INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS OF DONBAS IN MEMOIRS OF FOREIGNERS (SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH - THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY)

The purpose of the paper is to study the memoirs of foreigners about Donbas of the second half of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century, as an example of a foreign perception of the region during the times of modernization changes to estimate their informational potential and representativeness for the reproduction of the history of Donbas. Research interest is focused on the territory of Donetsk region. The scientific novelty of the paper is in the analysis of the peculiarities of the reflection of the industrial progress of Donbas of the second half of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century in the memoirs of foreigners, taking into account their peculiar features as sources of personal origin being a part of foreign Ukraine Studies. Conclusions: The analyzed memoirs of foreigners differ in the genre and nature of the coverage of events and processes on the territory of Donbas in the second half of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century. Their authors were representatives of different countries and professions, who had a different purpose for staying in the region, and, accordingly, the personal focus of observation. At the same time, it was typical of them to have many common points in the description of the region. The authors emphasized the secondary modernization in Russia, the insufficiency of internal reasons for industrial progress and its possibility only if foreign specialists would have been involved. Thus, their attention was drawn to examples of the most successful industrial development, which were implemented by combining local resources with the experience of foreigners. That explained the focus of the memoirists' main attention on the activities of the `Novorossiysk Society', its enterprises, and Yuzivka. The authors compared the industrial landscape of the workers' settlement with the world experience of industrial centers, emphasizing their similarity. The authors considered the British colony of Yuzivka to be the center of the English way of life. Other industrial settlements of the region were described relating to fewer details. In the memoirs of foreigners, through the description of life and working conditions, the difficulties of the process of forming a worker's social and professional group were reproduced. The authors considered the cultural influence of foreigners on the development of the region to be positive. Using of the materials from analyzed sources in the study of the history of Donbas in the second half of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century allows enlarging their factual and conceptual aspect both in terms of information and in the aspect of forming the image of the region by representatives of the foreign community.