Nikolai Aleksandrovich Ridinger, Polizeimeister and Researcher of the Oryol Region: From the Documents of the State Archive of the Oryol Region

УДК 930.25+929.5

Nikolay A. Tropin, Elets State University, Elets, Russian Federation

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Ridinger, Polizeimeister and Researcher of the Oryol Region: From the Documents of the State Archive of the Oryol Region

Abstract

The article studies documents from the State Archive of the Oryol Region concerning Nikolai Aleksandovich Ridinger's service and scientific work in 1859-1867. The importance of the research lies in the prospect of studying the provincial historical science development in the middle of the 19thcentury in Oryol gubernia. Scientific novelty of the work consists in identifying a document collection, which allows study N.A. Ridinger's biography and manuscripts. In order to reconstruct this biography, seven service records have been studied. These sources are very informative, as they include data on service, rewards, marital status, creed, class origin. N.A. Ridinger (1825-1894) came from a noble family well-know in Russian military history. He was not a professional historian, but an officer, a veteran of the Caucasian campaign of 1853-1854.Wounded, he continued service as Polizeimeister, or chief of police, in Kaluga, Oryol, Elets, St.-Petersburg and rose to the rank of majorgeneral. His literary heritage is extensive. In 1860 N.A. Ridinger wrote a book on the Oryol of his times which was based on statistic data from 1856-1860. This book was not published, however, its manuscript is preserved in the Russian State Library. In 1865 he published a book “Materials for history and statistics of Yelets”. A manuscript of the first version of this book, dated 1862, was discovered in the State Archive of the Oryol Region. It allows to see the original idea of the book, which was considerably abridged in publication. The manuscript discovery is a significant one for studying the development of the historic science in the Russian periphery. Of particular importance is the manuscript of “Orders for Oryol town police for 1859-1860,”its contents reflecting the daily life and service of the police and firemen. Instructions for conducting criminal investigation addressed to the fire brigades are of particular interest. Remarkably, the figure of the policeman as a career-minded individual emerges from the issued orders.

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Keywords

N. A. Ridinger, archival documents, sources, Oryol chief of police, historical science in the periphery.

References

LYAPIN, D. A. K voprosu o stanovlenii provintsial'noi istoricheskoi nauki v 1860-e gody: rukopisnoe nasledie N.A. Ridingera o Eletskom krae [Revisiting the formation of the provincial history science in 1860s: Literary heritage of N. Ridinger on the Yelets region. In Russ.]. Istoriya: fakty I simvoly. [History: Facts and symbols], no. 3 (4), 2015, pp. 47—56.

RIDINGER, N. A. Materialy dlja istori i istatistiki g. El'ca. [Materials for history and statistics of the town of Yelets. In Russ.]. Oryol, Gubernskaya tipografiya publ., 1865, 78 p.

TROPIN, N. A. N.A. Ridinger: neobychnyi politsmeister v srednerussko iprovintsii serediny XIX v. [N. Ridinger: An unusual Polizeimeister in the Central Russian province of the mid-19th century. In Russ.]. IN: Istoriya: fakty I simvoly [History: Facts and symbols], no. 3 (4), 2015, pp. 94—121.

TROPIN, N. A. Gubernski igorod Orel serediny XIX veka vzglyadom politsmeistera [Gubernia town Oryol of mid-19th century as seen by the chief of the police. In Russ.]. Voronezh, Nauchnaya kniga publ., 2015, 80 p.

TROPIN, N. A., LYAPIN, D. A. N.A. Ridinger – eletskii politsmeister I kraeved (1862—1867) [N.A. Ridinger, Yelets Polizeimeister and local historian: 1862—1867. In Russ.]. Yelets, EGU im. I.A. Bunina publ., 2015, 188 p.

About author

Tropin Nikolai Aleksandrovich, PhD in History, head of Russian History and Archeology Department, I.A. Bunin Elets State University, Elets, Russian Federation, +7-909-220-89-95, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

This publication has been prepared with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Humanities (RGNF) and of the Administration of the Lipetsk region, project no. 15-11-48003 а (р): “Nikolai Aleksandrovich Ridinger: Formation of the historical thought in the Russian province in the middle of the 19th century”.

Submitted 16.03.2017, published:

TROPIN, N. A. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Ridinger: politsmeister I issledovatel' Orlovskogo kraya. Po materialam Gosudarstvennogo arkhiva Orlovskoi oblasti [Nikolai Aleksandrovich Ridinger, polizeimeister and researcher of the Oryol region: From the documents of the State Archive of the Oryol Region. In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an archivist, 2017, no. 2, pp. 169-184.