On the issue of studying Siberian merchant class: the circle of social contacts of gold producer Yakov Frizer

Abstract

The research is dedicated to Siberian merchant Yakov Frizer, a range of his communication and social contacts. Present research targets to illustrate through Frizer example particularities of everyday life and activity of the Siberian merchants on the threshold of the 19th–20th centuries, interrelations between various ethnicconfessional and social groups, between regional entrepreneurs and capital administrators as well as great potentialities of self-implementation for Jewish merchant within the Russian Empire. The article is based on the personal archive of Yakov Frizer, his books and articles, materials of the Siberian press and archival documents fr om the Russian Historical Archive (RGIA) and the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF). The authors have concluded particular features of Siberian society as a multi-layer society with intersections of various social, ethical and confessional worlds, national and religious tolerance and active social position.