The article presents a comprehensive study of sources on the migration processes of Estonian peasants to the Yaroslavl province in the late 19th — 20th centuries, carried out at the intersection of source studies, historical anthropology and microhistory. The relevance of the work is due to the need to research little-studied aspects of the regional history of the Upper Volga region, as well as the importance of preserving the memory of local ethnic groups in the context of the formation of civil identity. The study is based on a systematic analysis of unpublished archival materials (GARF, funds of the GAAO and its branches, GARF, the National Archives of Estonia); legislative acts and regulatory documents of Stolypin reforms period; oral testimonies (a series of biographical interviews with descendants of settlers from 2016 to 2022). The work combines the methods of field research and archival search. The practical significance of the study lies in the introduction of unique sources on the history of national minorities of Central Russia into scientific circulation. The work makes a significant contribution to the study of migration processes in the Russian Empire and the USSR, demonstrating how a microhistorical approach allows us to identify the complex interaction of national trends
and local specifics. The results obtained open up prospects for comparative studies with other regions of the Upper Volga (Tver, Ivanovo, Kostroma regions). It has been established that migration was wave-like, with an initial phase at the end of the 19th century and intensification during the Stolypin agrarian reform. The author pays attention to the mechanisms of adaptation of Estonian settlers, expressed in the peculiarities of land use.
For citation: Zavarin A.D. “Estonian trace” in the Yaroslavl region: source study review and analysis (late XIX — 40-ies of the XX century), Ivanovo State University Bulletin, Series: Humanities, 2025, iss. 4, pp. 115—124.