Activation of archive and local history research activities in Eastern Siberia in the XIX - the beginning of the XX centuries
This article examines the process of searching for and describing the state of affairs of archival institutions located in the Siberian region. Initial steps to introduce local sources into the scientific circulation were made by foreign historians invited to the Russian Empire in the 18th century. One of the first interested in Siberian scrolls was G.F. Miller, in the next century the initiative of foreigners was picked up by Siberian scientists A.P. Shchapov and P.A. Rovinsky, and even later - G.N. Potanin. However, the main role in the search and preservation of historical documents as well as archaeological and ethnographic information was played by non-professional local scholars interested in studying their native land. Their activities became more organized and productive due to the appearance in the XIX century Siberian departments of the Russian Geographical Society (first in 1851 in Irkutsk, and then in 1877 in Omsk), which took care of not only natural and scientific issues, but also a number of problems of a humanitarian profile. Particularly worthy of note is the enthusiasm for collecting information about the state of archives in different parts of Irkutsk Region expressed by Governor Generals N.S. Romanov and V.V. Ptitsyn, who devoted their free time to these researches on their own will.