Economic and Geographical Descriptions of USSR Regions in the Second Half of the 1920s: Series and Authors

The article is devoted to the history of the creation of economic and geographical descriptions of USSR state planning regions (districts) in the second half of the 1920s, shortly after the appearance and regular improvement of the country’s zoning based on the GOERLO plan for national economic recovery and development. This is the first experience of such publications in the Soviet period. According to various sources, seven main series were identified that were published between 1925 and 1930. At the same time, a significant number of brochures were published for three series (more than 10 for each), for two series—four or five brochures each, and two series only with a description of one district. Brochures written by various authors, based on the guidelines of a particular series, somewhat differently reflected the features of the development of the population and economy of the territories described, although they overlapped to a large extent. In most cases, the authors were geographers, most of whom were economic geographers, but there were also specialists in other areas. The series of descriptions published in USSR regions are important evidence of the active popularization of knowledge about the country. They were designed for a different audience—specialists and students in geography, employees of local authorities, public, including separately for schoolchildren. Probably, the experience in the second half of the 1920s of economic and geographical descriptions published was the reason for N.N. Baranskii’s initiative in the same years of creating series of economic-geographical monographs on the regions and the project “Great Geography of the USSR,” which to a certain extent could be realized only decades later.

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