Documents from the state archive of the Kaluga region for the reconstruction of the biography of the researcher of Russian provinces, Nikolai Alexandrovich Ridinger

Based on documents from the State Archive of the Kaluga Region, this article reconstructs the biographical information and the nature of service of N.A. Ridinger during the years 1857-1859. The relevance of the topic lies in the opportunity to study the development of provincial historical science in the mid-19th century in the Kaluga Governorate. The scientific novelty of this work consists in the identification of a corpus of documents that has made it possible to examine the biography of N.A. Ridinger and his scholarly contributions. The study investigates documents from four archival funds, the most informative of which are associated with the provincial administration. These documents provide a detailed account of the fire service, characterizing its daily operations, challenges, and prospects. Despite their official nature, the documents reflect the character of personal relationships between N.A. Ridinger and the governors under whom he served, as he held the position of chief of the urban fire brigades. The uniqueness of the information lies in the fact that the orders issued reveal the figure of the police officer both as a civil servant and as an individual.