The Problems of Historical Local Studies as Reflected in the Materials of the "Diocesan Gazette" (1869–1918)

The article discusses the materials of the "Diocesan Gazette" – the official periodic publication of the Russian Orthodox Church – as a source revealing the contribution of the clergy to the study of the history and cultural heritage of their native land. The aim of the work is to assess the informational value of the "Diocesan Gazette" for historical and local studies, identify key directions of local research carried out by the scientific and historical community in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, and characterize the structure of the source base of historical local studies relying on materials from church press. During the research, the history of the publication, its structure, the specifics of the unofficial part's content, and the role of editors in shaping the substantive agenda of the issues were analyzed. Special attention was given to the publications of the "Diocesan Gazette" dedicated to historical and local studies problems. The key method employed for working with church press is source analysis: determining the type of the source, its structure, intended purpose, and the circle of authors. The methodological foundation of the research is a sociocultural approach. As a result of the conducted research, the high informational value of the "Diocesan Gazette" as a comprehensive source for historical local studies of the late 19th – early 20th centuries has been confirmed. Major directions of local research undertaken by the provincial scientific and historical community have been identified: description of churches and monasteries as historical and cultural objects, study of local historical spaces (parishes, villages, settlements), ethnographic observations, documentation of monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity, examination and description of archives and libraries of the church authority. The special role of the clergy as local historians is demonstrated: priests and teachers of theological educational institutions, acting in conjunction with church-archaeological and archival commissions, formed the empirical base of local knowledge and transmitted it through the diocesan press. It has been established that the "Diocesan Gazette" became a platform that united ecclesiastical and secular local studies and was one of the key factors in the institutionalization of the local studies movement in the Russian province.