Siberian Gold Industry through the Prism of Diaries of Yakov Friser (1869–1932)

Abstract

The present article analyses a unique historical source: diaries, letters, and notes by Barguzin gold entrepreneur Yakov Friser (1869–1932). Friser’s archive depicted not only his outstanding personality, but also the peculiarities of the gold industry in Eastern Siberia at the turn of 20th century. The diaries were written in Harbin, Manchuria, during 1920s and are a part of the private archive of Friser’s descendants in Israel. The surviving three notebooks are an attempt to recreate a replica of his original diary left in Irkutsk in 1918, and one can assume that the present diaries are more a memoir than a documentary. The diaries cover the period from 1870s until 1917, bear the imprint of the author's individuality, reveal a wide range of his personal contacts, and contain many details and exact characteristics, including details of the everyday life of Jewish merchants in Eastern Siberia, including processes of gold mining and rich personal experiences of entrepreneurs. Such personal sources allow us to study mentalities, values, and the diversity of vital interests of the Siberian merchants, expanding our understanding of the development of Siberia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the development of private entrepreneurship in the Russian Empire, and relationships between periphery and metropolis and between the individual and the state.