Advertising in Commercial and Industrial Journals Issued in the Tomsk Province in 1894–1903

Abstract

Advertisements are an important source on the history of regional entrepreneurship and trade. The article considers the development of advertising in the Tomsk Province in the context of local modernization processes. Trade and industrial journals highlighted the socio-economic development of the region. They also revealed public interests and attitude to commerce, as well as pointed at the systemic changes that took place in Siberia in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The author used the methods of historical-systematic and content analyses to classify advertisements published in 1894–1903 by goods and services, territorial affiliation, and design. Local, metropolitan, nonresident, and foreign entrepreneurs offered the Tomsk population a diverse range of non-food, food, medical, and agricultural goods and services. The ads provided information on sale details, products, current prices, new offers, sales, and discounts. The growth of business activity in the Tomsk province in the late XIX – early XX centuries boosted the development of a single trading space, both on the provincial and domestic market.