Agricultural exhibition in Kaluga province at the end of the 19th century (based on the materials of the journal "news of the ministry of agriculture and state property")

The object of the study is the daily life of Kaluga province at the end of the 19th century, the subject of the study is the organization of an exhibition display as one of the directions of agronomic education of residents of Kaluga province at the end of the 19th century. The methodological basis of the publication is the principles of historicism, scientific objectivity, and consistency, which make it possible to present a variety of cause-and-effect relationships of events, phenomena, and processes in dynamics. The source base of the study consists of diverse documents and materials that can be divided into several groups: firstly, materials from the central periodical News of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property, secondly, reference and statistical publications, and thirdly, office records of zemstvo self-government bodies. For the first time in Russian historiography, based on the materials of the periodical press, the author has set the task to reveal this problem using the example of the region under study. The article is based on an analysis of published reports by an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property, A.A. Gamalei, on the work of the summer and autumn exhibitions of the Kaluga Provincial Agricultural Society in 1899. It provides detailed information on the activities of various departments of exhibitions, lists the names of people who have won awards of various merits, and emphasizes the high importance of the exhibition in the public life of the Kaluga province. A.A. Gamaley’s reports are also of particular interest because they contain an analysis of a number of problems of local agriculture. In general, the materials and conclusions of the study can be used in the preparation of lecture courses on the history of Russia, special courses on the history of agriculture, conducting practical classes, writing textbooks.