Petrova I. Descriptive and statistical sources on the history of Ukraine in the last quarter of the XVIII – first half of the XIX century

Object of study: a complex of descriptive and statistical sources on the history of Ukraine in the last quarter of the XVIII - first half of the XIX century, which appeared as a result of cartographic, geodetic and descriptive work, the formation of a system of administrative registration of the population in the Russian Empire. Subject of study: methods of compiling descriptive and statistical documents, their key base, attribution and level of informative representativeness of the sources. The aim of the study: implementation of a comprehensive and objective assessment of descriptive and statistical documents of the last quarter of the XVIII - first half of the XIX century as the historical sources. Results of the research: for the first time: the source base of the military-topographic, Economic notes to the cartographic materials of the General Survey measures was reconstructed; previously unused types of military-topographic descriptions were put into scientific circulation; the influence of various forms of land ownership (private, state, waqf) on surveying in separate (national) regions of the Russian Empire is clarified; the activity of the surveying offices (Slobidska, Katerinoslavska (Novorosiyska), Tavriyska, Bessarabska) is analyzed, the ways of improving the work of these institutions are established (increase of the staffing schedule, introduction of the methods of material stimulation of workers, use of various methods of land area calculation). Further study was provided to: the definition of the concept of "descriptive and statistical sources", the determination of features inherent in the studied group of the historical sources; the problem of improving the material and technical base for conducting topographic and geodetic research and land surveying in the Russian Empire; the working conditions for the surveying offices personnel and local surveyors; the formation of a training system for military topographers and surveying offices personnel, the introduction of the new methods of theoretical and practical training for representatives of this area of knowledge. Scope of use: factual material, theoretical positions and conclusions can be used in the preparation of generalizing works and textbooks on historical source studies; relevant lecture courses, special courses and practical classes on source studies, historiography and special historical disciplines (for example, historical geography) for students of specific specialties of the higher educational institutions of Ukraine. It is also appropriate to use the results of the study as a material for specific research on the problems of the socio-economic history of Ukrainian lands in the last quarter of the XVIII - first half of the XIX century and during the preparation for printing of manuscripts of military-topographic sources on the history of the Right-Bank Ukraine.