Abstract

In the article, the policies of local, provincial institutions of state power of the Russian Empire on the collection and analysis of statistical information on the Old Believers and sectarianism are studied on the example of the Kursk provincial statistical committee. The work reviewed the history of provincial statistical committees and the basic legal acts regulating their activities. The activity of the Kursk provincial statistical committee for collection and study of statistical data on the Old Believers and sectarianism in the Kursk province is considered among with various statistical materials published by the local provincial authorities of Kursk, such as the commemorative book, the collections of official reference information about the province published annually by the Kursk provincial statistical committee, and the reviews of provinces that were an annex to the annual reports of governors. Statistical materials collected by the Committee allow one to determine the numerical and religious composition of the population of the Kursk province in second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. On the basis of analysis of the given sources, the article presents extensive statistical information on the Old Believers and sectarianism in Kursk province by areas and settlements in different years. It also shows the change in the strength of the province population according to various sects and directions of the Old Believers in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries.