The Historical Statistics of the Altai Information System

In the era of the digital turn, it is becoming relevant to create information resources that provide researchers with not only background information about historical sources but also reliable historical data. At the all-Russian level, such resources come from library centres (National Electronic Library, Presidential Library), archival authorities (Central Fund Catalogue), and public organisations (Russian Historical Society, Russian Geographical Society). For some regions, this task remains new and requires modern approaches and solutions. The article provides a description of the information system for a set of statistical materials on the history of Altai in the nineteenth – the first half of the twentieth centuries kept in central and regional libraries, archives, digitised publications, and collections with the possibility of versatile search and analysis of historical data. On the one hand, the chronological boundaries of the materials included in the database depend on the formation of the foundations of regular statistics in the mid-nineteenth century, and, on the other hand, on the establishment of Altai Krai within its present-day boundaries in 1937. The territorial framework of the study covers the borders of Altai as a historical region, which was included in the period under review in such administrative-territorial formations as Tomsk and Altai provinces and Siberian and West Siberian regions. The study employs a systematic approach, examining various types of statistical data as elements of a single set of sources on the history of Altai in the nineteenth – first half of the twentieth centuries. In its IT aspect, the study relies on database technology, both a tool and a result of the study. The Historical Statistics of Altai information system was created under the control of MySQL and consists of directories and four main modules: storage, sources, tags, and documents. The authors examine database architecture, logical structure, and data characteristics of the modules. The information system on the historical statistics of Altai will make it possible to solve some of the heuristic tasks related to the search and use of archival, museum, and library funds, including familiarisation with historical sources and their preliminary analysis in remote access mode. As a result, it will significantly expand research opportunities.