Natalya Igorevna Gavrilova,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Baikal State University, Irkutsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
“Information on the Personnel of the Dumas and Meetings of Authorized Representatives” as a Source on the History of Urban Public Administration in the Transbaikal Oblast at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2026-1-14
This article presents the results of a study examining the dynamics of the social composition of urban self-government bodies in the Trans-Baikal Oblast during the first three four-year periods following the introduction of the 1892 City Statute. The source base consists of the files “On the Personnel of Urban Public Administrations in the Trans-Baikal Oblast” stored in the Fond of the Economic Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (RSHA). These materials allowed to clarify the characteristics of the class composition, educational level, and age parameters of deputies, to examine previously unstudied characteristics of their rotation, to note the deputies’ experience in public service during elections, and to identify their “settler” status. The dynamics of the class composition of the Dumas and assemblies of authorized representatives of Transbaikal cities at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries were generally characterized by a decline in the share of the bourgeoisie, but its numerical superiority remained, and in a number of small towns in the region, its undivided dominance. The share of merchants and hereditary honorary citizens increased in the early 20th century, allowing for significant representation, while bureaucrats and nobility had an extremely insignificant representation. An increase in the educational level of deputies is revealed as well. A statistical analysis reveals that a trend toward a relatively greater balance in the representation of different age cohorts in the Dumas was the main driver of changes in the age composition of deputies. Low deputy turnover (approximately 65−70 % were re-elected) reinforced the trend toward an aging Duma composition. On the other hand, renewal was largely due to the recruitment of younger individuals. It is emphasized that between a third and a half of the deputies in Chita, Verkhneudinsk, and Troitskosavsk had experience in public service and performing “public service for elections”. There was no significant rotation of deputies in the municipal governments of the Transbaikal Oblast due to representatives of newly arrived elites (since the second half of the 1880s).
Publishing: 28/02/2026
The article has been received by the editor on 15/12/2025
How to cite: Gavrilova N.I. “Information on the Personnel of the Dumas and Meetings of Authorized Representatives” as a Source on the History of Urban Public Administration in the Transbaikal Oblast at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries // Historical Courier, 2026, No. 1 (45), pp. 167−184. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2026/ISTKURIER-2026-1-14.pdf]
Links: Issue 1 2026
Keywords: Transbaikal Oblast; City Regulations of 1892; public administration bodies; Social composition of the City Duma deputies; public activities of the City Duma deputies; rotation of the City Duma deputies