Readers’ preferences of Irkutsk residents in late of XIX–early XX centuries

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of the reader and reading among the urban population, which is little studied in Russian history. Based on the analysis of the materials of the state archive of the Irkutsk region, the author characterizes the readership
and the reader’s interests of certain social and professional groups of the Irkutsk population in the late XIX–early XX centuries.
A distinctive feature of the Irkutsk readership is shown: the social composition of active readers of the city is revealed, the circle
of the most popular domestic and foreign authors is designated, the most popular all-Russian, regional and local periodicals
are marked. The obtained data can help to characterize the mechanism of influence of reading on the formation of socio-political views, moral education and artistic tastes of Irkutsk residents.