Socio-Cultural Practices of the Siberian Merchants of the Second Half of the XIX – Early XX Century in the Coverage of Modern Russian Historiography

Abstract

The study of the socio-cultural activities of entrepreneurs including the history of everyday life as its integral part is one of the important aspects of the study of regional history. The historiography of the history of socio-cultural practices in pre-revolutionary Siberia has not been fully studied yet. The purpose of the article is to identify the patterns of the modern historiographic situation on the basis of understanding the study of the history of socio-cultural practices of business people in pre-revolutionary Siberia. The work used the general methods of scientific knowledge: historicism, logical analysis, deduction and induction, which made it possible to conduct a consistent analysis of the works of researchers, to identify the main characteristics. Modern researchers in their works have raised a number of problems: trends in the development of charity, the scope of investment of donated money, forms of participation in various events, contributions to the development of libraries, museums, schools, orphanages, etc. Historians used quantitative indicators of the participation of entrepreneurs in the social and cultural life of Siberian cities, the motives of the merchants’ charity. The following topics were studied: support for education, participation in the improvement of cities, contribution to the development of culture and museum affairs, financing of expeditions, church and charitable activities, targeted assistance to those in need. In general, and in the conclusions of this article, the expansion of scientific knowledge about the socio-social history of Siberia after the reform period is emphasized, the points of view of historians on the role and place of businessmen in the cultural and social spheres of the life of the region are revealed. Historiographic analysis is relevant from the point of view of modern discussions about the contribution of entrepreneurs to the development of cities, culture, economy, and charity in pre-revolutionary Siberia. The revival of entrepreneurship, modern socio-economic processes encourage specialists to in-depth study of the history of socio-cultural practices of the Siberian merchants.