Slavic & East European Collections

Microform Collections

Zemstvo Statistics
Russia c.1870-1917

Different sides of life in Russian society in the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century were carefully examined by zemstvo
statisticians. For almost fifty years they carefully recorded data on millions of peasant household and large estates of the nobility, as well as on permanent manufacturing facilities, health care and primary education, migration, etc.

Few countries can rival Russia with respect to accuracy and diversity of statistical data collected in the period between 1870 and 1917. The main topic of zemstvo statistical studies was the agricultural economy. Statisticians interviewed an estimated total of 4.5 million peasant families, and the list covering this work includes about 3.500 items.

The bulk of zemstvo material comprises:

  • censuses of peasant households (so-called osnovnaia zemskaia statistika)
  • annual data on agricultural production and crops (so-called tekushchaia zemskaia statistika)
  • peasant budgets
  • estimates of the values of permanent manufacturing facilities in the city and the country
  • data on handicrafts (promysly)
  • demographic statistics, data concerning peasant migration to Siberia, the Far East and Kazakhstan
  • health and sickness statistics
  • data concerning primary education and libraries
  • meteorological data

    The present collection, produced by IDC Publishers in the Netherlands, comprises 433 titles on 10,888 microfiche. An electronic guide to the complete IDC zemstvo microfiche collection is available in the Slavic Reading Room 406 in Yale's Sterling Memorial Library. This database is on CD-ROM and allows users to search through the entire microfiche collection by:

  • author (editor)
  • title
  • subject
  • region
  • key words (from all fields, including annotation)
  • place of publication
  • year of publication

    Sterling Library's hours of operation
    LOCATION: SML, Microform (Non-Circulating)
    CALL NUMBER: Fiche B3886

    Slavic & East European Collections | Yale University Library | Yale University

    Last updated October 2, 2001
    Comments to Tatjana Lorkovic, Curator for the Slavic and East European Collections
    Copyright 2001 Yale University Library