Scientific article
УДК 94(47).084.9:314.146/148+94(47)+314.1+311.3
DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2022-1-121-136
Gorbachev, Oleg V.
Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation
Materials of the 1959 All-Union Population Census as a Source on the History of Urban Family
Abstract
Using census materials for studying social history of Russia in the 20th century has serious restrictions determined by the census form and by selective publication of the obtained results. Using census forms themselves, fragmentary preserved in local archives, partially solves this problem. The researcher has to turn to the census materials for studying some topics, which are not directly reflected in the census forms, due to limited social statistics on the Soviet society. The article is to clarify the possibility of using primary materials of the 1959 census, stored in the fond of the Regional Statistical Office from the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk Region, alongside with the published data, for studying urban family in Sverdlovsk. The study of the Russian urban family in the second half of the 20th century is important for assessing the consequences of demographic transition of the 1930s – 1980s and the degree of population structure deformation following the Great Patriotic War. Studying the Ural family is significant, as urbanization processes in the region during the said period proceeded extremely intensively. To systematize the information on the census forms, a database “Family of the city of Sverdlovsk, 1959” has been created, combining principles of individual and family registration. The database includes information from 1,200 forms for the Oktyabrsky district. Nearly 17 000 apartment census forms for other urban settlements of the region fall outside the scope of this analysis. Comparison with published data proves that the sample is representative in its most significant indicators. Significant deviations are recorded in the social composition of the population, reflecting specifics of a central district of a large city (dominance of employees, significant number of single-parent families, presumably recent migrants). Among other things, it has been established that most commonly families consisted of two and three persons; in a significant number of cases, the households were headed by young women. The obtained information permits to characterize the Sverdlovsk urban family in terms of the so-called second demographic transition, which significantly influenced family size, distribution of intra-familial roles, and strategies of matrimonial behavior. Given the undoubted scientific value of the primary census materials, discovery of other similar documentary complexes in the Russian archives should be an important direction of research.
Keywords
Historical sources, all-Union population census of 1959, primary census materials, urban family, Sverdlovsk, database, demographic transition.
Download the article: gorbachev_doi
References
VISHNEVSKII, A. S. Demograficheskaya modernizatsiya Rossii, 1900–2000 [Demographic modernization of Russia, 1900–2000. In Russ.]. Moscow, Novoe izd-vo publ., 2006, 608 p.
BRYUKHANOVA, E. A. Materialy Pervoi vseobshchei perepisi naseleniya 1897 goda v arkhivakh Rossii i blizhnego zarubezh'ya [Materials of the First General Population Census of 1897 in the archives of Russia and neighboring countries. In Russ.]. Barnaul, Izd-vo Alt. un-ta publ., 2019, 192 p.
GERASIMOVA, I. A. Struktura sem'i [Family structure. In Russ.]. Moscow, Statistika publ., 1976, 176 p.
IL'INA, I. P. Vliyanie voin na brachnost' sovetskikh zhenshchin [The influence of wars on the marriage rate of Soviet women. In Russ.]. IN: Brachnost', rozhdaemost', smertnost' v Rossii i v SSSR [Marriage, fertility, mortality in Russia and in the USSR. In Russ.]. Moscow, Statistika publ., 1977, pp. 50–62.
MAZUR, L. N., BRODSKAYA, L. I. Evolyutsiya sel'skikh poselenii Srednego Urala v XX veke: opyt dinamicheskogo analiza [Evolution of rural settlements of the Middle Urals in the 20th century: An experience in dynamic analysis. In Russ.]. Yekaterinburg, Izd-vo Ural un-ta publ., 2006, 564 p.
MAZUR, L. N., GORBACHEV, O. V. Massovye istochniki po istorii krest'ianskoi sem'i v Rossii v XX v. [Mass sources on the history of peasant family in Russia in the 20th century]. IN: Dokument. Arkhiv. Istoriia. Sovremennost' [Document. Archive. History. Contemporaneity. In Russ.]. Yekaterinburg, Izd-vo Ural un-ta publ., 2018, issue 18, pp. 304–321.
AFONTSEV, S., KESSLER, G., MARKEVICH, A., TYAZHELNIKOVA, V., VALETOV, T. The urban household in Russia and the Soviet Union, 1900–2000: Patterns of family formation in a turbulent century. IN: History of the Family, 2008, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 178–194.
ANDERSON, B. A. Marriage, Family, and Fertility Data in Russian and Soviet Censuses. IN: CLEM, R. (ed.) Research Guide to the Russian and Soviet Censuses. Ithaca, Cornell Univ. Press, 1986, pp. 131–154.
GLAVATSKAYA, E. Undaunted Courage: The Polar Census in the Obdor Region. IN: ANDERSON, D. G. (ed.) The 1926/27 Soviet Polar Census Expeditions. N. Y.; Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011, pp. 97–117.
MAZUR, L., GORBACHEV, O. Primary sources on the history of the Soviet family in the 20th century: An analytical review. IN: The History of the Family, 2016, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 101–120.
About the authors
Gorbachev Oleg Vitalievich, PhD in History, professor, Ural Federal University, department of documentation, archival science, and history of public administration, Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation, +7-343-389-94-24, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Grant information
The article has been prepared with financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 19-29-07154).
Submitted 7.10.2021, published (for citation):
GORBACHEV, O. V. Materialy Vsesoyuznoi perepisi naseleniya 1959 g. kak istochnik po istorii gorodskoi sem'i [Materials of the 1959 All-Union Population Census as a Source on the History of Urban Family. In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2022, no. 1, pp. 121-136. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2022-1-121-136