Forgotten officials: social and cultural characteristics of junior employees оf Odesa postal‑telegraphic districtаt at the end of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century

Abstract

The aim: based on archival statistical materials, to create a socio-cultural portrait of lower employees of post and telegraph offices of Tavriya and Kherson provinces: class and group affiliation, educational level, age, religion, and dynamics of social-cultural portrait changes. Research methods: historic-genetic, historic-systemic, comparative. Main results: The dynamics of changes in the constituents of the socio-cultural characteristics of the lowest level employees of the Post department is analyzed. It is noted that, contrary to the government’s desire to form a generation of agents, the corps of the lowest level employees was formed, first of all, from peasants and burghers, who were attracted by the opportunity to get a rank and rise in the hierarchy of the Russian Empire. The educational level of the guards was increased at the expense of women, who, from 1916 were allowed to occupy positions of the lowest level employees. The educational indicators of postmen declined as the administration of post offices gave preference to physically fit people. Considering the religiosity of the society of the Russian Empire, most of the messengers were Orthodox. More than half of the messengers were married, which ensured a stable staff of lower-level employees. The practical significance lies in the creation of a systematic, factual basis for the reconstruction of the history of the Post office in Ukraine at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, in particular, the study of the ”human factor” of the Post department functioning. The originality of the research lies in the use of a wide range of unpublished archival sources and their comprehensive analysis. Scientific novelty: the main characteristics of the composition of the lower employees of the post and telegraph offices of Tavriya and Kherson provinces are comprehensively presented for the first time. Age, status, educational, family components and their changes are analyzed. Type of article: descriptive and analytical.