Reference Books on Trade, Merchants, and Entrepreneurship in Siberia in the Second Half of the XIX – early XX Centuries: Historiographical Review

Abstract

The research objective was to assess the information potential of reference publications on the history of entrepreneurship in the pre-revolutionary Siberia. Pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and post-Soviet scientists published various encyclopedias and reference books on the history of trade, merchants, and entrepreneurship in Siberia in the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries. The reference literature of each period has its own characteristic features. For instance, The Brief Encyclopedia of the History of Merchants and Commerce of Siberia and The Encyclopedic Dictionary of the History of Merchants and Commerce of Siberia are very unusual. The dictionary with its encyclopedic form of presentation is currently the most convenient and popular variant. Directories and encyclopedias reflect the era they belonged to and thus can provide valuable information on the time period. The dictionaries under analysis appeared to contain biographies of people engaged in entrepreneurial activity, definitions of entrepreneurial activities, descriptions of rural settlements, cities, fairs, etc. The study of reference publications significantly expands the existing ideas about the nature of the business development, trade, and economy of Siberia. However, the related historiography still needs further studies.