The first issue of the Yermak newspaper published in Tyumen

On April 28 (May 11), 1912 the first issue of the Yermak newspaper was published in Tyumen. It was a progressive, non-partisan, literary, public newspaper, transformed from the newspaper Siberian Trade Intermediary. Yermak was published in Tyumen from April 28 (May 11), 1912 to April 29 (May 12), 1917. The newspaper was first published daily, and since 1914 (No. 3) - 2 times a day. It was the first newspaper in the region to be published twice a day. The morning edition included four pages, and the evening edition included two. It was published in the printing house of Alexei Maksimovich Afromeev who was also the editor. In the first issue, the publisher promised: Yermak as a Siberian Trade Intermediary will serve society, not individuals, and, as before, with a scalpel in hand, open the abscesses of our life... ".  

Afromeev from November 1911 to April 1912 published the newspaper Siberian Trade Intermediary. This newspaper ran only advertisements for two months. The newspaper Siberian Trade Intermediary included 4 pages measuring 550x360 mm and was published from one to seven times a week. From the next, 1912, publications from the life of the city appeared in the publication. Since April, Afromeev became the sole owner of the electroprinting house of his partner A. Blaginin. On April 26 (May 9), the last issue of the Siberian Trade Intermediary was published, and from April 28 (May 11), 1912, the Yermak newspaper began to be published, which had the same format as the advertising issues of its predecessor. Moreover, the first issues consisted of 16-20 pages: the newspaper had a cover, was sewn with wire, that is, in fact, was a magazine. The editor explained the change of name by the fact that there was confusion with the Siberian Trade Intermediary and three other Siberian "intermediaries", and the publication "did not win" the sympathy of the commercial people.

The headings that had developed in the Siberian Trade Intermediary migrated to the Yermak: From the Diary of an Everyman, Echoes of the Tyumen Week, Village Letters, Tyumen Week, General Useful Information, Zigzags and others. The newspaper published government orders, telegraph news, information about the activities of city, zemstvo and other public institutions, about the resettlement issue, education and the press; articles about trade, trades, means of communication, announcements. On the pages of his newspaper Afromeev criticized the publisher of the Siberian Trade Intermediary A. Krylov, the merchant, the former mayor A. Tekutyev, the head of the Tyumen Provisional Executive Committee V. Kolokolnikov.

At the beginning of 1913, a bailiff came to the Yermak printing house and described the property of the printing house, which, with a real value of more than 10 thousand rubles. was estimated at only 1300 rubles. Afromeev coolly writes in a newspaper that when in Yermak “they began to open public sores <...> they are looking for ways to annoy a disturbing person...”. The resilient publisher begins publishing a monthly literary supplement to Yermak in the form of small 96-page brochures with works of classical Russian literature. At the same time, the newspaper itself is in decline: advertising numbers are disappearing, readers are increasingly getting "double" issues of the newspaper with the usual volume. In the last issue of 1913, the editor-publisher announces that now Yermak will be published only "as material accumulates", explaining this by the "load" associated with the release of the Accord music magazine.

Since the beginning of 1914 Afromeev has been issuing an appendix instead of Yermak - telegrams from the St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency. These were multi-format telegram sheets of news from the fronts, as well as maps printed in two colors. According to the Yermak of the war years, it was possible to study the geography of Europe: so many maps of hostilities were printed in the publication. Only on July 28, 1914 the telegrams take on the appearance of the former Yermak. The updated edition is noticeably thinner and filled with materials dedicated to the outbreak of the world war. Almost every issue contains articles signed by P. A. Rogozinsky: “The diplomatic defeat of Germany”, “On the entry of Russian troops into Galicia”, “Double game”, etc., imbued with patriotic pathos. In issue No. 24, the publisher justified the resumption of Yermak: “Realizing its obligations to the Siberian society, the editorial staff of Yermak immediately resumed publication of the newspaper when the days of world importance came”. The newspaper published cartoons of the enemy and anti-war propaganda, stories about the war, calls for recruits, information about prisoners who arrived in the city. At this time, Yermak comes out two or even three times a day. However, a full-fledged newspaper appeared to readers only in the evening, and in the morning and afternoon only telegrams were issued, which were repeated in the “evening” issue. Gradually, the section of local life in the newspaper grows, taking up the entire fourth page instead of a few lines. Rogozinsky is actively printed.

With such a backlog, the newspaper entered into 1915 and continued into 1916. However, by the end of 1915, information about Tyumen life was getting scarcer. Since June 15, 1916 two-page issues are being published more and more often at the former price of 5 kopecks.

The February Revolution, oddly enough, put an end to the publication of the freedom-loving Yermak. In March 1917 Afromeev, at the insistence of the merchant Kolokolnikov, was arrested and taken to Tobolsk. His son went to Petrograd and worked for his father. The provincial commissioner V. N. Pignatti sent Afromeev into exile, but by March 25 (April 7) the disgraced editor was released. In the former printing house of Afromeev, Izvestia of the executive committee and the new newspaper Svobodnoe Slovo began to be printed, edited by Rogozinsky. The first issue was already published on April 30 (May 15), 1917.

Lit.: Горянская Н. В. Городская жизнь на страницах тюменской газеты "Ермак" (образ провинциала) // Книга и литература в культурном пространстве эпох (XI–XX века) / сост.: О. Н. Фокина, В. Н. Алексеев. Новосибирск, 2011. С. 327–331;  Евдокимова Е. В. История сибирской журналистики (конец XVIII – начало XXI вв.) Новосибирск, 2013; Ермак // Большая Тюменская энциклопедия. Т. 1: А–З. Тюмень, 2004. С. 431; Крамор Г. Периодическая печать Тобольской губернии: обзор истории // Печатные СМИ Тюменской области: век XIX – век XXI. Т. 1 / ред.: В. С. Горбачёв, А. В. Туринцев. Тюмень, 2013. С. 6–59; Мандрика Ю. Л. Газета как игра // Российская провинциальная частная газета. Тюмень, 2004. С. 294–340;Мандрика Ю. Л. Национализация как показатель приближающегося банкротства // Большое городище: [литературно-краеведческий альманах]. Тюмень, 2016. № 3 (36). С. 264–271.Мандрика, Ю. Л. Пять лет жизни города в газетных подшивках / Ю. Л. Мандрика // Лукич. – 2003. – Часть 3. – С. 3–14; 2002. – Часть 2. – С. 3–8; Храмцов, А. Б. Независимый издатель / А. Б. Храмцов // Мое достояние. Тюмень 425 / главный редактор Н. А. Завитневич. – Тюмень: ОЛМАРПРЕСС, 2011. – С. 154.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Ермак: беспартийная, литературная, общественная и торговая газета. Тюмень, 1912–1917 (Доступно в ЭЧЗ)

The article is based on the materials of the Tyumen branch of the Presidential Library