On the History of Studying the Sakhalin Population: A.P. Chekhovs Archival Materials

Abstract

The first attempt at collecting materials on various social strata of Sakhalins population was carried out in 1890. The gathering of data on the island of exile was done by A.P. Chekhov. At the start of the 21st century, 7446 questionnaire cards were discovered by the staff of the State Archive of the Sakhalin Region (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk); they appeared in publication for the first time in 2005. The cards are stored largely in manuscript departments of the Russian State Library and the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art. The data gathered by Chekhov are a valuable source for studying the history of populating Sakhalin and, more generally, the population of the Russian Far East.