THE PRESS AS A SOURCE FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROCESSES IN THE GALICIAN PROVINCE AT THE END OF THE XIX CENTURY (BASED ON "GAZETA NADDNIESTRZAŃSKA" NEWSPAPER)

Summary. The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the socio-economic life of Drohobych and Drohobych district in the late nineteenth century as represented by the newspaper "Gazeta Naddniestrzańska". The work’s methodological basis is an interdisciplinary approach with an emphasis placed on the structural and functional system analysis of historiographical facts and the method of critical analysis of documentary material. The article’s scientific novelty is an attempt to comprehensively analyse the materials of the journal "Gazeta Naddniestrzańska" as a source for studying socio-economic processes in Drohobych and Drohobych district in the late nineteenth century. Conclusions. The newspaper materials allow us to get acquainted with a range of cultural and socio-economic problems experienced by Drohobych district citizens in the late nineteenth century. The newspaper delivers an extremely dynamic image of the city’s daily life, and its articles are emotional and engaged in the interests of its ordinary residents. In addition, the broad public orientation of the newspaper’s editorial policy also allows getting acquainted with significant events in the socio-economic history of Galicia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Europe and the world. The "perspective from the province" attaches exceptional value to newspaper reports, as it sheds light on the specifics of their perception on the periphery of cultural and political life. The materials of "Gazeta Naddniestrzańska" allow reconstructing only certain aspects of the history of Drohobych and its district in 1884‒1889. However, taken together with official documents and periodicals published by the city’s Jewish community in the late 19th century, they provide a reliable source base for reconstructing Drohobych’s past in its socio-economic, political and cultural dimensions.