Siberian Town Research Articles

ПОРОДНЫЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ И НАПРАВЛЕНИЯ ХОЗЯЙСТВЕННОГО ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ КРУПНОГО РОГАТОГО СКОТА В ГОРОДЕ БЕРЕЗОВЕ В XVI - НАЧАЛЕ XIX В.

The article considers the osteological collection of cattle remain (about 500 ex.) from the Kremlin and posad of the Berezov excavations. The size characteristics, sex and age composition of slaughtered animals are reconstructed. The entire studied sample comes from the cattle of the uniform size. There are bones of cows and bulls. The cattle were kept in the posad of Berezov throughout the entire period under review. The animals were kept for the local population needs on private farmsteads. The main direction of cattle exploitation was milk production. The slaughter of bulls and cows for meat was of a secondary nature. Difficult conditions of detention affected the life expectancy of the cattle, which rarely exceeded the age of six. Throughout the studied period homogeneous low-growing livestock with a height at the withers of 97–118 cm were kept on the town territory. Local cattle were noticeably smaller than the cattle from Siberian towns and were close to the breed of cattle from the European part of Russia.

Residential buildings of the Russian population in the Omsk Irtysh region in the 17th — beginning of the 20th c. in the archaeological and architectural-ethnographic dimension

Over the past thirty-five years, a series of archaeological sites of the period of the Russian colonization of Siberia have been investigated in the territory of the Siberian macroregion, which made it possible to identify re-gional features and to trace evolution of the socio-cultural identity of the Russian Siberian in the 17th–19th cc. A topical issue is the in-depth study of the processes of ethno-cultural adaptation in microregions. In this work, as one of the aspects of adaptation, changes in the house exterior in the Omsk Irtysh region are considered. This work is aimed to consider main types of the residential buildings of the Russian population in the Omsk Irtysh region in the 17th — early 20th c. in order to determine their specifics and development trends. The work is carried by a complex approach, involving the use of different types of sources, such as archaeological, written, and eth-nographic. To compare the buildings studied in the Omsk Irtysh region with houses in other regions, a compara-tive historical method was used. Analysis of the archaeological materials on the architecture and layout of urban dwellings of the 17th–18th cc. showed specifics of the housing in different parts of the town. The houses of the representatives of the tsarist administration, senior clergy, and military commanders with multi-chambered buildings were located in the territory of the kremlin — the central part of the town. In the walled part of Western Siberian towns, where representatives of other social groups lived, both single-chambered and multi-chambered houses were built, although so far only few of them have been identified archaeologically. Stoves with chimneys and mica windows, as socially significant structural elements of the house, were gradually becoming attributes of the dwel-lings not only of the representatives of the tsarist administration, but also of the middle strata of the townspeople. In the rural areas, Russian immigrants in the 17th — first half of the 18th c. were erecting multi-chambered buildings of a large area. The set of socially-marking structural elements was the same as in the town. The archaeological material obtained during the study of residential buildings of the rural sites of the Irtysh Basin is generally of the same type and is equally characteristic of village and town alike. Based on the results of the author’s own ethno-graphic observations, a characteristics of individual residential buildings of the 19th — beginning of the 20th c. is given. There has been noted the prevalence of two-chambered dwellings by the end of the 19th century in the Russian village, which required less building material, as compared with multi-chambered counterparts, and were easier to heat. Multi-chambered buildings and carved platbands constituted socially marking traits of dwellings of the wealthy strata of the rural population. The field observations warranted further archaeological and ethno-graphic studies of the rural and urban wooden architecture to gain a deeper insight on the evolution of the house-building that combined traditional elements of the 17th–18th cc. with innovations, simplification, and standardiza-tion of the 19th–20th cc.

Literacy and Numeracy Skills of the Inhabitants of Tara and its Rural Districts in the 17th and 18th Centuries

On the basis of archaeological, written, and historical sources, we assess the extent to which 17th–18th century Russian inhabitants of the town of Tara and of its rural periphery (Tarsky District, Omsk Region) were able to read, write, and count. We analyze archaeological sources suggesting that those living in western Siberian towns, such as Mangazeya, Tobolsk, etc., were literate and able to count. This is evidenced by artifacts from the town of Tara and the adjacent village of Ananyino, indicating literacy: inkpots, penknives, quills, a wooden trade label with inscription, and clay Ьalls, possiЬly for counting Ьoards-predecessors of Russian aЬacuses. A Ьone case, found at the house of a 17th century junior commander in Tara, might have been destined for letters. Such artifacts are described in detail. According to written documents, just 3.4 % of those belonging to the service class of Tara and of its rural periphery were literate. They were memЬers of various social strata: governors, Вoyar scions, clerks of government office, Cossack and army commanders of various rank, reiters, mounted Cossacks, and cannoneers. Educated ones were priests and icon-painters. Stationery available at the Tara market included paper, ink, and raw materials for their manufacture. Books and candles were sold too. Relative advantages and disadvantages of documents versus artifacts as sources of knowledge about literacy are discussed. A combined approach helps to reveal key archaeological indicators of literacy and numeracy skills and to assess the approximate share of literate individuals in various social strata.

The State of Towns and the Urban Population of Eastern Siberia in the 1850s–1880s: Based on the Materials of Reports of Loyal Governors-General

The article considers informative information about the cities and urban population of Eastern Siberia in the post-reform period based on the materials of the most comprehensive reports of the governors-general. The reports reflected the main problems of Eastern Siberian towns: small number of the population, budget deficit, underdevelopment of urban economy, poor medical care, unsatisfactory sanitary condition and a significant lag behind cities of Central Russia. The backwardness of Eastern Siberian towns was explained by the fact that they did not arise as commercial and industrial centers but administrative points necessary for the management of the region. Identifying the main causes of high mortality of the population, the governors-general made proposals for improvement of health care and urban residents’ quality. The inertia and underdevelopment of most of Eastern Siberian towns was explained by the slow development of the vast territory. The restoration of the urban economy was carried out by own forces with the support of charitable societies, patrons and the local administration. Almost all heads of the region showed concern about the negative role of criminal exile on ordinary people’s lives. Special attention in the reports was paid to the problem of accommodation and employment of exiles in towns. These reports became evidence of the loyal governors-general’s concern about the unsatisfactory state of health service and education in the region. The repeated appeals of the governors-general to the highest authorities on improving the health service and education system did not receive support. The most comprehensive reports are a valuable source for studying the history of cities in the era of modernization.

Историко-археологические исследования Тарской крепости

In Russian archaeology, there has been a steady increase in the attention of scientists to the study of materials of Russian pioneers who founded the first Siberian towns, one of which is Tara.The first two centuries of its existence, the town was the southernmost outpost of the Russians in the Irtysh region, a military, trade and diplomatic center. During excavations in 2007-2020, an expedition of the Omsk archaeologists studied the sections of the Tara fortress proper, its guard part and the posad. In the cultural layer up to 4.5 meters thick, from 3 to 7 building horizons were cleared with the remains of up to 11 lower rims of residential (the estate of a rich tarchanin with all the buildings was excavated almost completely), economic structures (cellars, baths, wells), the remains of wooden pavements, gutters, boxes for garbage collection, the remains of fences and stockades that separate one dwelling from another. Studied two fortress towers - Knyazhya and Tobolskaya - and storage for gunpowder. There were also found places where the workshops of a tanner, a potter, a place for the production of mica windows were located. The good preservation of wooden structures and products made from organic materials (leather, wood, birch bark, silk and cotton fabrics) was facilitated by the special conditions for the formation of a wet cultural layer saturated with manure and wood chips.Foundations of churches destroyed during the years of Soviet power were found (Tikhvin, Assumption, Pyatnitskaya). The foundation of the Nikolsky Cathedral was excavated, around which there was a church cemetery. The objects found in the cultural layer allow us to speak about the directions of the Tara trade: China, the Bukhara Khanate, the European part of the Muscovite state and, through it, the western countries: definitely Poland and Venice. The same finds indicate that not only ethnic Russians from the northern parts of the state and indigenous Siberian Tatars lived in Tara, but also immigrants from the Polish-Lithuanian state (“Lithuania”, “Poles”, “Germans”), Sarts (Bukharlyk, Kirghiz) from Small and Big Bukharia.The obtained materials correlate well with the data of written sources, information on the geography and statistics of the peoples of the Irtysh region, and significantly supplement and expand the ideas of scientists about one of the first Siberian cities.

Деревянная посуда и кухонная утварь у населения г. Тары в XVII-XVIII вв.

Providing the population of the Russian Siberian town in the 17th-18th centuries with wooden tableware and its assortment is still an unexplored area of everyday culture of Siberians. The preservation of wood in the cultural layers of archaeological monuments of this time does not allow recreating completely the set of wooden dishes and utensils used by the local population. In addition to finds from Mangazeya, Nadym and Yakut ostrogs, where the harsh climate turned out to be a good preservative for wood. The nature of the functioning of northern towns does not allow us to directly extrapolate these materials for the population of the more southern latitudes of Western Siberia, but provides an opportunity for comparative analysis with our materials. The peculiarities of the cultural layer of Tara which preserves organic materials well have allowed us to collect a representative collection of objects over the years of excavations. This made it possible to recreate the entire set of kitchen utensils for cooking and table setting for the residents of this town. The purpose of our research is to introduce into scientific circulation a collection of wooden dishes and utensils from the excavations of Tara and analyze its place in the everyday culture of the inhabitants of Tara

Minusinsk architecture formation affected by local merchants in the 1920th centuries

Purpose: The aim of this work is to describe the architecture of Minusinsk, a small Siberian town, in line with the interests of the local merchants. The paper is relevant because of the low level of knowledge of the historical and cultural heritage of small towns in Siberia and the problems of preserving their cultural heritage.Methodology/approach: The related literature review, comparative analysis of the architecture and systems structural analysis of information. Theoretical works of scholars, historians and architects and the author’s literature and materials.Practical implications: The obtained results can be used for preparation of lectures and reports on the history of Siberian architecture. Preservation and efficient use of merchant buildings will contribute to the improvement of the city status and the development of its tourist attractiveness.Originality/value: The study of historical and cultural heritage of Minusinsk, a large merchant capital with mansion construction and industrial and commercial buildings.Findings: Minusinsk is of great interest as a historical merchant city. In the old city, there are numerous wooden and brick buildings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They locate in central streets and squares of the old city and have specific appearance.

Neglected Transportation Infrastructure

Verkhnemarkovo, a small Siberian town located on an oil field in Russia’s Irkutsk region, is plagued by bad roads and limited mobility. This article explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility and the wellbeing of individuals and communities, with a focus on transport and mobility infrastructure. Some oil companies, such as Irkutsk Oil Company, are tied to the sustainability standards of international financial institutions. The article addresses the question of why people are in limbo between the state and local operating oil companies. Contemporary life in Verkhnemarkovo is characterized by so-called infrastructural violence, which results from the lack of state support—or false promises made by the state— and relates to good transport infrastructure. In their complaints, local people recall the Soviet past and expect support from the state or industry.

Military towns for military-strategic function of Western Siberian towns (Omsk and Novo-Nikolaevsk) early in the 20th century

Purpose: Exploration of military towns as one of the components of military strategy of the cities of Omsk and Novo-Nikolaevsk in the 19–20th centuries.Design/methodology/approach: Archival and literary sources, buildings of the military department, quite autonomous in Siberian cities corresponding to all functional purposes.Research findings: The influence of the militarystrategic plans of the Russian Empire on the spatial development of military-strategic aspect of construction of barrack complexes in urban development.Practical implications: The research results can be applied in further study of military towns in Omsk and Novo-Nikolayevsk Originality/ value: Research results show the history of construction and architecture of military buildings of the 41st, 43rd, 44th Siberian Rifle Regiments, which were part of the Omsk Military District (Siberian Military District from 1899 to 1906) and stationed in Omsk and Novo-Nikolaevsk.

Itinerary books (itineraria) of the Vysotskys’ printing house

The study gives a new outlook on the activities of the first Tyumen printing house, which was founded by K. N. Vysotsky in 1869 and existed until 1909. The scientific novelty of the research is due to the following: 1) book publishing is considered as part of the media revolution carried out by K. N. Vysotsky thanks to the opening of the first photography studio (1866), lithography studio (1867), printing house (1869), and a newspaper publishing news and advertisements (1879) in a provincial Siberian town; 2) publishing activities of K. N. Vysotsky and L. K. Vysotskaya are linked with the history of Siberian steam navigation in the 1870–1890s. The purpose of the article is to characterize Russian dorozhniki - itinerary books as a special type of publications in the Vysotskys’ printing house, to identify their diversity and role in the activities of steamship companies, in particular the Kurbatov and Ignatov Partnership. A bibliological analysis based on the structural-typological method within the context and system approaches allows a new interpretation of the role and place of the Vysotskys’ printing house in the history of Siberian book culture. The author comes to the conclusions that about 20% of the repertoire (11 of 56 books) of the Vysotskys’ printing house are books about steamboats and rivers. They represent a semantic unity, a unique series structured by space (more than 3000 km along West Siberian rivers from Tyumen to Tomsk) and the idea of industrialization and cultural development of new lands. The structural dominance of the series belongs to a special publication type: dorozhnik (an itinerary book), the purpose of which was to indicate the distance between settlements and to serve as a travel guide on Siberian rivers. Publication of such books, which are known to exist since the ancient Rome, testifies to the high print culture of the Vysotskys publishers. These books are very diverse: brief guidebooks coexisted with lithographic cartographic editions and advertising catalogs in the genre of history writing and ethnographic travel essays. The significance of the itinerary books published by the Vysotskys lies in the cultural brand they formed for Tyumen as a town and the birthplace of all navigation along West Siberian rivers.

Geographical Imagination, Anthropology, and Political Exiles

This article is focused on several themes connected with the history of photography, political exile in Imperial Russia, exploration and representations of Siberia in the late 19th–early 20th centuries. Photography became an essential tool in numerous geographic, topographic and ethnographic expeditions to Siberia in the late 19th century; well-known scientists started to master photography or were accompanied by professional photographers in their expeditions, including ones organized by the Russian Imperial Geographic Society, which resulted in the photographic records, reports, publications and exhibitions. Photography was rapidly spreading across Asian Russia and by the end of the 19th century there was a photo studio (or several ones) in almost every Siberian town. Political exiles were often among Siberian photographers, making photography their new profession, business, a way of getting a social status in the local society, and a means of surviving financially as well as intellectually and emotionally. They contributed significantly to the museum’s collections by photographing indigenous people in Siberia and even traveling to Mongolia and China, displaying “types” as a part of anthropological research in Asia and presenting “views” of the Russian empire’s borderlands. The visual representation of Siberia corresponded with general perceptions of an exotic East, populated by “primitive” peoples devoid of civilization, a trope reinforced by numerous photographs and depictions of Siberia as an untamed natural world, later transformed and modernized by the railroads construction.

БРАЧНОСТЬ, РОЖДАЕМОСТЬ И СМЕРТНОСТЬ ПРАВОСЛАВНОГО НАСЕЛЕНИЯ СИБИРСКОГО ГОРОДА ВО ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЕ XIX в. (НА ПРИМЕРЕ МЕТРИЧЕСКИХ КНИГ ПРАВОСЛАВНЫХ ЦЕРКВЕЙ МИНУСИНСКА)

БРАЧНОСТЬ, РОЖДАЕМОСТЬ И СМЕРТНОСТЬ ПРАВОСЛАВНОГО НАСЕЛЕНИЯ СИБИРСКОГО ГОРОДА ВО ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЕ XIX в. (НА ПРИМЕРЕ МЕТРИЧЕСКИХ КНИГ ПРАВОСЛАВНЫХ ЦЕРКВЕЙ МИНУСИНСКА)

ЖЕНСКИЙ СЛЕД В МУЗЕЙНОМ ДЕЛЕ СИБИРИ (XIX – НАЧАЛО XX В.)

The topic of this article did not attract the attention of researchers. Using of newspapers, letters and memoirs, museographical publications and some other authentic sources enabled the author to identify and highlight women's participation in the creation and activities of many museums in Siberia. First, the article shows the museum charity of women from wealthy families. They were the daughters of merchant Piotr I. Kuznetsov – Yulia (in Matveyev's marriage), Alexandra and Eudokia, the wife of the founder of Yeniseisk Museum Anastasia Kytmanova, merchant wife Mukhina and others. The author of the article emphasizes that the most important contribution to the museum science of Siberia was made by those women, who worked inside museums. The first of them was Alexandra Potanina – wife and helper of the outstanding Russian traveler and museologist Grigory Potanin. Together with her husband, Alexandra Potanina worked in the expeditions through Mongolia and China, collected herbariums, made sketches of natural landscapes and cultural artifacts, composed different historical sources and transferred them to museums in St. Petersburg, Siberian town of Kyakhta and Irkutsk. Then the author tells about Elizabeth Clements, who played a prominent role in the museum science of Siberia. She had a higher natural science education, worked in the Minusinsk Museum, and was one of the first who used museum collections in cultural and educational work. Together with her husband Dmitry Clements, she participated in scientific expeditions through Siberia and Mongolia, engaged in archaeological excavations, made herbariums and transferred all collected materials to Minusinsk and Irkutsk museums. In addition, she worked up the museum collections by herself. Maria Kostyurina played an important role in Tobolsk Museum. She was native of Tobolsk, participated in revolution movement of narondnik (populist), and was exiled to Siberia. Some later she came in Tobolsk, pub-lished the newspaper “Siberian Vestnik”. In 1890 Kostyurina joined the executive committee of To-bolsk Museum, took place in collecting of different museum materials on folklore and peasant culture around Tobolsk. She was engaged in issuing several museum catalogs, used museum materials in in-vestigations and scientific publications. The article includes the information about Maria Krasnozhe-nova, who collected, worked up and published the museum sources in Krasnoyarsk Museum. Thus, the materials of the article allow opening a new page in the history of museum science, and telling about the first Siberian women-museologists.

Национальная газета «Хальмг үнн» («Калмыцкая правда»): опыт анализа повседневности (на материале фотографий 1957–1959 гг.)

Goals. The article seeks to reconstruct everyday life in the Kalmyk ASSR in the years straight after the return from the deportation, and view newspaper materials as a source for investigating mundanity, print media serving a universal means of mass communication and data translation. Materials. The paper analyzes photographs published by the national newspaper Khalmg Ünn in 1957–1959. Despite the periodical was essentially ‘state-backed’, one could still trace key mundanity patterns and issues dealt with by commoners. The continuous sampling method was employed to select materials of 1957–1959 for the reconstruction, special emphasis being laid upon photo analysis rather than related texts. Results. Newspaper discourse contains no direct indications of the Kalmyk people’s deportation and publishes somewhat few pictures of WWII veterans. There are scarce mentions of the return of the Kalmyks to their ancestral lands from Siberian towns but those give no clarifications of how /why they had appeared there. The official censorship offices banned such topics till 1988. During the examined period, Khalmg Ünn insufficiently covers private life of common Soviet citizens but it is noteworthy that in 1957 one could still find some messages dealing with commoners and their actual problems, while in subsequent years – as censorship system gathered pace – fewer and fewer articles considered actual aspects of Soviet mundanity. Conclusions. Despite the scarcity of mundanity-related materials, the available data was still shaping a parallel world of information somewhat opposed to that of censorship filters. Newspaper materials have started being introduced into scientific discourse as sources for diverse studies (language, script, folklore, translation patterns, mundanity, socio-political history, etc.) and it is essential to continue this work.

Children’s Games in the Sociocultural Space of a Siberian Town: Historical and Archaeological Context

This article describes a collection of toys from a manor in the medieval town of Tara, the Omsk Region, in a broad historical context. We focus on the spatial arrangement of toys on the manor’s plan, evidencing the overlap of the adult’s world with that of children, which is relevant to the development of children’s self-awareness and socialization through play. Games are an active form whereby children organize their space within the adults’ world and after its pattern. Toys help them assert themselves and “inhabit” the domestic world of the manor. The children’s presence in the space of the house, that of the estate, and that of the town is marked by various toys, such as mock weapons, balls, whistles shaped like birds, tiny dishes, knucklebones, svaikas (sharpened iron rods, which, when thrown, were meant to stick in the ground inside iron rings), small knives, etc. The reconstruction of children’s games within the excavated manor can be projected onto the entire town, since homesteads were the main habitats. Children belonging to various social classes played inside houses, in backyards, pastures, and areas between the estates. Because the living zone was mastered through play, games played an important role in the organization of the town’s socio-cultural space. As the children grew, their space expanded beyond the family limits.

ARCHITECTURAL FACTOR IN HERITAGE OF G.N. POTANIN

A publication by G.N. Potanin, a well-known researcher of Siberia and, a prominent representative of Siberian regionalism is studied in the collection “Siberia, its current state and needs”, published in 1908 from the architectural view point. The purpose of this article is to analyze the architectural factor and comments from the contemporary of the urban planning processes in Siberia in the late in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which are interesting for studying the history of architecture in its regional aspect, relevant to the urban planning theory, practice and conservation of the regional architectural heritage. It is shown that G.N. Potanin described the Siberian towns, specifics of their urban construction, special cultural and educational role of public buildings in Siberian conditions of, and residential buildings of urban dwellers. The article presents Potanin‟s opinion on urban development in Tomsk and Irkutsk. Potanin‟s observations associated with the use of solar energy by Siberians in winter time are described including street glazing and a low spacing between large windows on façades and the interiors of residential buildings which experienced a kind of greenhouse effect in winter. The historical architectural materials presented herein are relevant for the modern urban planning theory and practice and can assist in preserving the urban planning heritage of the region. The analysis of Potanin‟s publications related directly to the architectural and town-planning themes, is published for the first time and can be used in the related teaching courses.

Игры детей и игрушки в социокультурном пространстве сибирского города: историко-археологический контекст

Игры детей и игрушки в социокультурном пространстве сибирского города: историко-археологический контекст

Роль П. И. Иванова-Радкевича в формировании культурного пространства Красноярска конца XIX – начала ХХ века

The article researches the role of the graduate of the St. Petersburg Church Singers’ Cappella Pavel Iosefovich Ivanov-Radkevich in the creation of the unique image of the musical and artistic life of Krasnoyarsk of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Understanding the universals and the specificity of the development of cultural processes of Siberia, Ivanov-Radkevich catalyzed their unfolding, in many ways predetermining the subsequent evolution of the artistic space of Krasnoyarsk. His abundant activities permeated virtually into all the basic elements of the musical life of Krasnoyarsk, forming and organizing them into an integral model of regional academic art. As the result of his self-sacrificing work a powerful replenishment was received by the professional musical sphere of Krasnoyarsk. His greatest achievement – founding the People’s Conservatory, which successfully functions up to our days – presented a crucial moment of the swaying of the balance in favor of professionalization and its subsequent predominance within the system of the local academic traditions. In his struggle for the development of the visual arts, Radkevich ardently son Mikhail to become a painter. The personality of this specialist, formed and generated during the epoch of the Silver Age in the metropolis of Russia, its scale and cultural range of vision connected the center and the periphery, the capital and the province. He coordinated the living communication of the leading artistic forces of Krasnoyarsk (the musicians and the painters), synthesizing the various trends and traditions of academic art. He provided for a fullfledged inclusion of the Siberian town into the overall processes of constructing the system of Russian culture. The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research, the Government of the Krasnoyarsk Region, the Krasnoyarsk Regional Fund for Support of Science and Technology within the framework of research project №17-14-24006. Keywords: musical culture of Russia, musical culture of Siberia, musical academic culture, artistic life of Krasnoyarsk, People’s Conservatory, P. I. Ivanov-Radkevich’s school for drawing.

Дрова как один из системообразующих элементов жизнеобеспечения сибирского города в XVII-XVIII вв.

Дрова как один из системообразующих элементов жизнеобеспечения сибирского города в XVII-XVIII вв.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF YENISEISK IN THE LATE XIX – EARLY XX CENTURIES

Yeniseisk is an important cultural and historical centre of Yeniseisk region. It was the first stockated town on the Yenisei River in Russian colonization of East Siberia. Being directly connected with gold-mining of the taiga, fish and fur riches of Turukhano-Taimyrskii region, Yeniseisk had not only peculiar economical and geographical position but it was a unique socio-cultural place. One of the most important cultural features of Yeniseisk was its educational system. Characteristics of the educational system of Yeniseisk at the end of the XIX – beginning of the XX centuries are analysed from the point of view of the theory of modernization in this article. The dynamics of the development of the town has high profile. Educational system is an important component of the town cultural system. Using a systematic approach to research its conditions for the development, its characteristics and the analysis of the system as a component of the town cultural system is very effective. The results of this article can be used for a comparative research on the history of culture of Yeniseisk and Siberian towns and cities as well as for an overall research of socio-cultural environment of Yeniseisk in the late XIX – early XX centuries.