufman, M.D. Skobelev; describes the military life and the course of military operations including the battle near Telyau; attempts at debunking of a renowned hero of this battle - S.A. Yelgashtin. The article demonstrates the role of these sources in studying the relationships between various groups of Cossacks, their mentality, attitudes towards the authorities and adversaries. The author of the paper highlights fragments of the memoirs containing pragmatic ideas and hopes typical of the Cossacks - regarding awards, higher wages and plentiful spoils of war. Special attention is paid to the memoirist’s personality. His negative evaluation of the Cossacks’ weapons and military equipage as well as his keen sense of the decline of the Siberian Cossack Army’s prestige are shown. That is the very reason (along with personal enmity) for Kazin’s hard-hitting and even sarcastic evaluation of S.A.Yelgashtin’s personality, due to Kazin’s perception of Yelgashtin as embodiment of all vices typical of many Cossack officers who were undereducated, ill-mannered and unable to carry themselves in a proper way. M.D.Skobelev was admired by the memoirist first of all for his respect for Siberian Cossacks. It is empathized that the memoirist praised the merits and courage of such adversaries as Sultan Sadyk Kenisarin and even the head of Kokand rebels, the cruel Pulat-Khan. Kazin’s memoirs containing numerous details allow us to feel the “real historical atmosphere”. His descriptions of everyday life and customs, evaluations of the military officials and troop officers, account of certain historical episodes are of special interest.

The article is devoted to the history of creation and functioning of the library at the Troitskosavsk-Kyakhta Subdivision of the Priamurye Branch of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (TKS PB IRGS) during the pre-revolutionary period. It considers establishment and development of the library’s activities with reference to archival and clerical materials, taking into account the data from the scholarly works reflecting the scientific views of the past. Bibliological sources - printing production of the TKS PB IRGS - are analyzed. The fundamental principles of historicism and scientific reliability, logical and statistical methods allowed reconstructing an overall picture of activities carried out by the library of TKS PB IRGS. The library was formed owing to the donations from different institutions, scientific organizations and individuals. Stocking of the library funds was mainly based on the book-exchange and donations, and to a lesser extent - on purchase of editions. Duplicate copies served as a basis for the book exchange which provided the library collection’s growth despite the lack of funding. The library of the TKS PB IRGS appeared to be the storage for publications of research into local lore, its holdings were substantially replenished with local periodicals presenting various information about the local history, which was eagerly sought by the staff of TKS PB IRGS for carrying out various research in the region. The author stresses the role played by the library of TKS PB IRGS in formation of the regional scientific and cultural potential and its contribution to the development of national book culture.

The article deals with the biography of Vasily Mikhailovich Muraviev, a young associate of N.N. Muraviev-Amursky, the governor-general of Eastern Siberia. Vasily Mikhailovich Muraviev (1824-1849) was related by family ties to the Decembrists. He was the third son of Count M.N. Muraviev-Vilensky and belonged to the most progressive minded young men of his time in terms of his moral qualities, education, career and political views. The article introduces for scientific use V.M. Muraviev’s letters written in Siberia in 1848, which are an important source on the history of Siberian administration and the Decembrists. In particular, these letters contain biographical material about I.D. Yakushkin. The author reveals main traits of the collective portrait of youth from the era of Nicholas I as exemplified by Vasily Muraviev. The author focuses on moral and ideological relations between the younger generation and their fathers- fathers-Decembrists raising the question of ideological continuity. This approach is relevant from a perspective of historical concepts dealing with «lesser characters». Vasily Muraviev was no different from the young Decembrists except for the two basic things: he didn’t have a conspiratorial mind while being a man of strong Christian beliefs. In his social environment he found conditions for implementation of his social, corporate and civil-political ideas. The author highlights some aspects of his upbringing by the family clan of Muravievs-Yakushkins-Sheremetevs, who highly respected and even worshiped their family’s Decembrist past. Grandmother N.N. Sheremeteva, one of the outstanding women of her time, had great moral authority and directed up-bringing of her grandchildren, and this gives a direct link to women’s history. It is concluded that glorification of the Decembrist factor was a serious component of V.M. Muraviev’s worldview and noble corporate consciousness typical of other young members of his kinship circle.

The famous Soviet Far Eastern writer Vsevolod Nikanorovich Ivanov (1888-1971) began his literary career in 1918-1922 as the White Guard journalist and employee of the Russian Society of Typographic Arts in Omsk (1919), the author of journalistic and literary works published in emigrant press of China of the 1920s. There already exists a vast literature on his life and career. However, in particular, his activity in May 1921 - October 1922 in Primorye, which was then under the White Guard government control, is little known to the researchers studying the history of periodical press and literature. The article is intended to fill this information gap. Vs. N. Ivanov was an active participant of revolution on May 26, 1921, which brought Primorye under the «national and democratic» government headed by brothers S.D. and N.D. Merkulov. On the day of revolt Merkulovs appointed him as Commissioner for Information in the new government. Since that time the daily «Evening Newspaper» had been published as the government’s informal loud-hailer under Vs. Ivanov’s edition. In short time Vs. Ivanov created the Government Press Office, arranged a regular release and distribution of anti-Bolshevist literature. He also selected managerial personnel for anti-Communist propaganda (G.G. Nedler, Ya.L. Beloblotsky, P.P. Vasilyev, et al.). In November, 1921 Vs. Ivanov and his assistants undertook reorganization of propaganda department by analogy with the reform carried out in the «white» Omsk in May 1919, when the governmental Press-Bureau was replaced by a joint-stock enterprise of the Russian Society of Typographic Arts. In Vladivostok the Press-Bureau was also closed, and the Far Eastern Union of Russian Journalists was created. It had a large publishing department and was formally independent (but secretly financed by the Government). The publishing house started a large-scale activity, publishing two specialized editions for peasants and having at its disposal the newspapers “Slovo” and “Russky kray” in Vladivostok. The capture of Vladivostok by the National-Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic and «red» guerrillas put an end to this printed propaganda machine. Vs. I. Ivanov left the city on October 22, 1922, three days before the collapse of the «white» government.

The purpose of the work is to reconstruct the origins of scientific periodicals of the Siberian Branches of the Academy of Sciences. The chronological outline of the process of organization and development of the Siberian Branches of Academy is necessary for the purpose identified. A variety of sources helped to compile a list of periodicals, issued by organizations of the Branches in 1946-1950s; to study them «de visu» and to describe their specific features. The available archival documents, for the first time introduced into scientific use, and academic periodicals were helpful in understanding the role of Academy of Sciences in the development of publishing activities of Siberian Institutes. Analysis of the data obtained has shown, that publishing of scholarly periodicals by the academic teams at the moment of setting up the Siberian Branches of Academy of Sciences was an important preparatory stage in the development of the system of SB RAS scholarly periodicals. The initiative and active support of the USSR Academy of Sciences helped to join efforts of Academic Branches for establishment of their first regional journal - «Izvestiya Vostochnykh filialov AN SSSR» but in many ways contributed to further development of their publishing activities. Difficulties encountered in publication of scientific literature in the cities of Siberia confirmed the necessity of creating their own print production, training their own personnel and improving the publishing culture.

The paper attempts at reviewing and evaluating main trends in Siberian studies in Germany during the XX - early XXI centuries. The author reveals major research centers dealing with the Russian and Siberian history (Workshop on Eastern European History at the Frederick William University in Berlin; the German Society for East European Studies; Institutes of Eastern Europe at West Berlin Free University and in Munich; University of Cologne, Institute of Social Anthropology in Halle etc.); analyzes a range of problems addressed by researchers of the early period of Siberian history. It is noted that German scholars focused on the problems of socioeconomic development of Siberia (C. von Zepelin, G. Krahmer, K. Wiedenfeld, Jos. Klein, W. Klumberg, H.-J. Seraphim); Russian territorial expansion in Northern Asia (O. Hőtzsch); history of academic expeditions (E. Winter, G. Műhlpfordt, P. Hoffmann, E. Donnert, U. Grabosch); instruments of extending and preserving Russia’s influence, and in general - problem of Siberia’s integration into the Russian Empire (D. Dahlmann, C. Witzenrath, C. Weiss, S. Frank, E.-M. Stolberg). During the period of confrontation between the USSR and «capitalist world» the West German historians were in fact isolated from their Soviet counterparts. «Cold War» rhetoric influenced the Siberian studies. Many authors in West Germany wrote about the aggressive and military character of colonization of Siberia and the Far East being one of the aspects of Russian expansionist policy. Despite the declining interest in Russia among Western scholars typical for the post-Soviet decades new research directions of Siberian studies in Germany are developed. The ongoing scientific cooperation between the Russian and German scholars within the framework of international research projects provide further acquisition of new historical materials along with methodological and theoretical development of Siberian historiography.

The article aims to define methods and objectives of the fieldwork carried out among the Siberian Old Believers by Academician of RAS N.N. Pokrovsky - an outstanding Russian historian, expert in source studies and archaeography. For this purpose the author has studied the field journal written in 1967 mostly by the students who had completed their first year at the Division of History of the Departments of Humanities of the Novosibirsk State University. They were members of the Tuvinian Group of the Archaeographic Task Force of the Siberian Branch, USSR Academy of Sciences. Scope of research included the structure of “questionnaire” whose elements were repeated practically in each interview; an attempt was made to determine the impact of methods of related human sciences. Characteristic features of the field work carried out by the research group and its leader are considered through the example of description of symbolic figures of Old Belief. These included Father Palladius, hegumen of all Tuvinian sketes (small monasteries), and I.F. Rukavitsyn who had left Old Believers for the Bolsheviks during the Civil War in Tuva but retained ties with his previous environment. Aims and methods of N.N.Pokrovky’s work have been compared with these of A.F. Emelyanov - a writer who had had anti-religious talks with Tuvinian Old Believers having access to the classified materials from investigative cases of the 1920s-1930s, including cases of self-destruction. Comparison has also been made within the system “ours”- “alien”. The article presents both general scientific methods and those that are appropriate for the historical anthropology. The research findings include establishing the fact that N.N.Pokrovsky used in his fieldwork practices of classical ethnography and intuitively applied methods that were later described in sociology textbooks published in Russia. The author ascertains that there was a strict division between “ours” and “alien” peculiar to the anti-religious literature while the contacts between Old Believers and archaeographers changed the content of these concepts.

The article’s objective is to determine the status of social security for workers in Western Siberia in the late XIX - early XX centuries; to characterize measures taken by the government for improvement of situation and to assess their efficiency. Since the late XIX century the new stage of modernization had begun in Siberia, characterized by the beginning of industrialization and industrial revolution in all sectors of economy. The working class emerged, and one of the pressing issues it faced was inadequate social security for those workers who became disabled through occupational injuries or because of old age. Failure to comply with safety regulations, exploitation of workers in sweatshops, as well as workers’ ignorance led to a significant increase in occupational accidents and diseases. The majority of disabled workers were left to their fate and if they had no relatives able to take care of them, they were simply doomed to death, poverty or crime. However, the government took legislative measures to improve situation in welfare. According to the new laws in the case of occupational injury or death the workers or family members could receive monetary compensations. However, all these measures only partially addressed the problem, so the general situation remained unchanged. The author notes that remnants of estate system affected the State’s attitude towards social security for workers. The government provided compensation for state workers, with no regard for workers in private sector. The research is based on methodological framework of modernization theory. Underlying the study are the principles of historicism, determinism and consistency. Correlation between legislation and the state of affairs in the sphere of social security for workers are investigated based on a historical-systematic method, while the diachronic method is applied to study how this process developed over time.

The article analyzes some peculiarities of refugees’ reception, accommodation and provision of the necessary facilities for the refugees in Siberia and Far East from autumn, 1915 until spring, 1916. The author turned his attention to the details of work of local authorities, municipal and public organizations connected with arrangement of residence places, supplying civilians arriving from near-front zone with clothes, food and employment. The study is based on the two sociological traditions, connected with researching social mobility and marginality. It uses archival documents and materials of periodical press. As factual evidences show, relief measures separated refugees from the receiving communities to a great extent and preserved their marginal status. Activities of state authorities and public organizations aimed at providing relief for refugees were ill-coordinated, inadequately funded and in fact they only isolated refugees from the receiving society. Siberians also did not show any disposition to support exiles, preferring to keep them in isolation. Only the following year some of the refugees managed to occupy the lowest social position working as farm laborers and low-payed workers. Refugees’ life regulations initiated by the local authorities usually made social adaptation and integration more difficult.