Materials of the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery and the Corps of Gendarmes as a source for analyzing
the everyday life of the urban Russian population in the 1830–1880 

Natalia G. Karnishina, Doctor of historical sciences, professor, professor of the sub-department of the history of Russia, state and law, Penza State University (40 Krasnaya street, Penza, Russia),  karnishins@mail.ru

Background. The materials of the official document flow of the secret police are an important, not fully studied source base for analyzing the daily life of the urban population of the capital and province of Russia in the context of bureaucratic reforms from the reign of Nicholas I to the reign of Alexander III. The purpose of the research is to study the materials of the official document circulation of the secret police, the correspondence of contemporaries as a source for analyzing the everyday life of urban Russian population in the 1830s – 1880s. Materials and methods. The study was carried out on the basis of the data of the official document flow, the materials of the secret police of imperial Russia. The formallogical method and comparative-historical methods of scientific research are used. The possibilities of the social method made it possible to isolate the features of the everyday life of citizens of different classes throughout half a century of the Russian history. Results. In the course of writing the article, the main task was solved – to explore the main characteristics and possibilities of using the materials of the Third Section as a source for analyzing the life of citizens from 1830 to 1880s. Conclusions. Materials of the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery includes police reports, public opinion surveys, moral and political reports, directly reports on the actions of the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery and the Gendarme Corps. To solve the problem of using these materials as a source for analyzing the life of urban dwellers, it is advisable to use statistical data on incidents, collecting information about rumors and gossip spread in society, about the abuses of landlords and officials, and perusal materials. The employees of the Third Section tried to include in the reports all the information received about more or less significant events for  the city, therefore, the daily life of the townspeople is presented to us through the eyes of government officials.

political police, censorship, perusal materials, police reports, everyday life of citizens

Karnishina N.G. Materials of the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery and the Corps of Gendarmes as a source for analyzing the everyday life of the
urban Russian population in the 1830–1880. Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy. Povolzhskiy region. Gumanitarnye nauki = University proceedings. Volga region. Humanities. 2023;(2):32–40. (In Russ.). doi: 10.21685/2072-3024-2023-2-4