The Presidential Library: New acquisitions

A. Burlutsky’s Penza province agricultural description (Penza, 1898) contains information on the conditions and characteristics of farming (climate, soil, fertilizers), on land prices and taxes, on loan notes and capital.

N. A. Rosnitsky in his The image of the village (M.; L., 1926), based on the survey of 28 parishes and about 33, 000 farms of the Penza province, talks about an extremely wide range of issues: the development of peasant farming, rural cooperatives, peasant mutual aid, separation of the village, the state of schools, libraries and village reading rooms, the liquidation of illiteracy, attitude to religion and others.

T. Morozov’s Statistical and economic description of Gorodishchensky County Penza province (St. Petersburg, 1850) describes the location of the county, the climatic features, the flora and fauna, the buildings in the towns and villages, the physical and moral state of the inhabitants, and the main occupations of the inhabitants of the county: arable farming, gardening, beekeeping, forestry, work in the quarry and factory. The book has an annex: a list of villages and hamlets in Gorodishchensky County, alphabetical list of nobles owning real property in the county in 1850, routes, a map of Gorodishchensky County.

Information on the state of forests in the Penza province and its forest industry are contained in the publication of O. M. Baum Statistical review of forestry in the Penza province (Penza, 1872).

The publication of the same author, The review of actions of the Penza College of Horticulture within fifty years from 1820 to 1870 (St. Petersburg, 1870) covers the history of the school creation, the measures taken by the Government to bring up the best gardeners and farmers in the province. In addition, the book contains information on the results of the school activities to disseminate fruit and vegetable growing in the Penza province, experiments on the acclimatization of various plants, on growing trade plants, beekeeping and silk, as well as meteorological observations, allowing to trace the local climate within 23 years.

V. P. Christianovich’s Essays on horticulture in the Penza province (Penza, 1913) describe the economics of the fishery and the characteristics of the cultivation of vegetable crops.

The publication issued in time for the 150th anniversary of Nikolsko-Bakhmeteff Crystal Factory of Prince A. D. Obolensky (St. Petersburg, 1914), describes the history of the plant and gives a brief outline of the development of the glass industry in Russia. Nikolsko-Bakhmeteff crystal factory was founded in 1764 upon the resolution of Empress Catherine II by a retired serviceman Alexey Bakhmetev in his own estate in the village of Nikolo-Pёstrovka, Penza province. The plant became the first Russian private company in this industry, and soon one of the leading Russian crystal and glass industries.

V. P. Popov’s The centennial of the printing house of the Penza provincial government: (1804-1904) (Penza, 1904) contains a historical essay of the origin and development of the printing house of the provincial government of Penza, statistics (income, consumption) over the last ten years of printing (1893-1903), the state of the printing house in 1903 (accommodation, administration and personnel, internal rules, responsibilities, observance of precautions, the distribution of working time, etc.).

P. O. Nikishin’s Work and trade union movement in the Penza province (Penza, 1927) contains materials covering the period from 1850 to 1918 dedicated to the industry in the province before 1861, work and trade union movements before 1905, the strike movement of 1905-1906, the period of February and October revolutions, the strike movement and the trade unions after the October Revolution.

N. R. Evgrafov’s Twenty-five years of activities of Zemstvos in the Penza province. 1865-1889 (Penza, 1894) is a jubilee collection of statistics and facts, which gives a description of the main activities of local authorities in the 1860-80-ies. It covers the issues of education, health, and the activities of Zemstvos to solve the food problem. Creating the collection, the author used an extensive range of materials – proceedings of provincial and district Zemstvo assemblies, of food and road commissions, reports of sanitary and school boards, estimates and layouts of zemstvos.

T.E. Gavrilov in his Review of the activities of Zemstvo hospitals in the districts of Penza province in 1896 (Penza, 1897), using the data of ten districts presented statistics relating to the development of Zemstvo medicine in the Penza province over the abovementioned period.

Т. Е. Гаврилов в книге Обзор деятельности земских лечебных учреждений в уездах Пензенской губернии за 1896 год (Пенза, 1897) на материале десяти уездов представил статистические данные, касающиеся развития земской медицины в Пензенской губернии за указанный период.

D. N. Voronov’s Alcoholism in the city and the countryside due to the life of the population (Penza, 1913) studies the wine consumption in the Penza province in 1912. Using the sociological approach to the problem, on the basis of digital data the author showed that urban residents consumed more alcoholic beverages than the residents of villages. In addition, farmers’ drunkenness was not of a social but of a domestic nature.

The book by a writer and lawyer V. A. Volzhin, Our tulupovtsy (St. Petersburg, 1893) tells about various aspects of life of the local population of the Penza province.

Preparation of new materials will continue.