Alexey Evgenyevich Sorokin,

Novokuznetsk Museum of Local History, Novokuznetsk, Russia, e-‍mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

 

 

  

Study of the Historical Topography of the City of Kuznetsk at the Beginning of the 20th Century by Local Historian V.P. Devyatiyarov

 

 DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2026-1-21

 The article examines the research strategies of a Novokuznetsk local historian V.P. Devyatiyarov, who focused on the historical topography of Kuznetsk (today Novokuznetsk) in the early 20th century. In an attempt to fill the gap in cartographic sources on the history of pre-Soviet Kuznetsk, V.P. Devyatiyarov managed to compile a detailed map of the city as it had been in 1918 based on an extensive set of personal sources. The map was based on information obtained by the local historian himself while recording the recollections of the city’s old-timers. V.P. Devyatiyarov recorded these recollections in the 1960s−1980s. Today, this extensive set of personal sources, including the testimonies of more than 300 Kuznetsk residents, is kept in the collections of the Novokuznetsk Museum of Local History and constitutes a unique archive dedicated to the city’s pre-revolutionary past. These recollections are supported by other sources, such as archival documents and photographs discovered by V.P. Devyatiyarov, allowing not only to reconstruct the historical and social topography of the city of Kuznetsk at the beginning of the last century, but to examine the methods of collecting local history material by the Soviet historian.

Publishing: 28/02/2026

The article has been received by the editor on 02/12/2025

Original article >


How to cite: Sorokin A.E. Study of the Historical Topography of the City of Kuznetsk at the Beginning of the 20th Century by Local Historian V.P. Devyatiyarov // Historical Courier, 2026, No. 1 (45), pp. 257−269. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2026/ISTKURIER-2026-1-21.pdf]

Links: Issue 1 2026

Keywords: Soviet local history; historical topography; Kuznetsk; architectural heritage; V.P. Devyatiyarov