Consolidated Annual Reports of the Kalmyk Administration: Historiographic Heuristics

The article deals with the annual reports of the Kalmyk Administration which are an umbrella type of record keeping  documentation for studies of the political, economic, social and  cultural development of Kalmyk Steppe of Astrakhan Governorate.  The paper aims to identify and establish the degree of their  preservation in Russia’s archival funds, as well as their numerical  composition, availability of accompanying documents and records.  The author came to the conclusion that none of the archives  contained the complete collection of the consolidated annual reports. It was revealed that the largest set of reports for the entire period is  stored in the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia, as well as  in the Russian State Historical Archive. Those consolidated annual  reports by the Kalmyk Administration can be compared to the most  loyal reports of governors. Since the bulk of the Kalmyk nomadic population inhabited the southernmost territories of the Lower Volga Region known since the 19th century as “Kalmyk Steppe” which was  an administrative-territorial unit of Astrakhan Governorate, the  reports of the Kalmyk Administration proved structural elements to  most loyal reports of the Astrakhan Governor. The analysis of  revealed clerical materials showed that copies are in better condition than corresponding preparatory notes for the reports. Despite the  absence of a number of reports from the National Archive of the  Republic of Kalmykia, its funds contain draft papers and applications  to the reports. The availability of this group of sources is of great  value. Their preliminary analysis gives an opportunity to explore the  origins of the report while preparatory materials and draft  documents with corrections introduced by officials are essential in  assessing the representativity of the data on the Kalmyk  Administration’s consolidated annual reports. The structure, contents and scope of the reports were infl uenced by the diverse factors,  such as changes in the form of reports, changes in the boundaries of the territorial-administrative units, etc. Thus, the identifi cation and  studies of complex clerical works are necessary for further analysis of the socio-political and socio-economic processes that had  been occurring in Kalmyk Steppe of Astrakhan Governorate in the context of the whole Russian Empire.

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