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• 1 2025-04-28T10:05:58-04:00 Factory Geographies 6 plain 2025-04-28T10:13:53-04:00

  About the Data

  Files contain data on the location and production of confection factories registered in the 1887 factory census compiled by the Department of Trade and Manufacture within the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Empire.

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  About the Primary Source

  The Index has ten divisions, each with multiple subsections. Division VIII, which lists factories producing foodstuffs, is broken down into subsections for 1) flour milling, 2) cereals, 3) butter, 4) starches, 5) treacle, 6) malt, 7) pasta, pryaniki and confections, 8) coffee and its surrogates, 9) preserved meats, 10) cheese, 11) yeast, 12) vinegar, 13) artificial mineral water and sparkling beverages. Data for the Kingdom of Poland is listed separately in the Index but integrated into the data file. According to a note on page 379, the data on flour milling and pasta/confections is incomplete: many districts, and even some whole provinces, failed to submit their reports.

  Historical Context

  In 1887 the Department of Trade and Manufactures, part of the Ministry of Finance, published an index of factories operating in what was known as European Russia and the Kingdom of Poland. The bulk of the volume is devoted to textile factories. The sections on timber goods, chemicals, and machinery/metals compete for a distant third place. But second place (in terms of the sheer number of factories) goes to the production of foodstuffs.

  Project Team

  Kelly O'Neill, Paul Vădan, Olive Coles

  Publication Date

  April 22, 2025