From October 18 to 31, 2025, the Institute’s employees – A.D. Arepova, M.T. Moryakova and A.K. Nurmanova – conducted a scientific trip to the city of Shymkent within the framework of the grant-funded project “Problems of Peasant Colonization of the Kazakh Region in the Imperial Discourse (Second Half of the 19th Century – 1917)” (IRN AP23489366)
The purpose of the trip was to carry out research aimed at collecting materials related to the peasant colonization policy in the southern region of Kazakhstan in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular, the goal was to identify regional features of the imperial discourse through the study of documents of the Russian colonial administration, statistical data, and materials from periodicals stored in the collections of the State Archive of the Turkestan Region and the scientific library. Additionally, the trip sought to establish academic contacts with local historians and archive staff, as well as engage in scholarly discussions on the research topic.
As a result of the work, documents and materials were collected from fonds No. 1446 and No. 1129 of the State Archive of the Turkestan Region. Among them were documents on the history of Southern Kazakhstan from the archives of the Russian Federation, referring to the pre-revolutionary period (fonds 1446 and 1129):
Fond 1446. Collection “Documents on the History of Southern Kazakhstan from the Archives of the Russian Federation (Pre-revolutionary Period)”.
Fond 1446, Inventory 2, File 1: Questionnaires – responses of local residents containing information about the life of the Kyrgyz (from Volume I). 13 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 2, File 2: Questionnaires – responses of local residents containing information about the life of the Kyrgyz (from Volume II). 20 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 7, File 6: Information on combating desertion in the army and strengthening the security of railway bridges of the Tashkent Railway. 40 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 7, File 7: Reports on the opening of train traffic on the Arys – Station No. 9 and Chimkent – Mankent sections of the Semirechye Railway. 6 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 7, File 8: Information on the involvement of prisoners of war in railway construction. 5 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 7, File 4: Case on amendments to the charter of the “Society for Newly Baptized Muslims and Russian Children Living Among the Kyrgyz Population of the Turgai Region.” 9 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 9, File 3: Documents on the conversion of the Kyrgyz of the Troitsk District to Christianity. 19 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 15, File 9: G.E. Katanaev. Copy of the report by the head of the Kokand Frontier Line to the Commander of the Troops of Western Siberia on conflicts with residents of the city of Sairam. 6 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 16, File 6: On transferring state lands in the Hungry Steppe of the Syr-Darya District, irrigated by the Emperor Nicholas I Canal, to the Resettlement Fund and terminating their lease. 17 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 16, File 13: Proverbs of the indigenous population of the Turkestan Region. Tashkent, 1888. 50 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 16, File 14: Notes on some peoples and lands of Central Asia in 1813–1814 by translator Filipp Nazarov, submitted to State Chancellor Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev. St. Petersburg, 1891. 59 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 16, File 12: Review of statistical works for 1887–1888 on the Syr-Darya Region. Works of the Syr-Darya Statistical Committee. Tashkent, 1888. 68 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 16, File 8: On the creation of resettlement plots in the Syr-Darya District in 1906. Urgent report of the Department of Agriculture and State Property of the Turkestan Region on the state estate Kaplanbek and its use for colonization needs, with a proposal to establish an agricultural school. 1906–1907. 23 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 16, File 10: On the resettlement of nobles and other persons not belonging to taxable estates to state lands of Turkestan. 1907–1908. 24 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 16, File 17: On Russian colonization of the Turkestan Region. Chapter III. Overview of the everyday life of the Turkestan Kyrgyz in connection with considerations on organizing land allotment work. 76 sheets.
Fond 1446, Inventory 16, File 7: On land management of the population of the Turkestan Region (Administration of the Turkestan Audit Chamber). 15 sheets.
Fond 1129, Inventory 11, File 259: Resettlement affairs in Turkestan. 1910. 8 sheets.
In addition, materials were collected from the fonds of the Al-Farabi City Scientific Universal Library, including:
Outline of the Work of the Turgai-Ural Resettlement Organization. Orenburg, 1911. – 249 p.; Review of the Turgai Region for 1911 / Turgai Regional Statistical Committee. Orenburg: Printing House of the Turgai Regional Administration, 1912. – 136 p.; Resettlement Affairs in the Semipalatinsk and Semirechye Regions. Impressions and Notes. St. Petersburg, 1910. – 78 p.; Agricultural Data for 1914. Orenburg: Publication of the Statistical Department of the Turgai-Ural District, 1915. – 68 p., etc.
As a result of the research conducted in the collections of the State Archive of the Turkestan Region and the scientific library, a number of valuable documents were identified and copied, relating to the peasant resettlement policy, land allocation issues, and colonial administration from the second half of the 19th century to 1917. The collected data and materials will contribute to enhancing the theoretical and source base of the study and clarifying the regional characteristics of the imperial discourse.
