Abstract: The subject of the study is a comparative characteristic of salaries of officials of the mining sector of the Altai Mining District in the 1860s. The study of salaries of officials is carried out in the context of consideration of income inequality issues. The annual salaries of officials of the V-th Department of the Altai Mining Board, Altai factories, mines with a class according to the Table of Ranks, as well as the salaries of lower ranks located outside it, are considered. A comparison of the salaries of officials in the pre-reform and post-reform periods is given. Attention is paid to the minimum and maximum sizes, and the average salaries of officials of both groups are compared: class officials and lower ranks. The novelty of the study is determined by the weak knowledge of the topic of salaries of Siberian officials in the 1860s, especially in the context of the study of income inequality. On the basis of archival sources, many of which have not previously been introduced into scientific circulation, as well as published staff schedules, the salaries of officials with a class according to the Table of Ranks and the so-called lower ranks have been revealed. The data on the minimum and maximum salaries, as well as the average values for both groups of officials are given. A comparative characteristic of the salaries of class officials and lower ranks of the mining industry of the Altai Mining District is given, as well as a comparison with the salaries of officials of European Russia in the studied period.

Abstract: The purpose of the study is to analyze archival materials of the State Archive of the Altai Territory and the State Archive of the Tomsk Region for the possibility of studying differences in wages of mining workers and employees based on them. The prospect of studying the archival funds of the Kemerovo region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory is also indicated. The subject of the study is the information potential of archival sources of these archives. The chronological framework of the study covers the period from 1861 to the beginning of the XX century. The relevance of the study is justified by the need to expand the range of sources for a broader study of the topic of income inequality in the regional dimension. The paper considers and analyzes archival materials containing information on the salaries of full-time employees and the earnings of freelance workers at various enterprises and institutions of the Altai Mining District, as well as at private and state-owned gold mines and fisheries of nearby Siberian territories. Conclusions were drawn about the different information potential of the considered sets of sources, about their suitability in aggregate for studying the issues of wage inequality for different types of activities, categories of employees or positions, at different enterprises and territories, and the shortcomings of the identified materials were identified.