Abstract

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the development of a robust postal and telegraph system, alongside the construction of railways, was a crucial indicator of social modernization. The efficient operation of the Chinese Eastern Railway and its connecting Kaidalovskaya line depended heavily on the organization of communication along the railway. Establishing comprehensive postal and telegraphic communication was also vital for the local population. This study aims to examine the formation of the postal and telegraphic system along the Kaidalovskaya line of the Transbaikal Railway. Due to changes in the administrative affiliation of the Transbaikal region throughout the 20th century, information on this topic is dispersed across various central and regional archives of Russia. These materials are mainly housed in the Russian State Historical Archive, the State Archive of the Republic of Buryatia, the State Archive of the Irkutsk Region, and the State Archive of Zabaykalsky Krai. The authors concluded that creating the postal and telegraph system along the Kaidalovskaya line was a complex and prolonged process. Before the construction of railways, there was no post and telegraph in the administrative centre of the Aginsky Steppe Duma. Although the first post offi ce was opened in Chindant during the construction of the Kaidalovskaya line, the establishment of a fully functional postal and telegraph system in the region was delayed until World War I, primarily due to the insufficient government funding. Despite the authorities’ interest in moder nizing the communication system for the local population and repeated requests from selfgovernment bodies, including the Aginsky Steppe Duma and later the Aginsky Indigenous Volost Administration, postal and telegraph offices along the Kaidalovskaya line were primarily established when and where there was an urgent need for military presence or railway construction.

References

Bazilevich K.V. Pochta v Rossii v XIX v. [Postal Service in Russia in the 19th Century]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo NKPT, 1927. 196 p.

Dmitrieva N.V. Na puti k KVZhD: finansovaya sostavlyayushchaya istorii stroitel’stva Kaidalovskoy zheleznodorozhnoy vetvi [On the Way to the Chinese Eastern Railway: The Financial Component of the History of the Construction of the Kaidalovskaya Railway Line] // Novejshaya istoriya Rossii. 2023. Vol. 13. N 4. P. 861–874.

Khodyakov M.V., Zhao Zhiqing. Stroitel’stvo tserkvey v Zabaykal’e i Kitaysko-Vostochnaya zheleznaya doroga: Kaidalovskaya vetv’ na rubezhe XIX–XX vekov [Construction of Churches in Transbaikalia and the Chinese Eastern Railway: The Kaidalovskaya Line at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries] // Bulletin of NSU. Series “Istoriya, fi lologiya”. 2023. Vol. 22. N 8. P. 100–111.

Matafonova O.I., Nikonchuk A. Stantsiya Olovyannaya: vzglyad v proshloye (ocherk po sledam shkol’nogo proekta) [Olovyannaya Station: A Look into the Past (An Essay Following a School Project)]. Chita: IRO Zabaykalskogo Kraia, 2022. 154 p.

Sanzhiyeva T.E. Pochtovaya svyaz’ Zabaykal’ya v kontse XIX — nachale XX veka [Postal Communication in Transbaikalia in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries] // Irkutsk Historical and Economic Yearbook. Irkutsk: Izdatel’stvo Baikal’skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2016. P. 182–188.

Shperk F. Rossiya Dal’nego Vostoka [Russia of the Far East]. Saint Petersburg: Tipografiya Imperatorskoy akademii nauk, 1885. 503 p.

Vedmid’ A. Cherez stepi Daurii (K 100-letiyu vvoda v postoyannuyu ekspluatatsiyu Kaidalovskoy vetvi Zabaykalskoy zheleznoy dorogi) [Through the Steppes of Dauria (On the 100th Anniversary of the Introduction of the Kaidalovskaya Line of the Transbaikal Railway into Permanent Operation)]. Chita: Zabtrans, 2001. 54 p.

Vigilev A.N. Istoriya otechestvennoy pochty [History of the National Postal Service]. Moscow: Radio i Svyaz’, 1990. 312 p.

Vysokov M.S. Istoriya pochty, telegrafa i radio na Dal’nem Vostoke Rossii (40-e gg. XVII — nachalo XX v.) [History of Postal Service, Telegraph, and Radio in the Russian Far East (1640s — Early 20th Century)]. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: Izdatel’stvo SakhGU, 2004. 120 p.

Vysokov M.S. Rossiyskaya imperiya na putyakh modernizatsii: zarozhdeniye i razvitie elektrosvyazi v XIX — nachale XX vv.: dissertatsiya … doktora istoricheskikh nauk [The Russian Empire on the Path of Modernization: Th e Emergence and Development of Electrical Communication in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries: Doctor in History Dissertation]. Saint Petersburg: RGPU imeni A.I. Herzena, 2004. 468 p.