Merchants’ daily life culture in provincial towns of Tambov Province in the first half of the 19th century

We consider the problem of studying the daily life of trade and business segments of the population in the provincial Russian city of the agrarian region in the pre-reform period. Primarily we analyze the features of daily life, the farm and household, nutrition, housing merchant families. We trace acquisition and property inheritance practice, daily culture formation in the merchant environment in the provincial Russian town using forensic investigation materials. The relevance of the work is in the importance of studying the most economically successful families of entrepreneurs in the uezd town in the pre-reform period. The study of sources enables to extend the territorial peculiarities of the daily life of a provincial merchant of the town in the agricultural region. The novelty of the research is in the micro-historical approach to the integrated study of the daily life culture as one of the forms of property and class differentiation of citizens. Microanalysis allows us to present specific reasons and motives for the formation of large property, ownership of permanent and movable property, savings, housing conditions improvement, food trade and business segments of the urban population on the example of its individual representatives and families.

provincial town, merchants, daily life, property, food, household items