Information potential of the database on the 1959 All-Union Population Census as a source for historical and demographic studies of the urban environment

Abstract

The purpose of this database is to create an electronic source that focuses on the socio-demographic characteristics of the Ural City based on materials from the All-Soviet Population Census of 1959, using the example of Arti, a town-type settlement in the Sverdlovsk Region. The selection of this particular object is due to its ability to record the transformation processes from a rural factory settlement to a town, against the backdrop of a relatively homogenous ethnosocial environment. The appeal to the original census materials is justified by their higher information content, as compared to published data that has undergone editing. The discovered Artinsky district archive file contains information on the town of Arti alone and represents a sample with an unclear formation process, similar in nature to a natural process. The study of methods for organizing and conducting a census indicates a relatively high level of reliability in its primary data. Historical and genetic methods, methods of source analysis, and mathematical statistics are used. A study of the distribution of data by gender and social groups, conducted using mathematical statistical methods in comparison to published data, allows us to conclude that the sample of materials formed from the census of Arti's urban-type settlement accurately reflects the properties of the entire population covered by the survey. The database created based on the materials of the 1959 All-Union Population Census is similar in content to the original source, with the addition of aggregated information about the composition and structure of families, as well as information about housing conditions. The features of both the source and database are focused, to a greater extent, on historical and demographic research, particularly family history. Due to its informative nature, the database can become a useful tool for researchers in this field.