Diary of Charles Monker, Chief Executive Officer of the Neva Cotton Mill in St. Petersburg in 1905–1917



| 26 December 2024
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Kolyshnitcyna N.V., St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Diary of Charles Monker, Chief Executive Officer of the Neva Cotton Mill in St. Petersburg in 1905–1917
Abstract
The Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg stores the fond of the Neva Thread Manufacture Partnership (fond 1436) counting 1179 files. These records include minutes of the general meetings of the shareholders, reports of the Board of the Partnership, annual reports, documents on activities of some of the factories, contracts and correspondence on orders and deliveries, registers of accidents, lists of employees, internal regulations, data on the worker strikes, etc. Monker?s diary, which was translated in Russian, is of much interest. Charles Monker kept his diary between 1905 and 1917. Charles Monker worked as a foreman at the Neva cotton mill since December 8, 1893. He was also a shareholder of the Neva Thread Manufacture Partnership. Since November 8, 1912 he was the chief executive officer of the Neva cotton mill and remained in this post at least until April, 1917 (when the diary entries discontinued). He was married. The further fate of K.I. Monker and his family is unknown to us. We can say with some confidence that he left Russia. The diary contains no records of his private life, it is devoted to purely industrial problems. K.I. Monker made his most comprehensive entries during the revolutionary events of 1905, starting with January 5, the first day of the strike at the factory. He scrupulously observed the number of those who came to work and the number of the strikers; he listed workshops where the initiators of the strike worked, wrote down their demands and the management response. He mentioned the sending home of the English specialists’ families, described their work during the strikes. On days when the factory worked normally Monker’s diary provides data on managers on duty, on the diseased among them, on factory accidents (including some that were not recorded officially), as well as on breakdowns and repair of the machines. At the time of a cholera epidemic in autumn, 1908 the diary lists of the number of diseased and dead at the factory. Due to K.I. Monker’s trip to England for treatment, there is a lacuna in records from December 5, 1913 to February 17, 1914. Records for 1914–1917 contain some brief data on the mobilization, on the opening of hospitals, on the dismissal of German nationals. The events of February and March, 1917 are described as scrupulously as those of 1905. The diary ends off on April 13, 1917.
Keywords
Source, cotton mill, factory cafeteria, factory inspector, cooperative shop, foreman, disturbances.
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About the authors
Kolyshnitcyna Natalya Valerievna, PhD in History, chief archivist at the Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, +7-921-555-41-94, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it