Ryazan officialdom of the second half of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries in modern Russian historiography

The article focuses on the development of modern Russian historiography devoted to the problems of provincial officialdom (on the materials of the Ryazan Province). The author notes that in Soviet historiography officialdom of the Russian Empire was not the subject of the study. Since the late 20th - early 21st centuries, the interest of researchers to the examined theme has increased. It concerns pre-revolutionary officialdom of the Ryazan Province too. During the last fifteen years a number of publications devoted to Ryazan officials of the 18th - early 20th centuries have appeared. Among them are the works of P.V. Akulshin and T.A. Poskachey (Vidova). In 2008, the book A History of Ryazan authorities: the Heads of the Ryazan region, 1778-2008 was published. Biographies of Ryazan governor-generals and governors are presented in it. The authors succeeded in creating a generalized socio-cultural portrait of the officials including their ranks, titles, religion, social background, property, the educational level and the peculiarities of the career. The author of the article notes that different aspects of the theme are reflected in the research of such scholars as V.Ya. Grosul, I.G. Kusova, A.S. Minakov, A.D. Popova, D.Yu. Filippov, etc. The author mentions dissertations in which the problems of Ryazan officialdom are discussed. One of them is The Provincial Officialdom of Russia in the Last Quarter of the 18th - the First Half of the 19th Centuries (Based on the Materials of the Ryazan Province) by T.A. Poskachey. The second one is The Institutions and Officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Russian Province of 1861-1917 (Based on the Materials of the Ryazan Province) by I.Yu. Sinelnikov. Attention is drawn to the district officialdom of the Ryazan Province. It is mentioned that it is not enough studied. The number of works concerning questions connected with the district officials is very small. Among them are the works of P.V. Akulshin, T.A. Poskachey, D.Yu. Filippov, A.O. Nikitin and others. The author points out investigations devoted to personalities of some officials. Particularly, the personality of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and his activity at an administrative post drew attention of scholars. The personalities of A.V. Selivanov, A.D. Povalishin, I.I. Prohodtsov - officials and famous figures of the Ryazan provincial scientific archival commission - were in the focus of attention of historians V.A. Tolstov, P.A. Tribunsky, L.V. Chekurin and others. It is shown that the theme has been reflected in encyclopedia articles. During the period of 1999-2002, several volumes of the Ryazan encyclopedia were published, in 2006 and 2014 - two volumes of supplementary materials to the encyclopedia. This publication includes biographies of Ryazan governors, vice-governors, provincial and district marshals of the nobility and some other officials. Some articles of the Ryazhsk encyclopedia are devoted to officials of the Ryazhsk District of the Ryazan Province, of the Ryazan bank encyclopedia to officials of the bank sphere. A conclusion is drawn that the modern stage of historiography is characterized by works which consider different aspects of the problem but, at the same time, there is no complex research of Ryazan officialdom.

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