Social and material images of the local officials in the second half of the 19th century (case study of the service records of the Penza province)

The Russian Empire collected some data to be researched, which describe social, material and career features of the local officials. The data is expressed in compiling and registration of the so called service records, or official lists, which were the major records in the pre-Revolutionary Russia. The service records reflected the qualitative and quantitative bureaucracy showings, or, in other words, the human resources of the government. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact, that the government, as a managerial board, faces constantly the human resources problems, and the historical experience is a valuable knowledge that allows to avoid the possible mistakes and oversights in future.