Primary sources on the history of the Soviet family in the twentieth century: an analytical review

Abstract

In this article, the main groups of primary sources for studying the history of the Soviet family in the twentieth century are observed. The data sets of population censuses are traditionally used for this purpose, yet available mainly in an aggregated form. Therefore, other types of primary nominative sources have special meaning. In addition to a description of the vital registration documents, attention is paid to the research potential of the partial censuses, with the 1922 Communist Party census being considered as one of them.

Keywords:

• Soviet family
• primary sources
• general census
• vital registration
• longitudinal studies
• budgetary surveys
• household registers
• partial census
• Communist Party census

Funding

This research was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research [project number 15-06-05611].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. State Archive of the Sverdlovsk Region, f. 1813 (Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of State Statistics), op.12 (Sector for the All-Union Population Census and Housing, 1958–70), d. 5.

^2. Current Archive of the Sverdlovsk Regional Statistical Management, op. 11.

^3. See GASO, f. 1813, op. 12, d. 5.

^4. Documentation center of Non-Governmental Organizations of the Sverdlovsk Region (Tsentr Dokumentatsii Obshchestvennykh Organizatsiy Sverdlovskoy Oblasti or TsDOOSO), f. 76, (Ekaterinburg Provincial Committee of the Russian Communist Party (bolshevics), 1918–23), op. 1, d. 645b, l. 10.

^5. For the Sverdlovsk Region, the material from the Communist Party Census of 1922 is stored in TsDOOSO, f. 76, op. 1, dd. 557–645.

^6. The large-scale enrolment in the Communist Party announced after Lenin's death in January 1924; TsDOOSO, f. 76, op. 2, dd. 471–517.

^7. TsDOOSO, f. 76, op. 1, d. 645a, ll. 1–2.

^8. TsDOOSO, f. 76, op. 1, d. 645a, ll. 1–2.

^9. TsDOOSO, f. 76, op. 1, d. 465b, l. 10.

^10. TsDOOSO, f. 76, op. 1, d. 571, ll. 123–124.

^11. TsDOOSO, f. 76, op. 1, d. 567, l. 266.

^12. TsDOOSO, f. 76, op. 1, d. 564, l. 8; d. 561, ll. 62–63.