This article analyzes the mechanisms of economic integration of the Steppe Region into the all-imperial market space on the basis of administrative records of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Empire (Russian State Historical Archive). The study is built around a single case: an example of unexpectedly attentive and personalized care shown by state officials toward the individual needs of Kazakh trainees at the Edimonovo School of Dairy Farming in Tver Province. The authorities not only provided them with scholarships to study cheese and butter production in one of the "centers of Russia's agrarian modernization," but also allocated additional funds for their meals. As a result, the Kazakhs were fed according to their traditions for an entire year. This instrumental case of bureaucratic situational flexibility is used not for descriptive purposes, but to revise the generalizations of previous historiography. Moreover, the study situates the Steppe Region within a broader context-the project of agricultural modernization and overcoming the agrarian crisis of the late nineteenth century. The article argues that, in pursuing its strategic goals, the imperial bureaucracy assigned agricultural education the status of a key mechanism of modernization and demonstrated situational flexibility in adapting to local conditions. The overarching objective was to integrate Siberian livestock breeding (with the Steppe Region as part of the Siberian periphery) into the all-Russian market, introduce intensive methods, establish commercial animal husbandry, and incorporate this remote region into the imperial economic space. The study contributes to the historiography of empires by shifting the focus from the simplified dichotomy of "exploitation versus civilizing mission" toward a more complex model of pragmatic investment aimed at enhancing the economic efficiency of peripheral regions. Finally, the article contributes to debates on the flexibility and adaptability of imperial governance.
This article, based on archival materials from the Orenburg Region State Archives, analyzes a littleknown episode: the 1914 "denunciation campaign" against the editorial board of the Kazakh newspaper "Kazak" and its leaders, A. Baitursunov and M. Dulatov. Using source analysis and discourse analysis of administrative documents, the authors demonstrate that denunciation in late imperial Russia was not only a form of private political persecution but also part of an institutionalized mechanism of colonial surveillance. Letters from "trusted Kyrgyz from the Turgai and Ural regions" sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and governor's offices demonstrate a strategy by which some of the local elite positioned themselves as loyal intermediaries between the "authorities" and the "ignorant masses". The bureaucratic trajectory of these appeals - from local officials to the police department - is traced, revealing the depth of the inclusion of peripheral regions in the imperial surveillance system. A comparison of the texts of denunciations and official responses allows us to reconstruct the logic of imperial administrative culture, in which suspicion and denunciation became the primary instruments of control over the national outskirts.
The proposed article examines the understudied scientific issue of the role of the postal and telegraph service in Semirechye to monitor the citizens of the empire. This article has reviewed the surveillance process in the Russian Empire, aiming to protect the population from factors that could influence their consciousness. This article aims to determine the implementation of practices of censorship and letter interception (perlustration) in the Russian Empire, as well as the organisation of postal and telegraph institutions and their employees for these purposes. Based on historical data and research, this article has examined the issues of covert surveillance and letter perlustration. This article also discusses the activities of the "Black Chambers" across the empire, the use of postal and telegraph institution employees for covert surveillance by special agencies, and the involvement of local populations in surveillance activities. The materials used for this article include the archives of the Central Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, regulatory acts, official letters, and statistical reports from postal and telegraph institutions. Surveillance was organized privately from the public, and maintaining trust in communication institutions and their staff was crucial for the successful execution of these activities. A central aspect of this Semirechye activity lacked legislation.
The article is devoted to an analysis of the life and multifaceted activity of Benjamin Brown French (1800-1870) - an American politician, civil servant, Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and one of the most influential figures of nineteenth-century American Freemasonry. Particular attention is paid to his role in the history of the American Order of Knights Templar, in which he held the highest office of Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States during the difficult period of the American Civil War. The study examines the principal stages of French's biography, including his early education, the formation of his professional career, service in legislative and administrative institutions, activities as Commissioner of Public Buildings, and participation in the development of telegraphic communication in the United States. A separate section is devoted to French's literary legacy, especially his diaries Witness to the Young Republic, which constitute a valuable source for the political and cultural history of the country. The source base of the research includes published materials of Masonic organizations, museum exhibits, personal documents, and reference and biographical resources. The application of biographical, historiographical, and historical-genetic methods made it possible to reveal the interconnection between Benjamin B. French's governmental, literary, and Masonic activities. The article demonstrates that his contribution transcends the framework of an individual biography and reflects broader processes in the formation of American political culture and Masonic tradition in the nineteenth century.
The article analyzes the state of primary education in the Asian part of the Russian Empire as of January 1, 1915, based on archival materials from the Russian State Historical Archive. The focus is on the correlation between the total number of school-age children (8-11 years old) and the number of pupils enrolled in primary schools across 23 administrative units of Siberia, the Far East, the Steppe Region, Central Asia, and Transcaucasia. Using statistical data, the study identifies regional differences in the level of primary school enrollment and determines the percentage of enrolled pupils relative to the total number of children of the corresponding age group. The research shows that out of more than 2.2 million school-age children in the Asian part of the empire, approximately 550,000 were enrolled in schools, which accounted for about 25 percent. The highest level of enrollment was recorded in the Amur Region, while the lowest was observed in the Fergana Region. The author analyzes the factors influencing these disparities, including geographical remoteness, population density, specific features of colonial policy, and the degree of integration of the regions into the imperial administrative and educational system. The study refines our understanding of the scope and limitations of educational modernization in the eastern peripheries of the Russian Empire on the eve of the revolutionary events.
