A Database Built on the First 1897 Russian Empire Population Census Data: Structure and Analysis

Abstract

The article presents the potential use of primary materials of the First General Census of the Russian Empire taken in 1897 for historical studies. Emphasis is laid on the composition and the structure of 1897 census materials, the database architecture as well as the technique to study nominative sources and compare aggregated and personal data. In the first part of the article the authors provide an overview of publications that contain information on the safety of 1897 census papers in Siberia. The second part of the article describes the creation and the structure of the database covering the primary materials of the First General Census of the Russian Empire taken in 1897. The third part of the article presents the main approaches to the analysis of the census data. When developing the database, the authors sought to cover the information of all census paper forms at most and preserve internal ties between them (counting sheets – “oblozhki” - census papers). Particular attention is paid to the development of an intuitive interface for all forms of data entry corresponding to census paper forms. The database mainly covers the census information for 8 cities of Tobolskaya Guberniya. The research novelty is the application of a new technique to identify personal data and analyze the census material structure which can be traced in the architecture of the 1897 census database.